How To DOMINATE As An Undersized Forward - Paul Millsap Film Breakdown

We all know that basketball today favors guards very, very much more so than it ever has in history. With the emphasis put on three point shooting, it can almost seem like forwards are becoming less and less a part of the game. But especially for undersized forwards, there are a lot of aspects to your game that if you do well, you'll be indispensable to winning teams and you can be able to be very, very successful as a player. Today we're going to break down Paul Millsap. We're going to look at a few things that he does really, really well that are going to allow you to to also be a very successful undersized forward. Over his entire career, Paul Millsap has been one of the most underrated players in the NBA. He's been a four time all star and over the past couple years has been one of the key players on a very, very successful Denver Nuggets team. I'm also going to leave you with five things that I want you to do if you want to be successful as undersized forward. Let's get into it. So if you watch the guys who are successful, undersized forwards, guys like Paul Millsap or Charles Barkley, you're going to notice that they're very, very active on the boards and they have to approach it with a whole different sort of energy compared to maybe a bigger forward who might be able to get away with not having to give as much effort to get rebounds. But when you're undersized, you've got to make sure that you're working. You're always running to get in the right position to get rebounds. So you'll see Paul Millsap right here. He's got his teammate on the, on the baseline putting up a shot right there, and he's going to get himself right to that middle to put himself in a position to potentially get that rebound. Okay. Because they're actually in a great position to get a rebound. Carmelo Anthony is not boxing anybody out Joke or Nikola Jokic is right under the basket. And if that ball, if that rebound goes long, chances are he's gonna be able to grab that too. And if it goes to the middle, Paul Milsaf is going to have a wide open lane to get it. So those undersized forwards have to make sure that they're able to get themselves into good positions to get offensive rebounds. And they have to be relentless with their approach on the offensive board. So we'll see it right here. That ball comes off the rim right to Paul Millsap and he's right in position to get it. And the thing with being an undersized forward is really, with any position, we talk about finding points, right? We talk about being in a position to make plays. We talk about doing, doing, doing the work to, to get easy points for yourself so you don't have to rely on, you know, your, your offense necessarily. You can have a bunch of baseline things that you do really well. They're going to get you three points. Offensive rebounding and being active, always looking to crash and be a factor on the boards. Even if you're undersized, that's going to allow you to score a lot of easy points. And Paul Millsap is really, really great at doing that. So another important part of being an undersized forward. And you know, like I said, if you watch a guy like Paul Millsap or Charles Barkley, those guys are not traditional forwards in the sense of they can't use their size to just dominate inside. They understand that. So they, they have to be able to stretch the floor. They have to be able to make their defender respect their outside shot so that they're going to be able to create ways for them to get inside. And we're going to continue to break down Paul Milsa because he's one of the best at doing this at the undersized forward spot. And so you're going to see right here, Paul Milsa is going to get this ball on kind of a little bit of a handoff slash screen right here. He's going to come off and Carmelo's going to go under that screen. He knows that he's got to be able to hit that shot because if not, then defenses will continue to go under. It's going to be very difficult for him to put any pressure on the defense because all they're going to expect is the drive. And it's easy to take something away if the defender knows that you only have one thing you can go to. They know you can only drive, but you can't shoot. They'll just play you for the drive and you're going to. It's going to be very, very difficult for you to score. But Paul Millsap, while not the best three point shooter, he still has a respectable shot. And because he's able to hit it, defense have to play it. And if they don't play it, he's able to make them pay for it. So that again, that shot goes up right there. Bucket makes the defense respect his outside shot. That's going to make it so much easier for him to get downhill and to get into the mid range of the paint where he's at his best. So here's an area that I think you need to be elite at if you want to be a kind of more traditional forward that's undersized. Paul Millsap is not one of these new forwards that's, you know, knock down, three point shooter, freak athlete, can kind of do everything point forward essentially with, with an outside shot. He's still very much a traditional forward in the fact that he likes to play in the post, he likes to score his points inside the three point line. So he's elite at doing that. And one thing that he's, that he really is good at, we're going to look at this further, is he's incredibly strong with the basketball in his hands. So when he's in a position to be in the post, even if he's giving up some size, he's not giving up strength to anybody. So he is clearly very committed to the weight room and that in itself pays off a lot for him. The other thing to recognize is that if you're a post player, you have to be able to not only have those traditional post moves of being able to hit, you know, post hooks and up and unders and drop steps, but he also is elite at getting shots out of the post. Whether that's a step back, whether that's a fade away, there is very, it's very difficult for people to defend him in the post because he can, he can lean back and hit a shot over them or he can get by them and finish at the rim and in sort of more traditional way. So he's got the ball, Carmelo guarding in the post right now, he's going to hit him with that jab first to get him to go that way and then boom. Once he knows he has position, he's able to hit that top post fadeaway shot. And again because of that, you know, Paul Millsap, really the reason he's been able to be so successful as a four time all star in the NBA, even though he's undersized at his, at his position, is because he's able to score from anywhere on the court, right? People