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FisCommunications2018
84
RELATIONOFPOWER,SPEEDANDAGILITYIN
BASKETBALLPLAYERSBYPOSITION
DušanStanković1andМарияЦанкова‐Калоянова2
1FacultyofSportandPhysicalEducation‐UniversityofNiš
2NationalSportsAcademy„VassilLevski“Sofia
DušanStankovićandМарияЦанкова‐Калоянова
UDC796.323:613.25
SUMMARY
Theaim of thisstudy was todetermine differences inmotor skills amongtop NBA players.In orderto
conduct the research, data was collected from the official NBA Draft Combine website, where statistical
analysisofinformationwasdoneinordertodeterminethedifferences betweenplayers dependingon the
players’positions.Weanalyzedthevariablesthatcharacterizeagilityandstrength,whichareintegralpartsof
thebatteryoftestsappliedtothisdraft.Basedon“OneWayANOVA“,itcanbeconcludedthatthearithmetic
mean of the applied tests differs significantly in three motor variables at the level of p≤0.01 in relation to
playersplayingindifferentpositions(LaneAgilityTime,ThreeQuarterSprintandMaxVerticalLeap). In all
thesevariables,groups of playerswere formedandhomogenized with similar averagevaluesin relation to
bodyheight that definitelydeterminesthe values oftheperformed motorskill tests, asshown by post‐hoc
analysis.Agroupof"lower‐height"players(Shootingguard,Smallforwardand Point guard)showedon all
threetests that their arithmeticmeansdonotdifferstatistically,sotheir test resultsareverysimilar,which
quiteexplainsthetendencyofmodernbasketballthatonthepositions1‐3playerscaneasilyrotate.
Ciljovogistraživanjajebiodaseutvrderazlikeumotoričkimsposobnostima vrhunskihNBAigrača. Na
osnovupodatakasazvanicnogsajtaNBAdraftcombineuradjenajestatističkaobradapodatakasaciljemdase
utvrde razlike izmedju igrača u odnosunapozicijukojuigraju. Analizirane su varijable koje karakterišu
agilnostisnagu,akojesusastavnidelovibaterijetestovakojeseprimenjujunaovomdraftu.NaosnovuOne
Way Anove može se zaključiti da aritmetičke sredine primenjenih testova se značajno razlikuju u tri
motorickevarijablenanivoup≤0.01uodnosunaigracekojiigrajunarazličitimpozicijama(LaneAgilityTime,
Three Quarter Sprint and Max Vertical Leap). Kod svih ovih varijabligrupeigračasuseformiralei
homogenizovale sa sličnim prosečnim vrednostima u odnosu na telesnu visinu koja definitivno odredjuje
vrednosti realizovanih testova motoričkih sposobnosti, sto je pokazano post‐hoc analizom. Grupa „nižih“
igrača,Shootingguard, Small forward andPointguard,je u svatri testapokazaladase njihove aritmetičke
sredinestatističkiznačajnonerazlikujup≥0.01,takodasunjihovirezultatinatestuveomaslični,štodoneklei
objašnjavatendencijusavremenekošarkedanapoziciji1‐3mozedaselakorotirajuigrači.
Keywords:strength,agility,basketball,playerpositions
INTRODUCTION
Agility is an important component of many
sportsbuthasnotbeenextensivelyresearched
(Young& Farrow, 2006).Somestudies notedthat
the improvement in speed, power, and balance
shouldresultinanimprovementofagility(Sekulic,
Spasic, Mirkov, Cavar, & Sattler, 2013). One more
studyshowedthatthephysiologicalprofileofelite
players in the Belgian first division differs by
player position. More specifically, guards were
characterized by high endurance, speed, and
agility,whereascentersandpowerforwardshad
higher muscle strength than the other positions.
(Boone& Bourgois,2013).In oneresearch where
the strength on bench press 1RM was examined,
power forwards and centers were stronger than
the rest of the players' positions (Ben Abdelkrim,
Chaouachi, Chamari, Chtara, & Castagna, 2010).
