Point guards are the leaders of the basketball team. They are like basketball coaches on the floor, so it is vital that they are the strongest mentally and physically on the team. Now, you may think the 4 or 5 should be the strongest physical athlete on the team, but a strong and well conditioned point guard is what really steers the ship of a winning team. Below are what I call the “Point Guard 6”. These are 6 skills that are needed for every point guard to become an elite leader and championship player.
- Top level conditioning: you should be able to run for an entire hour without major fatigue. Remember, you are the point man of attack on both offense and defense, and tired players make mistakes. You cant!
- Ball Control: Ball control is different than ball handling. A lot of players can handle the ball to score or even get their team in their offense, but the premier point guards can get anywhere on the court they want with ball control. (Probing, hesitation, change of speed moves, etc.)
- Upper body strength: Strength and ability to take contact in the lane, off the ball, with the ball, etc.
- Lower Body strength: The strength to stay low and explosive on both offensive and defense.
- Leadership: You must be a leader, a person of character, responsibility and a coach on the floor.
- Competitiveness/confidence: You must want to win every game and every possession and believe you can win every game and every possession.
Notice I didn’t say scoring, speed or jumping ability. All of these things are great, but they are not prerequisites for top level point guard play.
