An introduction to the point

Charley Rosen has an off-season piece up today running through the requirements of the point guard position. In some ways its classic Rosen. For one thing, Charley goes through everything that might be asked of a point guard and classifies each a 'must'. Off the cuff I would guess that less than 10 players in the NBA meet Charley's criteria for an acceptible point. Of course, nothing but perfection is really acceptible to former coach Rosen, which is why his in-season articles are overwhelmingly critical of all but the very best teams and players. I'm not knocking him: unlike most other sports journalists he's actually interested in writing about the details of the game; which for this fan is much appreciated.

Rosen observes that on offense

Points must also have a firm conceptual grasp of the totality of the game at hand... the point guard must be aware of every matchup, the score, and the clocks. Plus, he must know how many timeouts are available to each team. Even the tendencies of the refs.

Obviously, since the No. 1 is responsible for safely carrying the ball into the attack zone, he must be a superior ball-handler and passer with a well developed off hand. What's more if he's playing with go-to scorer who's routinely two-timed, the No. 1 must also be an efficient outside shooter.

What other offensive skills must he command?

+ Utilizing screen/rolls to the max.
+ Being able to penetrate well enough to compel the defense to send help.
+ Being able to finish in heavy traffic, which usually means having some kind of high-arcing flip shot that can be released in a hurry while the converging bigs are still gathering to jump.
+ Making sure to reward a big with an appropriate pass whenever he runs the court.


On the flip side, however transcendent a No.1's talent level might be, his effectiveness (and playing time) will be limited if he's prone to making bad decisions. Such as:

- Making the wrong (or even right) pass at the wrong time to the wrong teammate.
- Forcing a fast break.
- Over-penetrating and getting caught in a spot where there's limited air space in which to either pass or shoot.
- Shooting too much or too quickly (in the shot clock) while under too much defensive pressure.
- Forcing passes into crowds.
- Being oblivious to opponents looking to ambush passing lanes.
- Not being aware of the shot clock, the matchups, and/or which opponents might be in foul trouble.
- Failing to properly position the ball so that the designated play can be undertaken with the appropriate timing and spacing.

Moreover, history proves that teams led by shoot-first point guards are more pretenders than contenders. No NBA team has ever won a championship when its No. 1 has led the league in scoring. And only three teams have won titles when their point guard was also their leading scorer — Isiah Thomas with Detroit in 1990, Magic Johnson with the Lakers in 1987, and Walt Frazier with New York in 1973.

Those who followed the Celtics last season will have little difficulty spotting the multiple places on this list where Marcus Banks was, and Delonte West is, lacking. Delonte, for all his strengths, can only deliver on about half of Rosen's 'musts'. Marcus Banks was/is a walking liability to make every bad decision here and then some. These are just both player's offensive liabilities.

Not surprisingly, Ainge has been rumored over the last year to be involved in almost every PG on the trade market (e.g. Andre Miller, Allen Iverson, etc.) and then picks up Telfair and Rondo on draft night. Both come advertised as something well short of what Rosen would call acceptible.