Some researchers have been investigating
basketball footwear requirements depending on
playingposition(Brauner,Zwinzscher,&Sterzing,
2012). Furthermore, many researches have been
looking into physical fitness (Köklü, Alemdaroǧlu,
Koçak,Erol,&Findikoǧlu, 2011) (Scanlan,Tucker,
& Dalbo, 2014). In another research where male
basketball players were doing agility tests, 20m
shuttleruntests,asignificantdifferencewasfound
onthespeedandagilitytestsbetweenplaymakers
and centers. (Tsitskaris, Theoharopoulos, &
Garefis,2003).Thepointguard“(PG),alsoknown
as“numberone(1)”,istypicallyateam'sbestball
InternationalScientificConference
85
handler and passer. Therefore, they often lead
their team in assists and steals. They are often
quick and can hit shots either outside the three‐
point line or "in the paint", largely depending on
the player's skill level. Point guards are looked
upon as the "floor general" or the "coach on the
floor".Theyshouldstudythe game andgame film
to be able to recognize the weaknesses of the
defense, and the strengths of their own offense.
Theyareresponsiblefordirectingplays,making
the position equivalent to that of quarterback in
Americanfootball,aplaymakerinAssociation
football, center in ice hockey, or setter in
volleyball. Good point guards increase team
efficiency and generally have a high number of
assists.They are often referred to as dribblers or
play‐makers.IntheNBA,pointguardsareusually
theleasttallplayersontheteamandareusually6
feet5inches(1.96m)tallorshorter.Theshooting
guard“(SG)”isalsoknownas“numbertwo(2)”or
the “off guard”. Along with a small forward, a
shooting guard is often referred to as a wing
becauseofitsuseincommonpositioningtactics.
Asthenamesuggests,mostshootingguardsare
goodshootersfromthethree‐pointrange.Besides
beingableto shoottheball, shootingguardstend
tohavegoodballhandlingskillsandtheabilityto
drive the ball to the basket, often creating their
own shots off the dribble. A versatile shooting
guardwillhavegoodpassingskills,allowingthem
to assume point guard responsibilities known as
comboguards.IntheNBA,shootingguardsusually
rangebetween6feet4inches(1.93m)and6feet7
inches(2.01m)in height. Thesmall forward(SF),
also known as “number three (3)”, is the most
versatile of the five main basketball positions.
Versatilityiskeyforsmallforwardsbecauseofthe
nature of their role, which resembles that of a
shooting guard more often than that of a power
forward. This is why the small forward and the
shootingguardpositionsareofteninterchangeable
and referred to as wings. Small forwards have a
variety of assets, such as quickness and strength
inside. One common thread among all kinds of
smallforwardsistheabilityto"gettotheline"and
draw fouls by aggressively attempting (post up)
plays, lay‐ups, or slam dunks. As such, accurate
foulshootingisacommonskillforsmallforwards,
many of whom record a large portion of their
points from the foul line. Besides being able to
drivetothe basket, theyarealsogood long‐range
shooters.Somesmallforwardshavegoodpassing
skills, allowing them to assume point guard
responsibilities known as point forwards. Small
forwards should be able to do a little bit of
everything on the court, typically playing roles
suchasswingmenanddefensivespecialists.Inthe
NBA,smallforwardsusuallyrangefrom6feet6
inches(1.98m)and6feet9inches(2.06m)in
height. The power forward“(PF)”,alsoknownas
“numberfour(4)”,oftenplaysarolesimilartothat
ofthe center,down inthe "post" or "low blocks".
