How To Thrive As An Undersized Guard

So this is from Marcus, and he said, hey, coach, I'm a smaller point guard, and obviously size has a lot to do with the game. And I watched your video on how to dominate as an undersized point guard. But how can I push through mentally? I guess I'm just saying how can I mentally push through being undersized? And this is another good question. I think, I think mentally for an undersized player, like, I think mental toughness and, and your, the mindset you. You have is so important. You can get away with being kind of mentally weak if you're, if you're 7ft tall and athletic. Like, you can get away with being kind of soft if you're undersized, especially as a guard at any position, if you're undersized. But if you're, if you're an undersized point guard like you, you can't be soft because here's the thing, people already are going to expect you to not be able to compete. And you know, to me, I know a lot of guys who are undersized. And, and because of that, literally, they just get, they get disrespected by everybody. There's some guys I know who are undersized guards who, if they were, if they were five or six inches taller, they'd be, they'd be. One of those guys would be able to talk about being best in the state at their class. Like, there's, there's some guys I know like that. And, but because they're undersized, they don't get that, you know, they don't get that recognition, okay? So they really have to, they really have to be elite to get those sort of things. So I think that approach, I think the undersized guards I know, who are really, really good and really, really effective, those guys, they just, they approach their work, so they, it's, they're so serious about it, and they're, they're, they're, they are not willing to cut corners on things, okay? They do things the right way. They put in work. And everyone talks about, you have to outwork people, but if you're undersized, you really have to do that. Like, you really need to be the guy who's in the gym all the time. You really need to be the guy who's studying the game all the time. You can't have any weaknesses because guess what? Your height is already your weakness. I want to preface that there are benefits to you being small, but there's also downsides to it. Defensively, you're going to struggle most of the time. Now there's some guys who overcome that. Chris Paul is a solid defender, but a lot of times small guards, even you look at a guy like Isaiah Thomas was the worst defender in the NBA statistically when he plays. And that's a lot of times the case with smaller guards, just because it's harder for them to be able to defend bigger guys who can handle the ball, who can shoot. Just with your pure size, you can get posted up. And so you need to make sure that your, your size already is what people are going to consider your weakness. Any coach who sees you play is going to say, he's small. So you have to make sure that there are no other weaknesses. You've got to be a great ball handler, elite ball handler. You've got to be an elite shooter and you've got to be an elite decision maker, leader. You've got to be a guy who really puts the, like, really, really puts everything on your shoulders. Show that you can handle that sort of weight, okay? Because again, you don't have the luxury of being 7ft tall. Where people are going to overlook. You might, you know, they might overlook your lack of work ethic or they might overlook your lack of caring or your lack of whatever, okay? Your lack of athleticism or your lack of decision making, okay? That stuff might get overlooked. If you have physical gifts, if you don't have that, then you've got to maximize what you do have and the skills that you actually can apply. And again, the best guys I know and that you watch who are undersized do that. I mean, you look at a guy like Chris Paul, I mean, one of the most intense dudes in the NBA where it's just like, that's a guy who's a leader. I mean, he's one of those guys who just, you know, you know, those guards who just sort of have a presence about them when you, even when you just watch them play on tv, like, they're like, yeah, like that guy just carries himself differently. Chris Paul's a guy like that, okay? Isaiah Thomas with the Celtics was like that, right when he was on the court. It was just different. And you could see guys look to him because he was like, he was their guy, okay? So that to me is just an important thing. Really, really committing yourself to the work. And something that I talk about is becoming obsessed with getting to where you want to get to. I just think when you have something that people are gonna look at, look down on you, on, you've got to do everything you can to overcome that, okay? And the guys who are the most obsessed with the game of basketball, who are obsessed with getting better, obsessed with getting in the gym and working, those are the guys who succeed because they have that drive to do it. Okay? Because if there's any doubt in your mind as an underside guy, it just won't work out for you. That's the other thing, too. The best undersized point guards are just super confident in themselves. Like, there is no doubt. Okay? I'll watch. Guys who are undersized who have no business doing what they do on the floor at their size, just kill people. Just kill people. And I'm like, that should never happen. You shouldn't be able to score in the paint against a guy who's 6, 7 when you're, you know, 5, 9. It just shouldn't happen. Right? But they're. They're so confident in their abilities and their skills that there's no