have to respect his ability to do everything. They have to respect his ability to hit that three point shot. If they give it, give him an open look. They have to respect his ability to score inside the. They have to respect his mid range ability. So it's very hard for defenses to take everything away from him. And that's why he's able to be so effective. So as an undersized forward, you have to make sure that you're not you. You cannot be one dimensional. You can't just have, you know, one or two post moves. You've got to have more than that. If you're, if you are, if you're a post up guy, if you're just an inside guy, it's going to be easy for defenses to stop you because you can't stretch the floor at all. Okay? So make sure that you add more pieces to your game. That's going to make it more difficult for people to take away some something from you and completely negate you from being able to be effective on offense. So like I said, Paul Millsap incredibly versatile in the post with what he can do, and that makes him incredibly difficult to stop. So he's going to get this ball back from Jamal Murray in the post against Carmelo, same exact place. This time he goes to a quick little step back up into that shot. At this point, Carmelo is not quite sure what he's going to be able to do to stop him because, you know, the way he sees it, he's going to have to give up something to him. So he's either going to have to stop him from getting to the basket and Paul Melza can go into either that fade away or he can go into a little step back or if he really plays up tight on it, to try and take away that shot, Paul Meltsuk is just going to get right by him and get to the rim. Okay, so there's a lot of benefits to being kind of a smaller forward if you can do both of those things. So like I said, there's a lot of upsides too, to being a smaller forward, to being an undersized forward. And that can be in terms of the matchups that you get, you know, and obviously this only will apply to you if you have the sort of athleticism to go with your ability as an undersized forward. But this is a great thing for you to be able to exploit if you get matched up against a guy who might be bigger than you, but also isn't as. Isn't quite as quick or as fast as you are. Okay, so you see Paul Milsa with the ball here, right on the left wing, and he's got Steven Adams on him, who obviously, you know, is bigger but going to be able to move as well as Paul Milsap is going to be able to move. And so Paul Millsap is going to do his Best to take advantage of that fact right there. Gets himself downhill into a spot where he can make that pass to his teammate. And, you know, again, if you guys watch Charles Barkley and watch his highlights, what he was great at was not only just scoring the basketball and putting himself in a position to score, but he was also great at driving the basketball. When the defense would collapse, he'd find open teammates. And, you know, if you watch Charles Barkley, he's really like one of the. He's really one of, one of the original point forwards in terms of his ability to make plays while also playing that, that four spot. So we can take a look at it again here on this fast break. Paul Millsap getting that ball outside three point arc and again making sure that defense respects his ability to hit that three point shot. Now, that's two for him in the game. That's two for him in the first half. So now the defense knows, okay, this guy's hitting those outside shots. We got to make sure we play him. That's going to open up the floor for everybody else, and it's going to open up chances for him to be able to drive. You know, if Steven Adams knows this guy's already hit a couple shots today, I got to play up on him. All of a sudden, it's going to be, he's going to attack Steven Adams again. Even it's Carmelo Anthony, he'll be able to attack him, too. So very important that you're able to stretch the full floor as an undersized forward because that's going to give you way more options to be successful. So a theme you're going to start to see is that Paul Millsap is very, very good at just doing the basics in the post. Okay? He's not, you know, incredible, you know, Hakeem Olajuwon, you know, Kareem Abdul Jabbar with all the moves that he's got or anything that's, you know, transcendent to the game of basketball. He's very, very great at getting the ball, ripping one dribble, pull ups, one dribble, step backs, little fadeaways, these little things that he's able to go to. But he's got a few things he's very, very good at. Meaning that no matter how the defense plays him, he's able to score. So he's got a smaller guy on him right there, and he's going to make sure that, you know, he's going to catch this ball, rip through one dribble, right into that pull up jump shot. Okay. And again, if you're able to get great at scoring in the mid range, there will be times where even if you're an undersized forward, you know, there's a mismatch where they switch and you got a little guy on you. You can go right to that post up, whip through one dribble, pull up in the mid range and if you're a great mid range shooter, you're going to be very, very effective with that shot. And it's a very, very good shot to have. And again, it's simple to develop. Okay, Working on being with a post up turn, rip through one dribble, right up with that shot before the defender has time to put his hand up and react to you, you can hit that shot consistently. You're going to be able to find a lot of easy points in the mid range. So I recently had somebody DM me and talking about how they were an undersized forward and they wanted to know how important ball handling was for them. And in my, in my opinion as a, as an undersized forward, you have to be a solid ball handler because like I said, you can't play the same way that a regular sized forward can. Where you might be able to get away with not being a strong ball hand because you're bigger than everybody. You have to, you have to be able to handle the ball on the outside. Again, if you want to take advantage of those matchups you're going to have against guys who might be slower than you, you got to make sure that you're able to at least get the ball and maybe create one quick change direction move to be able to get downhill and beat your guy. Okay. You have to be comfortable with the ball in your hands when you take a look at that right here again. So Jokic with the ball on the right wing, gets his ball over to Paul Millsap is going to set the screen for him. They're going to switch. Okay, Again, Paul Mills have knows. All right, I got Steven Adams on me. I got to attack right