Memphis Basketball: How Tigers can utilize speed, athleticism in 2019-20

Memphis Basketball has an incredible group of young talent for next season. How should head coach Penny Hardaway utilize the roster to maximize their potential?

Get ready for basketball, hockey style! At least that’s one way Memphis Basketball in 2019-2020  can play and keep its talented array of players content. It probably wouldn’t be a joy for opponents either. With the kind of speed and athletic ability this roster possesses, it might well seem like the Tigers are on skates as other teams try to defend them. And it would behoove the U of M to take advantage of this ability.

Hockey is known as one of the fastest sports around. So fast in fact, that players can often only play in shifts of about two minutes at a time, after which the whole lineup is changed on the fly. This could be just the thing Memphis could employ this upcoming season. Imagine players putting out max effort every time they are on the floor until they are absolutely exhausted. There are a few more stops in play in basketball, and the other team can slow the pace a bit on offense, so the shifts will invariably be a bit more lengthy than two minutes, but the principle would definitely work. Play five players about five to seven minutes, let them go as fast as they can without being out of control, and then make wholesale substitutions. If a player isn’t ready to come out by then, it would be prudent to make the argument that he isn’t playing hard enough.

In addition to the hockey tempo, the Tigers can also employ the physicality of a hockey team. With the sheer depth of this roster, they can afford to bump and body their opponents as much as the officials will allow without too much trepidation concerning foul trouble. Bob Huggins has held true to that philosophy throughout the majority of his coaching career, a fact of which Hardaway is surely well aware. He has already emphasized the desire for toughness in his players, and there is no greater sport that epitomizes that trait than hockey.

Penny may choose not to emphasize physicality over speed, but he definitely wants to feature an uptempo style. The Tigers’ coach has said in the past that he wants his teams to play in a similar fashion to the Houston Rockets, and now he has the personnel to do so. “Pace and Space” has become the slogan the Memphis Grizzlies are using, and the Tigers undoubtedly will embrace that mantra as well. But Hardaway has even more depth at his disposal than the Rockets. The Tigers should be fast not just offensively, but on defense as well. Pressuring the ball should force turnovers and lead to some easy baskets here and there, but that strategy isn’t just for instant results. At the end of the game, other teams will wear down; that’s just human nature.

Hardaway has lured recruits with the promise of getting them NBA ready, and one of the best ways to do that is play the way pros do. The Golden State Warriors have won multiple championships utilizing a wide open style.

Hockey is a sport that rarely makes use of set plays, relying more on intuitive movement from the players, and this is something that Hardaway also wants to see from his players. He wants them to read and react versus settling down into a grind it out half court offense. End to end action will surely benefit this team more than plodding along and winding up forcing shots up against the clock.

Expect this incarnation of the Tigers to push the ball even after made baskets. With big men like James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa possessing such versatility, there is no reason for a guard to have to come back and get the ball before it is inbounded. Whoever is the last man back can throw it in, and the closest man to him should get it and go, even if it’s one of the bigs. Get it to a guard when possible of course, but there is absolutely no reason with the talent on this team to wait for a ballhandler to come back and get and the ball every time.

And the Tigers should be able to fully utilize this style in practice. Their depth means that first team versus second team could well be more competitive than some of the opponents they will face. Not many teams will have the personnel to emulate what the U of M does, so the Tigers’ style will be extremely difficult to prepare for.

Breakneck pace should almost force Memphis to keep the substitutions flowing during most of the season, but as postseason play arrives Hardaway will likely have to tighten his rotation. This doesn’t mean however, that the same players will get similar minutes each game. Basketball is a feel game, and different players get hot in different contests. Playing time can be determined by who is having the better game. And although foul trouble shouldn’t be a major issue, it may still often affect who is most likely to be on the floor at the end of the game.

Depth can also help the team feature the kind of mental and physical toughness Hardaway wants them to embrace. Minor injuries mount up over a long season, but there’s always greater incentive to play through them when you know there is a teammate right behind you who will be chomping at the bit to take your spot if you find yourself unable to answer the bell. Some may see this as a way to create tension among players, but it can also serve to build the kind of healthy rivalries teams need to keep them hungry. Of course a tight-knit group is required to build team spirit this way. But with the right mindset, friendly competition will inevitably strengthen the unit. And since Hardaway preaches family and seems to know how to connect to his players, his team should only benefit from its deep roster.

So if this Memphis coaching staff wants to find a way to keep its players happy with their minutes and at the same time show the kind of physical and mental resolve that can guide them toward ultimate success, they could well use another sport as a blueprint. There are currently no professional teams on the ice in the Mid-South, but might it still be hockey season this fall in Memphis?