Point Forward - Styles of Play

Styles of Play

One of the first examples of an NBA point forward was John Johnson, who played the point forward role for the Seattle SuperSonics of the 1970s, alongside two guards who were more scoring-minded in Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson. Some other notable examples are Marques Johnson and Paul Pressey, who both played that role while under Head Coach Don Nelson for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1980s. Perhaps the most notable NBA point forwards are the 6'9" Larry Bird, who while playing as a small forward or power forward often ran the offense for the great Boston Celtics teams of the 1980s; the 6'9" Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who orchestrated the Los Angeles Lakers' offense in the 1980s as the team's point guard, moved to a point forward role upon returning 27 pounds (12 kg) heavier after his HIV announcement; the 6'8" Scottie Pippen, who played with the Chicago Bulls, Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets, and ran the offense. An example of a Euroleague point forward of this type is the 6'7" Greek player Theo Papaloukas, a player that brings the ball down the court, runs the offense, and creates plays.

LeBron James of the Miami Heat is one of the most well known point forwards in the current generation of NBA players.

Alternatively, a point guard playing like a conventional forward can also be considered a point forward, although this usage of the term is uncommon. Guards playing as forwards, going for the rebound, scoring points, giving assists, able to post up guards and even with the ability to guard bigger wing players. Oscar Robertson (who had the size of many small forwards in his era) is an example of this, who averaged near career triple-doubles including both rebounds and assists. Other examples of this type of player from the Euroleague are Dimitris Diamantidis and Chuck Eidson.

At the high school level, since height can sometimes be an issue, a point forward is often used as a guard on offense and as a big man on defense. At this level of play, the typical size of the point forward would be very tall as well as skinny and lengthy. On some high school teams where size is an issue or they have a great player who is too big to be a guard, the player will trail behind the point guard and be a secondary play maker. On defense the point forward may be asked to defend bigger guys such as the power forward. On offense and defense they will use their speed and length to their advantage.