I think it seems intuitive that high team speed is a positive factor when running uptempo. But in situations where a team is not as good overall (defensively, skills, including BH/PASS -- where a lot of the speed is coming from) does it hurt your team to play slowdown like you might otherwise?

For instance i have a team with a team speed advantage, but my guards have fairly low ball skills, and I am outclassed defensively. Playing against a team running an uptempo press, do I gain enough of an advantage by playing Normal or even Fast into the press to make up for increased TO likelihood?

hmmm i could be wrong.. but i dont factor SP into the equation at all when deciding on normal slowdown or uptempo.

not sure how you make up for increased TO likelihood by creating more possessions

Anecdotally, I do think uptempo works best for fast teams, especially fast teams playing offensive sets that utilize speed the most (IMO, FB and motion). I’ve never looked for any systematic evidence, and I know a lot of folks disagree, so grain of salt.

Overall talent first, then stamina and IQ (or “depth” more generically) versus the opponent is more meaningful to me than speed when deciding to run uptempo. I think it just increases possessions/reduces time per possession. Just shots earlier in the shot clock, but have never verified with research. Agree that fast break offense benefits from speed.

" I think it just increases possessions/reduces time per possession. "

Yup. And it increases fatigue.

Generally speaking you want to go uptempo if you are better and/or deeper. Just being faster isn't a real good reason in my opinion.

Appreciate the responses. I ended up going Normal tempo and it worked out pretty well, but we have a rematch in CT in a few min. I only considered fast, but really I was trying to decide if playing slow with faster players would be a detriment.