Playing Basketball: Small Forward Preparation

Learn how to prepare for your role as small forward in and out of the basketball season in order to develop your playing skills.

[Music Playing] Off season skill development for a small forward is important because of the fact you play a lot of different roles on a team. Because you are the best athlete, a lot of times, you are a slasher so you have to learn how to get to the basket off the drill. It is also important with offenses that you learn to attack within the framework of the offense using spot up shooting, pump fakes, jab fakes. You need to develop all these skills as well as your ball handling ability and your ability to stick the open jumper. Talk about in season work, you have to shoot. [Music Playing] I think you have to work on driving moves at least a few wraps a day. [Music Playing] I think you have to work on post up moves and at least have three or four post up moves that you can go to. [Music Playing] And I think you have to maintain your strength level. I can almost buy in to you should not be strength training during the season if it was not for so many players that have done it before you that do it and are very successful. So you have to find a time somehow. Whose going to have the most work end season? That of all playing positions. Small forwards, whose the other most forward in the of season? Small forward because you have to be versatile. So if you are going to practice six days a week, let us say you are working on dribbling skills, shooting, scoring, strength training, post up moves, you are going to have to take and do two days of each in order to do this right or three days a week if you are going to do double sessions. Anybody who has ever to a team that practices a double session? I know you have, you have been to triple sessions. You ever been to that you guys? It is hard. First day is that I was not to -, second day, I do not, it is not too easy. We have been doing triple sessions. It is difficult is it not? And we have not been doing sprints and doing other things for conditioning like you normally would do. Small forward has to have a double session mentality. It is a very special position. And knowing how to play almost every position on the floor, not just for out of balance plays but for set offenses, for zone offenses, for press breakers etc. In the off season, pick your two biggest skill weaknesses. Is it shooting? Is it driving? Is it post up skill position weakness? You have two strengths – no way around it. And this shoot includes some type of regiment for jumping to increase your jumping. Really needs to do that because you have to be so versatile. Now, not everybody is going to even know how to three position, jump and dunk the ball but you can work on jumping what? This is called vertical quickness. Maybe you will not jump higher than the person you play against but you can jump quicker, 90% of rebound are received below the rim. If you can get the ball quicker than them, you still got to be ahead of the game, vertical quickness. And the thing, if you want to improve jumping, you have to practice jumping. If you want to improve your jumping quickness, you have to practice quick jumping. Does that make sense? You do not want to be jumping up boxes this high, that does not make a lot of sense, that is not going to improve your quickness. If you want to get boxes 6”, 10”, 12” high, work your way up just 2” at a time. If you want to start and you do not have boxes, go to steps. Just one level and just go and just work on up, boom, up, boom and down then spring, as soon as you hit the ground. And you just go to work. But I will do you homework, we always talk to you about being a student in the game do not we? Be a student of that particular area. There are going to be a lot of different schools who have thought about how to do it, always make sure whatever school of thought you adopt, whether it be basketball skills, strength training, working on vertical quickness, make sure whatever schools of thought that you adopt, make perfect sense. If they do not sit right with you, then you have a right to question it. Just because someone published a book or was on a video does not mean they know everything about that particular area. Just means they wanted to do a book or a video, makes sense? Always do your homework and you know we do our home work, do you not? Now, let us go do our court work.