RealGM

I hear constant talk about "SG's in point guard bodies" or "he can't play point guard" and I still wonder why. There are a lot of great players who are 6'1'' or 6'2'' and can shoot the lights out but because they aren't 'point guards' and they're too small to play SG...they are phazed out of the rotation.

Now I am not hear tryin to argue that being a point guard is nothing more than bringing the ball up the court and passing it off, because it's not. But what is it exactly that makes one player able to play PG while another guy who is the same size with better scoring ability CAN'T play PG. What is the difference?

Knowledge of the game, and the willingness to look for the others on the team in order to let them excel at the things they do best to help the team vs. the shooting skills you may have to help the team.

Being a good shooter certainly helps, but look at Jason Kidd, he could have never scored a point in the NBA and still been regarded as a top 10 PG all time.

You need to be a floor general and control the tempo. If your point guard is looking to only score, you'll have a very tough time controlling the tempo of the game.

You also want you pg to get the ball where it has the highest chance of going in the hoop, which often is in the paint to the bigs. If the pg is looking to score too often, the ball movement stops with him instead of starting with him which makes all the difference in the world.

Getting the rest of the team involved on offense is also beneficial for defense since most players spend more energy there if they are involved on offense.

Whatever a player like Chris Paul does, plain & simple.

The ULTIMATE key to playing PG is getting to the painted area and drawing defenders off dribble penetration and then finding the open man.

The first part is easier than the second part but they go hand in hadn.

The better and more disciplined you are at that, the tougher you're team becomes.

PG's are quite simply VERY disclipined on EACH possession by running the offense correctly.

Thats why they are valuable. A guy like Chris Paul doenst waste many possessions by doing stupid stuff with the ball.

Guys liek Kobe and LEbron CAN be asked to be PG's just like MJ was in the past for the Bulls.

It jsut requires a couple simple things.

1) Getting into the paint religously
2) Passing to open teammates for shots and cuts to hte basket.

Both Paul and Kobe did that today...Paul's guys finished better than Kobe's did, but the end result is the same.

Flash3 wrote:Whatever a player like Chris Paul does, plain & simple.

Ha, I entered this thread to type exactly that. QFT. Paul is a genius.

^

That kid's just spectacular, plain & simple.

Ball handling, playmaking ability, controlling the tempo, and passing are qualities that a pg should have. I'm all for making a tall guy like Livingston play next to a short sg like Iverson, Ellis, or Gordon. Imo, NBA teams should look for tall pgs like Livingston. They are valuable when you have short and talented sgs like Stephen Curry coming to the NBA. I liked what Philadelphia used to do with Iverson and Snow. Snow often guarded the sgs and Iverson guarded the pgs.

Being the opposite of Kwame Brown in every conceivable way.

Believe it or not, Kwame actually played PG for a while in HS.

ball handling
precise passing with every passing technique
court vision (knowing where the other nine players will be in the next second)
quickness
"feeding the hot hand"
teamleading
playcalling
mid range game
high speed while handling the ball
finishing at the rim
floater and tear drop
rebounding (should be a better rebounder than the SG at least)

on defense:

as a PG you won't see what happens behind your back, so you need actively talking team mates and a sense for overplaying one side or the passing lanes when appropriate, and you have to fight through very much screens. You need to read the scouting reports for every other PG and watch tape, to lean how much your opponent goes left/right, posts up, passes etc. (more important than any other position imo, because PGs face the most one-on-one situations in a game).

and, well, it is nice to have a huge wing-span and huge hands, appropiate upper-body strength and lateral quickness ;)

Btw, I don't think 6'6 or more is ideal PG size. Between 6'2 and 6'4 is very good. Ballhandling suffers with height.

To conclude.. there aren't many good Point Guards in the league. But there aren't many Superstar Point Guards who won the title in the last 20 years (only Isiah Thomas), too.

joeyyowee wrote:Ball handling, playmaking ability, controlling the tempo, and passing are qualities that a pg should have. I'm all for making a tall guy like Livingston play next to a short sg like Iverson, Ellis, or Gordon. Imo, NBA teams should look for tall pgs like Livingston. They are valuable when you have short and talented sgs like Stephen Curry coming to the NBA. I liked what Philadelphia used to do with Iverson and Snow. Snow often guarded the sgs and Iverson guarded the pgs.

Agreed, which is why I think Derrick Rose might be an interesting commodity. I think he's big enough to guard a lot of SG's so a Ben Gordon/Allen Iverson type might be a great counterpart.

Simple answer....COURT VISION!!!!!

Im not typing out a long response though. Its not worth it.

Ideal point guard = billups
ideal team = pistons

Kobay wrote:Ideal point guard = billups
ideal team = pistons

I'll say he's the most valuable point guard in the league. He literally can do it all

Well I would agree that Chauncey is the ideal PG with Deron right behind him. I like that they are both bigger PG's that can still stay in front (for the most part) of the smaller quicker PG's.

Now Steve Nash was the standard for passing in the current NBA. What he did in the playoff's last year vs the Spurs was amazing.

Chris Paul this year is doing what Nash did for the season setting up his teammates. He is the ideal as far as getting his teammates the ball in their comfort zone. His ability to run the pick and roll, his court vision and ability to draw defenders and still find the open man while surrounded is top notch.......