Why EVERY Player Needs To Develop Guard Skills

The big thing that, you know, players need to think about is like, you know, if you're in high school, right, and you're playing, you know, you're six four, okay, or you're even, even, maybe even six five, right, you're playing big, which is very common for a lot of high schools. You know, at my high school, literally when I was there, we had a couple kids who were like a little bigger, but in our starting lineup, I was our, yeah, I was our biggest player in our starting lineup. But the thing is, we played all. It was basically five guards, so we would run five guards. But, but if you're like, you know, if you're six two, right, and you play big, you don't play like you can't play guard, that's a problem. Okay? And the thing is, a lot of times it's not actually your fault, right, because you might have been, you might be six two, right? But maybe you were six foot in eighth grade. Like, maybe you just like hit your growth really early. So you were six inches taller than everybody else when you were in eighth grade. So you played big man, like your whole, your whole life. Growing up, you were bigger than everybody else. But then, you know, you stopped growing. Everyone else caught up to you. Now you're like pretty average basketball height. Like, you're not really, like, you're not small, but you're not big. So obviously if you don't have those guard skills, you just, you can't translate to the next level. Like, you just can't do it at 6:2. Even at high school, you're going to struggle against good opponents who are big. And so it's very important that players develop those guard skills regardless of the position they play, especially younger players. So if you're, you know, if you're in seventh, eighth, ninth grade and you're playing big right now, like, and you don't have guard skills, like, you got to develop them even, even if you're like really big, Even if you're 6, 6, 6, 7, right, still have that ability, still have an outside shot, still have the ability to put the ball on the floor when you need to, because that's where basketball is heading. That's where it is now. Okay? Everybody in the floor can shoot. You know, everyone. If you look at the NBA, right, if you can't, there's, there's a very, very limited number of spots for players who cannot shoot the basketball. And typically those guys are like seven footers who are going to be your basically your garbage guys who are going to do all the dirty work for you. Get rebound, set screens. And typically, you know, if you look at like for example, that warriors team, I forget which year it was when they had Zaza Patchoulia, right? He would, he would start for them, but he play like 12 minutes a game, right? Because they'd have guys who come off the bench, Iguodala Livingston, guys who had those guard skills, perimeter skills, would get the majority of the minutes because that's where the NBA is now, right? You don't need Zaza Patulia to play 30 minutes anymore, okay? This is in the 1990s, right? You don't have a big guy who's going to get, who's going to. And now again that it's different. Even if you look at the big guys in the NBA today, Karl Anthony Towns, outside shot can put the ball on the floor. Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid is incredibly talented. Like, if you watch this guy, like he didn't start playing basketball, he was 15, which is just remarkable when you look at his ability to put the ball on the floor, his ability to shoot when he's open, his just his moves he has in the mid range. I mean, it's incredible to watch, right? He has those abilities to put the ball on the floor, to shoot the basketball. He's not a traditional big, okay, he can do that because he's 7 foot 2 and an incredible athlete, right? So, so, but even him, like if Joel Embiid is not just going to settle with, oh, I'm big, so I'm just going to play big guy, right? I'm just going to have a back to basket game. If he's not settling for that, you definitely shouldn't be. Okay? It doesn't matter how tall you are, you got to have those skills because at some point you're going to play on a team where there's going to be guys who are going to be the same height as you, who have more ability than you to score the basketball. Your coach is going to want to play fast, okay? The best teams now play fast. They get the ball up and down the floor. They shoot a lot, right? Drive a dish. Everybody on the floor can put the ball in the basket. If you can't do that, you can't. If you have no outside game, like you're going to ruin spacing, you're going to be essentially the. You're gonna be another guy who just can't get it done on offense. So your coach is gonna say, oh, we got guys who are similar size you know, maybe not the same skill set. Maybe this guy can't get as many rebounds as you, but, like, we'll make up for it. And the threes we're gonna hit because we're gonna put them in the game. That's how it's gonna work. And that's how it has worked and I see it all the time. So you really gotta, got to develop yourself. And again, you know, even if you're big, Even if you're 6, 9, 6 10, like, approach it with the knowledge that the best big guys in the NBA all have guard skills as well, right? They might not be guards. You know, if you look at, you know, Jokic in, in Denver, right? He, he's a big. But I mean, he's an incredible passer, right? He could put the ball on the floor. He can handle the ball. Like, he, he has like that. That's where basketball is now. There is no room for guys who can't shoot the ball. There is no room for guys who can't dribble the ball, okay? You need to have it. And I think that's a very important piece for players to learn. And that's why I'm saying, like, you know, if you have aspirations to play at the college level, you need to evaluate yourself and be like, okay, can I actually do that? Right? If you're 64 and you can't shoot, like, unless you are a ridiculously great athlete, it's not going to work out for you, okay? You need to be able to shoot the basketball. You need to be able to put the ball on the floor, okay? Do not settle for, you know, I've always been a big. So like, that's what I do. No, take the time to get in the gym and work on it, right? Even if it's not your role, okay? I'm not saying that you need to, you know, get mad at your coach because maybe you're the biggest kid in your team. You have to play big. Okay, that's, that's fine. But at the same time, outside of your team practices, develop those skills, right? So that if you coach myself to see, okay, this dude can actually, like, he can do a little something with the ball now, right? So maybe we can look at something where we get him on a pick and pop now, right? Where you're going to set a screen, you're going to pop out to the, to the, to the three point line and you might be able to shoot, you might be able to attack, and all of a sudden, right there, that's the thing, you know, I refer, like when I was in high school, we had, we ran a five out essentially. Actually a lot of times we ran a four out, one in because we had me and another kid who were both like 6:1, maybe 6:2, but we both had guard skills. So it's like if we, if we're playing, it's a team that has a kid who's 66 but can't move right. He's their big guy. Like we're gonna, like, we can, we can eat that kid up because we can both put the ball on the floor, we can shoot the ball. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna put pressure on him. And now all of a sudden we're taking the game from, oh, they're, they're undersized to wow, that team can't stop them because their big guys can't play with them. That's where the NBA is treading. It's no longer about, you know, who's got the biggest team. That's where all basketball is treading. It's not about who has the biggest team, who has the best athletes, but who has the best shooters, who has a team that spaces for the best and runs for the best and has the best ball movement and can play defense, can guard every position. Those are the players and the teams that are successful in today's basketball. So recognize that. And, and if that's you start today developing those guard skills, shoot the ball, put the ball on the floor. Those two things you got to be able to do. I want you guys 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.