Shooting guard (basketball)

The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two or off guard, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's main objective is to score points for his team. Some teams ask their shooting guards to bring up the ball as well; these players are known colloquially as combo guards. Kobe Bryant, for example, as a shooting guard was as good a playmaker as he was a scorer; other examples of combo guards are Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, James Harden, Jamal Crawford, Randy Foye and Jason Terry. A player who can switch between playing shooting guard and small forward is known as a swingman. Notable swing men (also known as wing players) include Jimmy Butler, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Joe Johnson, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins, Evan Turner and Tyreke Evans. In the NBA, shooting guards usually range from 6' 4" (1.93 m) to 6' 7" (2.01 m) and 5' 9" (1.75 m) to 6' 0" (1.83 m) in the WNBA.

The Basketball Handbook by Lee Rose describes a shooting guard as someone whose primary role is to score points. As the name suggests, most shooting guards are good long-range shooters, typically averaging 35–40 percent from three-point range (Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Kyle Korver, Klay Thompson, and Dell Curry are good examples of elite shooters). Many shooting guards are also strong and athletic, and have the ability to get inside the paint and drive to the basket, five extraordinary examples are the players Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Tracy McGrady, and Vince Carter.