its really a combination of two things... the 1+2, 3+4, 5 are treated the same from a defensive formula perspective. this means you could flip the 1 and 2 or the 3 and 4 and have no impact on your defensive prowess. but in the end, to some extent, all 5 players are averaged.

what we don't know is if that means they are averaged in equal weights or not. is the 1 as valuable as the 5 regarding shots from 20 feet? from 2 feet? its not really clear - my take is the guards get plugged into the guard formula (the 1+2 formula in the 2-3 zone) and probably return higher values, at 20 feet, than a center does in the formula for the 5. maybe the pg is great, worth 10 points, the sg is ok, worth 7.5, and the center is good - but only worth 5, because inherently he isn't as fast and/or the formula for the 5 at 20 feet just doesn't return as large of values.

but, its also possible that's not really true - and that a center is basically as important as a pg for any shot. in short, we know all 5 guys contribute to the defense on every shot. we don't know if they contribute equally. my best guess is there is some disparity, guards matter more for per shots, bigs for post shots, but that the disparity is moderate, not huge.

I think all five zone positions have “equal” impact on a possession, but that isn’t the same as saying they have equal impact on a particular shot. A super zone C with elite ath-def-blk affects every possession; part of the high defense is repressing the opposing team’s good shot opportunities down low. That effect is more pronounced when the opposing team has high distribution set up to LP scorers. So a perimeter based offense won’t feel that impact nearly as much as a LP based offense. Is that super zone C impacting perimeter shots? Possibly, sort of - it depends on distribution. If the offensive gameplan is based on perimeter scoring, then not really. But if those perimeter shots are “forced” because a higher distribution LP player can’t get his looks, then there is a kind of indirect impact.

IMO, the best way to think about a zone defense, whether you’re setting it up, or attacking it, is to think about where the “teeth” are. If it’s 2-3, and there are solid Forwards and a monster C, then the teeth are going to be set up down low. Perimeter scoring is going to be the most effective weapon to use, if you have it. If it’s a 3-2 with excellent defenders all around the perimeter, you’re not going to get many good outside looks, so see if you can implement some LP scoring. Obviously then, the best zone defense is going to be strong in all zones, which is why I don’t suggest trying to “hide” anyone on defense, unless the guy you’re “hiding” is at least an adequate defender for the division.