Basketball Ed - Positions

[CastleRubric]

hopefully others here can chime in and help me understand some nuances of the sport more clearly


Traditionally - the five positions on a basketball team had certain roles - more or less

Those traditional roles changed over time I know BUT i would like to hear your thoughts on what an ideal PG, SG (etc) - are supposed to do

I realize it can change with different offensive sets - but offensive sets will be another post where I try to get smarter

Please help me better understand the five positions in basketball and what they're ideally suited to accomplish!

 

[Seth_C]

1. Point guard - excellent ball handling skills, ideally agile/quick in general, excellent passer, good at penetration to collapse the defense, able to knock down open shots from anywhere

2. Shooting guard - good ball handling skills, good passer, excellent shooter with the ability to create their own shots or shoot coming off a screen

3. Small forward - this position has become much more like a shooting guard over time, and less like a forward, but should be a good shooter with the strength to play defense against other small forwards and the strength to take hits and finish in the lane on offense

4. Power forward (traditional) - athletic enough to help defend the 3-5 positions, strong, large body, good rebounder and shot blocker, capable of making shots anywhere around the paint

4. Power forward (stretch) - more athletics than above, definitely able to defend 3-5, good shooter capable of making open shots from anywhere on the court, good passer out of the paint

5. Center - Imposing defensive presence in the paint, excels at setting screens, rebounding the basketball, blocking shots, and finishing through contact

 

[AJG-15]

This depends on how much back on history line you want go ….if you look how the first basketball looked like , was almost impossible to do all the dribbling that is happening now, the ball was mostly passed in order to be moved towards the basket.


Also, back in the day the bigs were able to pass and shoot the ball.

The bigs were called pivots because of their role as a pivot and a lot the action was run through them. Our own Rupp, had many actions through the pivot.

That involved also posting with the back to the basket. Because of rules changing , 3 seconds rule, basket interference, 3 point line, equipment change , the game evolved.

It’s interesting that now under so call international influence , the game is going back to using the bigs as offense generator . This because European basketball , due to lack of athleticism sticked with the more traditional approach to basketball, where everyone can shoot, pass, post and to some extent dribble the ball regardless if they are a guard or forward.

 

[CastleRubric]

So the earliest basketball i remember are Joe Halls teams in the early 80s

Obviously the big man positions have changed a lot

Seems like both Louisville & UNLV brought in early versions of position-less basketball with athletes at every position

But the SF and PF seem like they can be almost ANYTHING to me - confusing

 

[ftp000]

Don't say "ed" here. There's a lot of old men here. Regardless of position.