Becoming a Great Shooting Guard Tips
Read these 8 Becoming a Great Shooting Guard Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Basketball tips and hundreds of other topics.
Take Pride in your Defense
As a shooting guard, you are normally going to be defending the opposing team's shooting guard, so lock him down. Take pride in your ability to stop your opponent. When you're playing at the local park, don't defend the worst player on the court, find the guy who would give you the greatest challenge, and meet that challenge by shutting him down. The only way to become a great defender is to first dedicate yourself to it, then to implement it on the court. Always challenge yourself no matter where you are playing.
Make something from nothing
It is also imperative that the shooting guard be able to be a spot-up shooter—to be able to catch and shoot—as well as be able to create his own shot off the dribble. The shooting guard is often called upon to get the team a quality shot when their offense has broken down. In other words, when a play has not worked, or the opposing team's defense has thrown a team out of sync, the shooting guard must step up and be able to create something out of nothing.
Be a Great Free-Throw Shooter
This goes without saying, but being a Great Shooting Guard calls for you to not only be a great perimeter shooter, but also a knockdown free-throw shooter. Look at some of the great Shooting Guards in the NBA: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade. They all have one thing in common: they are great free throw shooters. See the Free-Throw Shooting section of the tip site, and get your free-throw percentage into the 80% range.
Shoot the Three
The shooting guard has to be able to play excellent defense and create shots for himself in the halfcourt offense. He needs to be a weapon from long range as well. This is true because the better a shooting guard can shoot from behind the three point line, the more it forces defenses to step farther out on the court to guard him. This in turn allows the lane to be open to penetration by your point guard and more room to operate for your post players.
Getting Open
Many times in an offensive set the Swingman will have to get open along the perimeter. When being played by an aggresive defender, the best way to do this is to use what's called a V-cut(see Footwork section). The V-cut is the most effecient way to get open along the perimeter and 9 times out of 10 is all the offensive player needs to use to free him/herself.
Short Memory
A great Shooting Guard has a very short memory. He doesn't remember the last shot he missed, he only knows the next one is going in. He knows that he put in the work in practice, and that every shot he's taking is a shot he can and will make. Jon Starks of the New York Knicks had a short memory(maybe too short for some Knicks fans). In Game 7 of the 1994 finals, Starks went 2-18 from the field. This included an 0-11 fourth quarter. Yet if he was open right now, I bet you he would still be shooting. That's what a great Shooting Guard has, and Jon Starks was a great Shooting Guard. A short memory.
What is a Shooting Guard
A "shooting guard" is generally just what you think it means: Someone whose primary job is to shoot the ball, either as a spot up shooter, catching and releasing, or coming off screens; someone who can spot up from either in close or three-point range, and someone who defends the other team´s off-guard. A good shooting gaurd is also very comfortable scoring and operating from the Triple Threat Position. Master the Triple Threat and you will be a force to be reckoned with.
Be Comfortable from Triple Threat
I can't emphasize this enough. You MUST master the Triple Threat position to be a great Shooting Guard, or a great guard period. See the Triple Threat section of the tip site and master it.
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