Monday, June 15, 2009

Post Position

What makes a great post player? Great hands, footwork, position, ability to score with both hands, passing, rebounding, and strength to name a few. In order to be a great post player, you need to be able to score with both hands on both blocks. If you want to be a versatile post player, you need to able to score from the high post and short corner areas of the floor. Do tall players just learn post moves? All players should be encouraged to master all skills; guards that can post are great assets to a team's offensive structure. In order to play effectively in the post, one must be able to play in traffic and understand how to use their body to score in conjunction with the defender's body position.

All great post players develop an attitude that they are un-guardable and have a nastiness to their game. Great post player begins with position on the blocks; regardless if a player is right handed or left handed, players should be comfortable playing on the right and left block. When you look at post players in the NBA, different players have different go to moves and counters to their go to moves. Being a good post player is playing to your strengths; don't be something that you are not. For example, the first move every post player is taught is the drop step, but what if you aren't the strongest post in your league or conference. Utilize moves that play to your strengths, and your opposition weaknesses; play smart! Ideal post position is the first dash above the block area, this allows the post player space to operate in the pivot. Position is important on the blocks, but possession of the ball is critical. The position you receive on the pass will also dictate your back to the basket or face up game.

Post players should be comfortable playing with their back to the basket as well as facing up towards the basket. The ability to play with your back to the basket begins with utilizing front pivots, and the ability to play facing the basket begins with reverse pivots. Today, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs does a great job of utilizing his back to the basket game as well as his face up game, which makes him nearly un-guardable. Duncan can post smaller, weaker 4's and 5's, and face up bigger post players. In addition to playing on the blocks, post players must able to be effective shooters from the high post and short corner areas. Those are areas of the floor that must be utilized when guards and wings penetrate the middle of the floor, as well as the baseline to create proper spacing. These areas are also scoring areas when teams play zone defenses, such as 2-3, 1-3-1, or 1-2-2.

A good post player must be able to get good position, play with their back to the basket, and play facing the basket, but the essential part of the position is being to able to play in traffic and score effectively on both blocks.

NEXT TOPIC: Post Player Skill Development

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