doubt. That's why they carry themselves differently. That's why you carry a guy like Chris Paul. Chris Paul knows he's going to get his. He knows no one's going to stop him coming off ball screens. No one's going to. He knows he's going to get what he wants to get. It doesn't matter how big the guy is, okay? That's the approach. They do not care how big their opponent is. They don't care if they're the smallest guy on the floor, because they already know that they are. They only care. And this kind of goes back to what I was saying before is they only care about being the best they can be. And if they put the time in, they put the work in. That's what they know. And because of that, they're going to do what they do well. Now, the other thing about being an undersized guard is you want to make sure you play to your strengths, okay? So like I said, if you want to actually be successful as an undersized guy, you've got to be able to shoot the basketball. And if you can do that, even if you're a little undersized, you're going to demand respect from the defense at least, okay? And that's going to open up the floor for everybody else. So there's the thing. If you're undersized and you can't shoot, it's just. There's not going to be a spot for you. There won't be. Not in today's basket. Not in any area of basketball, but especially not today, okay? So you want to be able to shoot the basketball, handle the basketball, do those things as often as you can to become great at them. Stick to what you do best, essentially, is what I would say. But let's also talk the upsides to being small, okay? Because it's not, there's not. It's not just a weakness. I think a lot of people look at it as a weakness off the bat because obviously height is helpful in basketball, but it's not everything. You know, a lot of times smaller guards can, they can, they can get, they can get through spaces that a bigger guy might not be able to. So the, for example, if you are, let's say you're a guard and you're playing in the pick and roll, right? So you come off a ball screen and that big guy tries to hedge you, right? A bigger guard might not be able to get low enough to turn that corner and get through that hedge or split it or whatever to get low. If you got a big guy out there and you're small and you're able to split and get low, that guy, he's not stopping. You're, you're getting to the basket, you're at least getting to the paint. And then you could kick out or maybe hit that pull up floater, jump shot or layup at the rim that's open like you, you have the ability to really be, get, get through spaces that guys might not be able to get to. And I think that's a massively underlooked part of being undersized. There's just, it's harder for people to stop you because, you know, like they say in football all the time, low man wins. But it's the same thing in basketball, right? If you can get low when you're driving it, the guy who's higher up, all he can do to stop you, unless he's a freak athlete and is he's going to have to grab you, he's going to have to foul you, he's going to hand check you, and especially when you're small, you're going to get more calls like that. I find that to be. When I see small guards play, like they're just going to get more calls and so there's upsides to it. But press into that if you know that you're going to be able to do that, like be confident about it. Okay? I think that's what. When we talk about mindset of an undersized guy, you've got to have elite level confidence and developing that confidence. It all Starts with confidence, comes from overcoming situations, overcoming problems that you have. So we talked earlier about, in this podcast about being able to read a situation, plan what you're going to do, and then do it. Games are all about new problems that you find and being able to solve them. Guys who are confident have gone through so many problems and solved them consistently to. To a point where like, they feel like, I don't really care what comes at me. I know I can get through it. I know I can get over it. I know I'm gonna get out and get mine. I don't care how the defense guards me. I don't care who's on me. I don't care what people say about whatever. I know I can get mine here. I know I can do this. I know I can go to this. I know I have this ability to do this. And they carry that confidence with them. That's the biggest thing for you, okay? There can be no question marks about that. So if you don't have that, that's what you got to get. Okay? That comes from, again, building those skills up. So become a great shooter, a great ball handler. Have that ball on a string, put the time into that and then become great at playing. Okay? Working on your one on one, three on three, five on five, those things in tandem together. That's how you become that elite, confident, undersized guard. And, you know, here's the thing. In basketball today, you can be undersized, okay? And as long as you have the ability to shoot and make good decisions, I mean, you. There's really. There's really not anything anyone can say to you, okay? And. But that's what I'd say kind of regarding that, I think you. You being focused on, on becoming on. On doing that as an underside of the guard. I think that's really going to help you out. I want you guys to right now go to the top link in my description and get my free elite perimeter score workout. We're going to work on a bunch of different skills that you need to have if you want to be an elite player in the perimeter. Make sure you guys check it out completely free. Click the link, I'll send it right to you.