Readyto fly---playing a "pack it in defense" is a relatively easy concept to employ! Fits our personnel a lot better than a pick 'em up over the whole floor" and would be a great deal more effective.
Not rocket science to teach either!
Man, you could be right, but I'm just not seeing it. All of our players seem to have an advantage on both offense and defense when they are in the open court.
McNeal, Wes, and even DJ can guard most any guard/forward in the open court... and I will take them coming off of the wing one on one every time. I would also argue that Ooz is great in the open floor (runs the floor well, finishes are just ok) and Hayward isn't the athlete that the others are, but he has very good hands and is pretty good around the rim (he finishes much better than ooz). The incoming players will be able to defend within the system and run the floor as well (good athletes).
Again, the best part of the debate is that we will have a chance to see it all unfold this season.
Oh, also, obviously everybody here is providing opinions and trying to back up those opinions with facts (opposing teams, previous games, game recaps, etc).
Murf, there is no doubt that you know your hoops, and you have a great deal of knowledge. I think everybody respects that.
But, when you state your opinion as fact, it just distorts your message and the thread degenerates into you trying to defend your opinions as facts by stating something like "In the games I saw"...
You are better than that. Just state your opinion (based upon your basketball knowledge), and go with it. I know you have seen and coached a lot of games, so if you say that MU will not be able to press and play high pressure defense, then by golly you might be right. But, realize that some people around here are also pretty knowledgeable, so they may be right as well.
I think this is an interesting topic, but now we have a 5 page thread of people trying to prove you wrong (I'm guilty as well) instead of people actually discussing strategy, techniques, or styles of play... all things that are related to how MU might be different this year vs. previous years.