The power forward is often the team's most
versatile scorer, being able to score close to the
basketwhilealsobeingable to shoot mid‐range
jump shots from 12 to 18 feet away from the
basket. Some power forwards, known as “stretch
fours”,havesinceextendedtheirshootingrangeto
three‐pointers. On defense, they are required to
havethestrengthtoguard bigger players closeto
the basket and to have the athleticism to guard
quick players away from the basket. Most power
forwards tends to be more versatile than centers
sincetheycanbepartofplaysandarenotalways
inthelowblock.IntheNBA,powerforwards
usuallyrangefrom 6 feet8inches(2.03 m) and6
feet11inches(2.11m)inheight.Thecenter“(C)”,
alsoknownas“numberfive(5)”,nicknamedthe
"pivot",usuallyplaysnearthebaseline,closetothe
basket(referredtoasthe"lowpost").Theyare
usuallythetallestplayeronthefloor.Thecenter
usually scores "down low, in the paint" (near the
basket, in the key), but some can be good
perimeter shooters. They are typically skilled at
gathering rebounds, contesting shots and setting
screens on plays. The center position has been
traditionally considered [by whom?] one of the
mostimportantpositions,ifnotthemost
important.Therangeofplayersusedinthe
position has transitioned from relatively slower
but much taller 'back to the basket' players to
playerswhowouldnormallybeclassifiedaspower
forwardsbutcandominatethepositionwiththeir
defensiveskills,ormismatch ability toshootfrom
thehighpost.Thishasbeenduetothescarcityof
players possessing the combination of great skill,
idealheight,anddurability.Thishasbeenmatched
by the development of more fast‐paced and
athletic basketball play which calls for less
traditional center play and a more up‐and‐down
thecourtstyle.IntheNBA,centersareusually6
feet10inches(2.08m)ortaller.
METHODS
Subjects
The NBA Draft Combine is a multi‐day
showcase that takes place every May before the
annual June NBA draft. At the combine, college
basketball players receive measurements,
participate in interviews, undergo shooting drills,
takemedicaltests,gothroughfive‐on‐fivedrills
and perform various athletic tests in front of
National Basketball Association (NBA) coaches,
general managers, and scouts. Athletes attend by
invitation only. An athlete's performance during
the combine can affect perception, draft status,
FisCommunications2018
86
salary, and ultimately the player's career. In this
study,theresultsfromthepastfiveyearswere
takenwith a totalofN =250players divided into
the following subgroups: Point guard N=58,
ShootingguardN=59, Small forwardN=43,Power
forwardN=60andCenterN=30.
Procedure
Inthisresearch, weusedthevariablesthatare
usedinthetestingofplayerswhowereatthe
draft. Data extracted from the following website:
https://stats.nba.com/draft/combine‐strength‐
agility/,basedontheresultsfromthelast5years.
The athletic tests include an athletes
measurementsofastandingverticaljump(inches),
maximum vertical jump (inches), shuttle run
(seconds), three‐quarter‐court sprint time
(seconds) and lane agility time (seconds). The
verticaljump‐isatestofanathlete’sexplosiveleg
power. There are two versions of this test
performed, the standard (no step) vertical jump
andarunning Max Vert. ¾CourtSprint‐ Time to
sprint over the distance of three‐quarters of the
court is measured in seconds. Maximum running
speedisimportantinbasketball,thoughthe
acceleration or time over the first few steps is
probably more important. See the details of the
3/4sprinttestprocedure.LaneAgilityDrill‐Agility
is very important in basketball and is measured
using the lane agility test at the NBA camp. The
LaneAgilitytestmeasureshowfastaplayermoves
laterallyaroundthekey.
Statisticalanalysis
Statisticalanalysiswascarriedoutonrawdata
using one‐way repeatedmeasuresofANOVA
followedbyTukey’sposthoctest(p<0.01wasset
asthelevelofstatisticalsignificance).
