In reality, each type of offense and defense in HD would be different vs. varying sets. What if (no pun intended) instead of only having 4 offenses and 3 defenses to train players in, you had 12 options of each:
1. Motion offense vs. Man
2. Motion offense vs. Zone
3. Motion offense vs. Press
4. Flex offense vs. Man
5. Flex offense vs. Zone
...
1. Man defense vs. Motion
2. Man defense vs. Flex
3. Man defense vs. Triangle
4. Man defense vs. Fastbreak
5. Zone defense vs. Motion
...
etc.? Along with a few quirks, such as:
1. Training in one set, like Motion vs. Man, would have a slight fringe benefit to the other oppo, like Motion vs. Zone. This would give a synergistic effect if you trained only Motion, for example.
2. Different sets would have different effectiveness levels vs. other sets, so a little bit of a rock-paper-scissors could go on, but each set's effectiveness would still depend on your team's makeup. For example, Motion might be the best offense to run vs. Zone in a vacuum, but with *your* players, Triangle could be the better option vs. a Zone.
3. The minutes-to-IQ scale may have to be recalibrated, but that goes without saying. The details of this recalibration would be a whole other discussion. For the purpose of this idea, let's assume that HD could get the recalibration correct.
Some benefits that I see:
1. More strategic elements to choosing your offense and defense. You could conceivably practice something like Motion-vs-Zone, Triangle-vs-Man and Fastbreak-vs-Press...you could master one series of sets (say all the man setups), or even super-master one set vs the most popular defense and rely on fringe benefits for the others...you could also practice extra combinations and have multiple options against, say, man defense, since each individual set is taking up less practice minutes.
2. It would give credence to running the "less effective" sets. Running Zone might be weaker as a whole now, but if you're the only one running it in your conference, your opponents may be less prepared for it since they don't practice "vs. Zone" as much as they practice "vs. Man" and "vs. Press". It's a natural balancing mechanism.
I can elaborate on any of these details. I've thought about this before, especially when watching Syracuse. Why is their zone so effective? Is it better that other defenses in a vacuum? Not necessarily. It's so effective because for most other teams, their best offense is not going to be set up to beat a zone, and because it's the primary defense Syracuse runs, their opponents need to put in extra preparation before each game.
3/24/2014 3:18 PM (edited)