7 Drills to Make a Better Point Guard

By Jeff Haefner
BreakthroughBasketball.com

Point guard is perhaps the most demanding position in basketball. A good point guard is expected to have exceptional ball-handling skills, be a scoring threat, orchestrate the offense, make assists, and play good defense against the opposing point guard. Since your point guard will touch the ball far more often than other team members, it is essential that he makes good decisions about what to do with it. Without strong point guard play, your team is going nowhere.

In fact, the point guard is often described as your representative on the court. The point guard has to have a great understanding of your wishes and has to be able to translate those wishes into realities on the court. Controlling the pace of the game, having the presence of mind to wait until players are in proper position before initiating plays, recognizing who has the hot hand, and effectively communicating your strategic directions to the team in the heat of the game all fall to the point guard.

Since your point guard has so many critical responsibilities, he constantly faces strong defensive efforts to reduce his effectiveness. If the opposition can disrupt your point guard and shake his confidence, they can drastically reduce your team's offensive productivity and get easy baskets off of turnovers. Since you know for sure that your point guards will be facing constant pressure, it is your responsibility to prepare them for it.

Here are seven great basketball drills for developing point guards who can withstand and overcome this kind of defensive pressure to effectively lead the team in the direction that you want it to go.

Two-pass, Three-second Limit Three-on-two

This basketball drill is good for your entire team, but you can certainly use it specifically to hone the decision-making and reading-the-court skills of your point guards. The offense has to generate a good shot within two passes and three seconds. Have three offensive players (all point guards if you wish) at the half-court line and two defenders stacked in the key.

Initially, the middle offensive player will have the ball and will dribble toward the key. The defender on top will cover him. The wing players should run wide and cut to the hoop at 45 degrees once they near the top of the key extended. The bottom defender will cover the first pass. The defender who stops the middle point should rotate down to stop the pass to the opposite wing cutter. If the defense has played the odds to prevent a lay-in, then the middle point man should be open at the free throw area for a jumper. That would be the second pass. If no open shot has been generated by then, the offense has failed and the "fast break" is over.

You can use this drill to develop reading-the-court abilities, too. For instance, if your middle player cuts to the hoop after passing instead of remaining at the free-throw area, then the offside wing should cut to the free-throw area. Otherwise, the spacing is distorted and one defender could shut down two players, destroying the three-on-two advantage.

Another way to instill reading-the-court abilities is to start the ball on one of the wings. The wing is free to dribble to the hoop from the wing or to dribble to the middle position, and the other offensive players need to establish logical positions accordingly. For instance, if the wing player does dribble to the middle, then the middle player should "banana cut" behind him into the vacated wing lane. The idea is to quickly establish three good options that will always result in a good shot within two passes and three seconds.