Basketball Point Guard Practice Plan for 13 to 15 Year Olds

Reading was the last level. This one is manipulation: shift defenders with your eyes and pace, run the whole PnR tree, and command the game's clock.

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Two-speed lines with three gears, snake-pressure trips, passes off the dribble to moving targets both hands, six tight screen uses with reject/re-use mixed, and four corner-snake-pocket reads at pace. Everything audible, everything at tempo. The battery is now a language warmup; fluency is assumed and inspected.

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The complete tree, defender pictures served honestly by you: corner turn vs drop (downhill or the pull-up), snake vs hedge, pocket pass vs help, the SKIP read (when you overload help-side, the crosscourt delivery to a wide target), and the reject vs cheating. Fifteen reps mixed with the read named mid-play. The tree is the position's operating system at every level above this one; run the whole thing weekly.

The read that makes all others honest: versus the DROP picture, the kid rises into the pull-up jumper off the screen, in rhythm, eight reps; then four possessions where you choose drop or hedge honestly and the answer must match (pull-up versus snake). No pull-up threat means every defense drops forever; the shot is a toll booth that makes the whole tree profitable. (Shooting mechanics live in the shooting plans; here the shot is a decision.)

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The look-away as a tool: possessions where you play the help defender between two targets; the kid drives, LOOKS at one target long enough to move you, and delivers to the other, off the dribble, on time. Eight reps alternating which target is real. Then two with a called freeze ("look, hold, HOLD, throw"): patience in the manipulation. At this level assists are created before the pass, with the eyes.

The tempo con: possessions run deliberately SLOW (walk the ball up, call the set lazily, let the rhythm flatten), then the sudden ignition into a tight screen use and downhill attack. Six reps. The lull is a manipulation of the whole defense's heart rate, and it is a skill with reps, not a mood. Great guards are boring right up until they are unstoppable.

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Game-state possessions at the right speed, called aloud: up eight late (milk it: protected dribble, play called deep in the clock, no risky passes), down six (push everything, quick reads, the two-for-one hunt announced), tie game (normal flow, best read wins). Six scenarios. The point guard owns the game's clock; drill the ownership until the tempo choices are instant and audible.

The leadership checklist, expanded for the age: (1) play called before half-court, (2) two teammates directed by name, (3) the read made and named, (4) first voice after any dead ball, (5) one teammate PRAISED specifically mid-possession ("great screen, Jay!"). Four possessions, all five graded. Praise is the advanced item: captains who catch teammates doing things right get followed off cliffs.

The finale: two-minute game narrated end-to-end, the kid running every possession with real answers: a PnR read, a manipulation assist, a tempo call, a dead-ball first word, and the last shot decision (attack at :08, not :02, said aloud as law). End on a made read, then the walk-off. Point guards finish sessions the way they finish games: in charge and talking.

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What to watch today: authority. The reads are likely correct by now; the question is whether they arrive with command: called early, delivered without hedging, followed by the next instruction. When the voice stops asking permission and starts giving information, the position has fully moved in. That authority, compiled from thousands of audible reps, is what coaches mean when they say a kid "has it"; it was never mystery, just mileage.