Last week, we went over the point guard position: he is the mind and the soul of a team on court. He calls the plays, take the important decisions and orchestrates the attack. He is ideally not your best scorer, but he is the driving force behind him. Let's put it this way, there was never a great basketball team without a smart ballhandler and rare were the great teams that didn't move the ball well on court, so a point guard often is a necessary requirement to basketball success. But what about a good shooting guard? How does that help you? Let's see...
Dell Curry was a prototypical specialist Shooting Guard.
How to recognize a Shooting Guard on court: As its name implies, the shooting guard is supposed to be the best shooter in your lineup, so this is what he should be doing. In average they are from 6-4 (Harden, Wade) to 6-6 (Bryant) and they are super-quick, athletic leapers. There are instances of taller Shooting Guards (MJ was 6-7), but players shorter than 6-4 rarely cut it as athleticism dictates what is going on at this position. Imagine you're a super-skiller 6-1 player. How would you rate your chances of warding off a tank like Dwyane Wade? Larger players can cut it if they are quick enough, but smaller players NEED to reinvent themselves into point guards if they want an NBA career.
Paul George has become a posterboy for swingmen around the league.
Principal duties of a Shooting Guard: The Shooting Guard is, with Small Forward, one of the two philosophical position in a basketball roster. Meaning is: there is no right or wrong way to play it. By design, the Shooting Guard is your primary perimeter threat. He is supposed to be the three points guy and he is supposed to attack the basket is needed. Only problem is: it's kind of the Small Forward duty also *. That's why guys who are around 6-6, 6-7 often are asked to cover the two position and thus are called Swingmen. The Swingmen are beautiful, athleteic and emotional creatures who like to dunk a lot and take over games.
The Shooting Guard's best friend is : The Point Guard. While no coach will ever turn down someone who can create his own shot off the dribble, it's not mandatory to play Shooting Guard. What is mandatory for him to do is to be able to catch and shoot. When he gets the ball, he needs to be able to launch a quality shot right away, without one dribble. When the Point Guard attacks the rim and the defense collapses on him and everything goes to hell, the Shooting Guard is the guy who's expecting a pass on the perimeter and who is expected to bail you out of trouble.
You're welcome, World.
Different styles of Shooting Guards: As it is a philosophical position, the styles of Shooting Guard depends of what you want to do with it, in your offense. The only real ''niche'' Shooting Guard is called ''the 3-and-D guy''. The guy is a vicious perimeter threat and since he always stays there, he is the first guy to fall back on defense. If I had to build a dream team without MJ playing Shooting Guard, I'd make him a 3-and-D guy. Otherwise, the two main models are the gunner (Jamal Crawford, Nick Young) or the do-it-all athlete (D-Wade).
Capital Stats for a Shooting Guard: 1-Points 2-Field Goal % 3-3 pts Field Goal %
The perfect Shooting Guard is: He is a shooter. Not necessarily the greatest leaper, but someone who can hit his shots from everywhere in the perimeter. He is quick, precise, lethal. The post-2008 iteration of Kobe Bryant makes for a wicked case of perfect Shooting Guard. He can take care of the ball, attack relentlessly and make his shots at frightening rhythmn. He can attack the rim when needed, but chooses a more fuel efficient style and leaves the close-combat warfare to bigger bodies most times.
* Small Forward is a slightly more complicated position, but we'll keep that for next week
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