RESULTS
Table1OneWayANOVAanddescriptive
MEAN(*p≤0.01)
N
LANEAGILITY
TIME*
SHUTTLE
RUN
THREEQUARTERS
PRINT*
STANDINGVERTICAL
LEAP
MAXVERTICAL
LEAP*
Pointguard 58 11.05 3.02 3.24 30.63 37.08
Shooting
guard 59 11.08 3.06 3.28 30.04 36.30
Small
forward 43 11.32 3.09 3.28 30.51 36.38
Power
forward 60 11.55 3.13 3.36 29.47 34.73
Center 30 11.86 3.10 3.41 28.43 32.43
Table2PostHocTukeyHSDtestforLaneAgilityTest
POSITION Subset foralpha=0.05
123
Pointguard 11,0517
Shootingguard 11,0822
Smallforward 11,3209 11,3209
Powerforward 11,5500
Center 11,8640
Sig. ,075 ,182 1,000
Table3PostHocTukeyHSDtestforTreeQuarterSprinttest
POSITION Subsetforalpha=0.05
1 2
Pointguard 3,2393
Smallforward 3,2763
Shootingguard 3,2825
Powerforward 3,3617
Center 3,4083
Sig. ,321 ,246
InternationalScientificConference
87
Table4PostHocTukeyHSDtestforMaxVerticalLeaptest
POSITION Subsetforalpha=0.05
123
Center 32,433
Powerforward 34,725
Shootingguard 36,297 36,297
Smallforward 36,384 36,384
Pointguard 37,078
Sig. 1,000 ,134 ,804
DISCUSSION
TableNo.1showstheresultsofthedescriptive
statisticsandOneWayANOVA.Wenoticethatin
three variables there are statistically significant
differences between subgroups,
LANEAGILITYTIME, THREEQUARTERSPRINT
andMAXVERTICALLEAPonalevelgreaterthan
0.01.Theseresultsaremostlyverysimilartothe
results of previous researches (Tsitskaris,
Theoharopoulos, & Garefis, 2003, Köklü,
Alemdaroǧlu,Koçak,Erol,&Findikoǧlu,2011).
Given that these studies were conducted on a
sampleofathleteswhodidnotpossessthesame
amount of quality as Draft NBA players, we can
concludethattheperformanceandlevelofthe
playersdonotplayacrucialroleinthedifferences
inthemotorskillsofthebasketballplayers
comparedtothepositiontheyplay.Variable
LaneAgilityTime shows that the minimum
average time was 11.05 seconds for the point
guard subgroup, for which we can say that they
werethefastestonthistest.Theslowestwere
centers with a time of 11.86 seconds. In the next
test,shuttlerun,pointguardsalsohadthebest
average time which was 3:02 seconds, while the
subgroup “power forwards” had the time of 3.13
seconds, where we see that power forwards are
slowerthan thesubgroup “centers” which isvery
interesting considering that the players at these
positionsare usuallyof lessheight and physically
moreprepared.Turningtechniqueand
coordination is also a large factor in this test. At
Three Quarter Sprint variable point guards also
had the best average time of 3.24 seconds, small
forwardsandshootingguardsbothhadthetimeof
3.28,whilecentersweretheslowestwiththetime
of3.41seconds.Whatisunusualisthatonthenext
test, the point guards had the best results even
though speed was not included, At the standing
vertical leap the average height of the jump was
30.63 inches; however, the centers had the worst
results,withtheaveragejumpbeing28.43inches.
Onthelasttest,MaxVerticalLeap,pointguards
once more had the best results with an average
jump height of 37.08 inches, whereas the centers
weretheworstwitha32.43averagejumpheight.
According to post‐hoc analysis, shown in the
followingtables,wecanseethatsubgroups,whose
arithmetic means statistically did not differ
significantly,haveseparatedfromthelowesttothe
highestplayers.Table2showsthatlaneagility
timetesthasthreesubsetplayers,intableno.3for
THREE QUARTER SPRINT two subsets, for MAX
VERTICALLEAP test intable no. 4also 3 subsets.
Thegeneralconclusionisthatthehighestplayers
oftheSubgroup“Center”hadtheweakestresults
inthemaxverticalleapandlaneagilitytimetest
and they were separated as a specialsubset with
veryspecificresultsofmotorskills.
CONCLUSION
Based on the conducted research, using data
collectedfromtheofficialwebsite,itcanbe
concluded that the differences in motor skills in
treated basketball players compared to the
positiontheyplayexistandthattheyaremainly
conditioned by anthropometric characteristics.
Three Quarter Sprint test shows two groups of
basketball players with similarresults, table 3. In
the other two tests, the Agility and Power test,
three groups of athletes were clearly
differentiated, where the centers were isolated
from other players. The obtained results point to
the tendency of the modern basketball that the
differencesinmotorskillsarebecominglesserand
tolookforplayerswhocanequallybegoodatany
position.
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