here. And he's going to do that get downhill right to his pull up at the, at the mid range. Okay, so, so we've talked about again, the importance of being able to hit that mid range shot. If you have any sort of separation, your guy, you got to be able to rise up and hit that shot. But also he doesn't get there if he's not comfortable putting the ball on the floor. Okay? So if you aren't comfortable with that, then you're going to again find it very difficult because teams are going to be able to take stuff away from you. If your only thing is that you can play inside in the post, well, team's gonna put a bigger guy on you. And unless you're elite in the post, it's gonna be hard for you to score. Okay? And again, as basketball continues to become more and more of a perimeter oriented game, you have to make sure that you have aspects of your game that translate to that. So Paul Millsap translates very well to the NBA today because he has those outside skills while also being able to play on the inside. Okay, you saw it right there. So again, we're gonna look at some of these key aspects now, kind of mesh together to show you why Paul Millsap is such an effective guy at that four position. So now he catches this ball off the skip and Russell Westbrook, who obviously one of the best athletes in the history of the NBA right there, is guarding him right there. You know, just a freak athlete. Strong. But you're going to see, we talked about it earlier. Paul Millsap is a guy who is very, very strong, committed to the weight room. And because of that, even though he's undersized, he's able to create opportunities for himself with his strength. So again, he's going to catch his ball, he's confident with the ball in his hands, he's going to get himself into the lane and you're going to see him again just kind of throw Russell Westbrook right off him right there and finish with nice touch with that floater right there. So you saw that. I mean, you take a look at this, again, they get downhill. Paul Millsap throws Russell Westbrook off him, you know, and again, like I just said, Russell Westbrook is not a weak dude, okay? So you got to understand just the strength that Paul Mills up plays with. So if you're an undersized forward, you have to make sure you are committed to the weight room. That's one of the most important parts of your game right there. And you know, like I said, Paul Mills, that ability to put the ball in the basket, you know, he's very solid from the mid range, elite from the mid range. He's, he's able to hit that three point shot also. He's got a nice little touch with that floater right there. So are you able to score in those sort of different ways? Are you able to take what the defense gives you? Are you able to create yourself opportunities and finish them because of the skill that you play with? Okay. So whereas a lot of bigger forwards might not have to play with as much skill because they're bigger, and that in itself creates opportunities for them. If you're smaller, you have to make up for that with the skill that you play with. And that's one of the reasons Paul Millsap has been so successful. So to recap everything, here are the five things I'm going to leave you guys with. If you're an undersized forward, if you take care of these five things, you're going to be able to be very, very successful at your position. Number one, you need to make sure that you are committed to the weight room. And when you get matched up with somebody, even if they might be bigger than you, taller than you, you are at least as strong or stronger than them. That way, you're always going to have that to your advantage. You'll be able to be successful at that forward position. It's very, very hard to be great if you are giving up size and, and also strength. Number two is you have to play with a high motor, okay? You have to make sure that you're very, very aggressive. You go after rebounds and you play with a different sort of intensity as compared to somebody who might not need to if they have the size that you don't have. Okay? You've got to make up for that lack of size with your efforts and the intensity that you play with. Number three is you have to be comfortable handling the basketball and attacking the basket. You have to have some of those perimeter skills so that if you get matched up in a position that to where you need to get into the inside, you're able to do that. If you are in a position to where you can exploit a matchup, you have, you're comfortable enough with the basketball, maybe going to one quick change of direction, getting downhill, you're comfortable doing that so that you can be a very well rounded player. Number four is you need to be able to stretch the defense with your ability to shoot from the outside, okay? So again, you don't have to be an elite shooter, but you need to least be at the level where the defense has to respect that outside shot so that they can't just play off of you and expect you to drive into the middle, okay? The better you are as a shooter, the more they're gonna have to respect you, the easier everything else is gonna be for you. And number five, you need to make sure that there's at least one area of your game that you are elite at, okay? So you might be incredibly Strong, alright? That's where you're elite at. You might have incredibly high motor. That's where you're elite at. You might be very, very good as almost like a point forward to where you can handle the ball well. You can pass the ball well. You're elite at that. Almost like a Charles Barkley. Okay. Or number four. You have to be an elite shooter, okay? You've got to be able to hit shots on the outside and at an elite level. And that way everything else that you have can play off of that. Okay? Like we saw with Paul Millsap, he's elite in the mid range, okay? He's elite at a post ops because he can go to so many different things. You got to make sure that there's one thing at least that you can go to that you know that you're elite at. If you guys enjoyed this video, go ahead and leave a like and subscribe too. I want you guys go to the link in my description right now and click it. I'm going to send you guys my free elite perimeter score workout. So if you want to start to work on some of these perimeter skills that you need to be a great undersized forward, that workout is going to help you guys out. Make sure you guys click on that and I'll send it right to you for free. Like I said, if you are new to the channel, subscribe. If you enjoyed this video, give it a like if you and drop a comment. Let me know what you want to see next. If any questions, let me know. That's it guys. Peace.