Best Combinations of Offense/Defense Topic

I've been playing this HD for many years and have had a lot of different Usernames/Teams.  I would change the Offense or Defense occasionally to one I was more familiar with but never put much thought into it. Three years ago my friend Vic taught me how to recruit and play the Press.  It was then that I really started to think about which Offense compliments the Press.  That led me to look at every different combination of offense and defense to see which ones compliment each other the best and which ones don't.

I do have to say: a complimentary offense and defense does not change the outcome of individual games.  The advantage of a good combination is the ability to have a more concentrated effort in recruiting and a more efficient Practice Plan.  I have only shared this concept with a few other coaches but I thought it would be a great conversation here.  So let me give you and example:

I personally believe that a Press and Flex is the prefect combination. 
  • Both require great Speed and Athleticism.  (I don't want to recuit a guy who needs High Speed for defense but doesn't need it for offense.)
  • Flex does not require a Low Post presence and does require a good Perimeter game, which allows me to recruit smaller players.  Those smaller players with more Speed are also an asset for the Press.  I carry a lot of SFs on my teams and rarely have a Center. 
  • Obviously the Fastbreak also is a good combination with the Press.  The reason I prefer the Flex over the Fastbreak is because the Press requires a High IQ, the highest IQ of any defense I believe.  Flex does not require a High IQ, maybe the lowest of any offense.  That means I can spend more minutes on practicing the Press and fewer on the Flex and not take away from developing individual skills.  Fastbreak does not require as High of an IQ as Motion, but it does require more of an IQ than Flex.  I don't want an offense and defense that both require a lot of practice minutes.  
  • I also know that putting a lot of individual practice minutes into Conditioning will greatly benefit both Press and Flex and that becomes a priority when I look at individual player develpoment.
So looking at what works for you and thinking through this process, what offenses and defense compliment each other the best and allow you a more focused recruiting and practice process?
1/1/2011 8:50 PM (edited)
I haven't done it yet, but I plan to try out the FB/Man combo soon.  The new recruit generation has produced players that are freak athletes and often have very high defense, but no offensive skills.  If you recruited a team of these guys, you'd be fantastic defensively and have a decent fast break offense.  Sounds good in theory, but I don't know if anyone has put it into practice.  
1/1/2011 9:08 PM
i just play m2m and motion with most of my teams, and i get all star players that are so good it doesn't matter what system im running, and if i somehow can't get super all stars, i get defensive players whose presence on the floor doesn't hurt me as a team
1/2/2011 1:39 PM
but mostly, i just get all stars
 
1/2/2011 1:39 PM
Best Combinations of Offense/Defense Topic

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