Difference Between Small Forward and Power Forward

Series Summary

Basketball, b-ball, hoops—these are all names for one of the most popular games in America. Whether it’s professional play in the NBA, college games, the local high school team, a friendly round of one-on-one round, or an outdoor street game at the playground court, basketball is exciting and fast-paced, pitting player against player and skill against skill. Having strong fundamentals like dribbling, passing, and shooting is the key to the success of any aspiring player or team. Though flashy dunks, trick shots, and off the wall dribbling antics are fun to watch and have their place, they often create a “superstar” mentality that ultimately hurts the team if not put in check. What makes basketball great is the combination of individual talent and team strategy, ultimately producing a match that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

In this free video basketball lesson, an experienced coach will tell you how to play the small forward and power forward positions in basketball. Learn how to post up down low, set screens and get open for shots. You will also find out how to create your own shots with post moves, baseline drives and jump shots. Watch these videos to increase your all-around basketball skills.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson. And what we want to talk about right now is the difference between what a small forward is and a power forward is. The forward position is usually a little bit bigger of a player than what we use for our guards. Our point guards are typically one of the smaller guys in the offense, and our shooting guards are usually a little bit bigger. But our forwards are going to be the big guys--you want to concentrate on the small forward being a big guard that can shoot. So, for example, we've got Kyle here who is a taller player, he's just a little bit smaller than our post players, but at the same time he's a good outside shooter. So we can use him out on the wing as an outside shooter, what we call the small forward position, which is actually like another big guard. Some offenses run a three guard set, so instead of having a small forward, they're going to have another guard. So, our power forward spot then is basically, if you're team is blessed like ours is, we have a lot of big post players, so you can actually use two players that might be centers, one as a power forward, and one as a center. But the difference between the two are a power forward is going to be a guy that can post up, but at the same time he can shoot from the outside as well. So we're going to use him as a versatile role, where a center is more of a guy that's just going to play underneath, and he's going to post up, and he's going to rebound underneath. But this guy's going to be a little more versatile. We're going to run him from side to side, we're going to run him off some screens, allow him to come up in the high post area and shoot as well. So we've got our power forward which plays down low most of the time, and our small forwards which are going to play out on the perimeter for us. And that's the difference between the two forward roles. "