Team Strategy: New England Patriots?

Longtime reader. Decided to start posting threads every once in a while on player analysis and how players fit into the context of the team, because that's what I'm most interested in. For all we know, these players may be shipped out of here tomorrow, so I might as well invision what they're gonna look like together while they're still here. Apologies for length, and thanks for reading.

Talking about an individual's "celiing" or "NBA comparison" is always fun, but I think we too often forget that talent isn't everything. Finding the right role and having the right things asked of you can make all the difference in a player's career. A lot of players with less "talent" have made great NBA careers (Chuck Hayes and Ben Wallace come to mind), simply because they're strengths matched a team's need.

As I talked about in a previous post, I could not be happier with great our rookies are individually, but more importnatly, how well they fit together. The minute they were drafted, we immediately added a few more packages to our arsenal.

During Summer League, I couldn't help but think of what the New England Patriots did this past year, in terms of style not wins (obviously, we don't have a Tom Brady on this team). In football (as in soccer and basketball), one of a coach's main priorities is to use as much of the field as possible and to spread the defense out as far as possible. The defense only has 11 guys on the field, and they can't really switch out once the play clock gets to 20 or so seconds (obvious, but a very important factor). Teams used to spread out defenses based on their play-calling. . They added speed elements to power plays, and power elements to speed plays. For example, the best way to pass deep, is to fake a run up the middle. Pretty simple.

The Patriots took it a step further last year. Instead of using play-calling to create mismatches, they used personnel. Instead of adding speed elements to power plays and power elements to speed plays, they found powerful players with a lot of speed and quick players with a lot of power. Aaron Hernandez, for example, played receiver, tight end, and running back in one series. Simply put, when the Patriots got into their huddle on offense with multiple tight ends, it was unclear whether they were coming out in a 5-wide spread formation or a Power-I formation. They had the personnel to do both. The defense didn't know if they should put more cornerbacks on the field or linebackers. If the defense went big, the Patriots could counter it by spreading the field. If the defense went small, the Patriots could counter it by playing power football using he same exact lineup as before. Very few teams had the athletes to matchup with them.

Undersized PFs are the Tight Ends of the NBA.

What I saw in Summer league the past week is a lineup with D-Mo (7'0"), Royce White (6'8" but strong as an ox), Terrence Jones (6'9"), and Jeremy Lamb (6'6" with long arms). Insert Jeremy Lin (6'3") at PG, and all of the sudden that lineup is HUGE. Put in Chandler Parsons (6'10"), Marcus Morris (6'8"), or Gary Forbes (6'6") in the wing, and the fact remains that that is one big powerful lineup, especially on the wing.

But, unlike most teams, when we go big, we won't be looking to slow it down, and pound it inside. In fact, we'll be doing just the opposite. This lineup CAN RUN. Every rookies biggest strength is there ability to play in transition. They also targeted Tyler Zeller, a player who's biggest strength is running the floor.

It'll be interesting how opposing teams match up with us.
If they go small? Look for tons of mismatches on the boards (especially TJones at the SF position) and tons of offensive rebounds.

If they go big? D-Mo, White, and Jones wil be flying up and down the court, especially when White pushes the ball in transition. Not to mention, that most bigs won't be used to playing against their ball-handling and quickness.

Won't we get beat defensively? Probably, especially until D-Mo learns how to protect the rim better because we wont' be able to stop penetration. But with so much size and athletism on the court, we should be able to switch a lot of screens and force teams to beat us one-on-one. Some teams excel in that. A lot don't.

We're going to be a mixture of power and speed, not because of play-calling, but because of personnel.

Overall, we are going to be lacking in both talent and experience this year, and we're definitely going to lose a lot of games. Defense and 3-point shooting are going to be too much of an issue. But once our rookies come off the bench, I could really see our uniqueness causing a lot of teams problems. Maybe not now, but definitely in a few years. A few teams are equipped to handle our uniqueness, but the majority just don't have the correct personnel.

On any other team, our rookies obvious weaknesses (and they each have quite a few) would really limit their playing time. But the Rockets have put an emphasis on versatility, transition, and size on the wings, and our rookies strengths seem to fit that need.

Most importantly, if you watched the NBA finals, you saw that the two best teams are falling the same blueprint. Just with a few more superstars.

Thanks for reading, and go rockets!