Can someone explain the role of each position in basketball?

[KingGheedora]

Center, guard, point guard, shooting guard, forward, power forward, and any others I'm missing. What does each one do?

 

[JS80]

Center - stand in the center and block shots
Guard - a shooting guard or point guard
Point Guard - brings the ball up the court and calls the plays
Shooting Guard - specialty is shooting from the perimeter, but often times are great at driving the ball in
Small Forward - hybrid between SG and PF; should be dangerous from the arc but also have penetration and post up abilities
Power Forward - post up player and backs up center on defense

 

[neegotiator]

Course with european style ball or Nellie's offensive schemes, just about every player and their mom is a guard.

 

[Coquito]

Size & athletic ability determine your position most of the time. What you can exploit at that stance determines your worth. With the NBA now playing around 6'3"-6'9", there are not many true position players anymore. Many teams employ 3 or 4 guard push offenses, as well as point foward strategies. As long as someone is running the point, there really isn't any standard to speak of anymore.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: Coquito
Size & athletic ability determine your position most of the time. What you can exploit at that stance determines your worth. With the NBA now playing around 6'3"-6'9", there are not many true position players anymore. Many teams employ 3 or 4 guard push offenses, as well as point foward strategies. As long as someone is running the point, there really isn't any standard to speak of anymore.

Trudat...in the Mavs starting 5, their forwards are Dirk and Josh Howard. So they pretty much have 4 people who can take the ball down the floor and run point if needed.

 

[DrPizza]

But, outside the NBA, a lot of teams - high school and mediocre college teams - seem to have players who really specialize in one thing or another, particularly point guard. There are many teams where most of their players lack the ball handling skills necessary to bring the ball up the floor - it's almost like the point guards for some teams are given a great deal of respect by the defense, but if anyone else has the ball (full court press), the defenses do a much better job shutting down the other 4 players.