I have no problem with Ime experimenting with different lineups and different strategies during the regular season. Find out what works and doesn’t work.
I'm not sure what that chart is showing. Do we have something similar for last year? Last year, the zone defense with double bigs was actually really effective. This year, it looks terrible. I'm not sure if it's due to the new personnel or if teams have adjusted to it, though I'm leaning toward it being a personnel issue. I also recall Fred mentioning that their zone defense was chaotic. They don't run a traditional set zone, and half the time, the players don't know what they're doing out there. They're just adapting on the fly to whatever the offense throws at them. It sounds great on paper: an adaptive zone defense. In some ways, zone defense has significant advantages. Today's players are so skilled offensively that one-on-one guarding often can't contain them. Zone is actually the superior approach for checking these elite players, but it requires the team to move quickly and cover all the gaps, essentially creating constant rotation. In contrast, man-to-man defense only requires rotation when a player gets beaten. The concept is sound in theory... if you have the right personnel to execute it.
Actually, most people believe zone defense is not effective against highly skilled professional players. That's why NBA teams still don't use it very often after so many years of having been legalized. Udoka said at one time last season that the double bigs lineup was used to conserve Sengun's energy for offense, sparing him from having to bang with big men down low the whole time. And the zone is for the double bigs. If that's the main reason, then the double bigs and the zone is primarily NOT for defensive purpose.
