Did the zone hurt us in 2009? How about 2012?
The players are what is holding the offense back, not the system. Too many jumpshooters, not enough guys who can do something--anything--off of the bounce. I think that three point shooting is terrific; that's the way that the game has evolved. But I love having guys with the versatility to do multiple things, not just one thing really, really well. Makes the offense more dangerous and difficult to guard.
Remember back in the early preseason when some posters got extremely bent out of shape when I reported that White wouldn't make a good 2 and Lydon wouldn't make a good 3 because they lacked any semblance of offensive skill for those positions, other than outside shooting [you were not one of those posters, Alsacs]?
I love Lydon and White. I'm not knocking them. But when you have guys with limitations like that, the offense is going to look different than if you have Gbinije [just for example] playing the 3 and able to create for himself and others off of the bounce. Or a guy like Hakim Warrick, who is a strong post up threat but could also step out and shoot.
All that said, I do agree 100% with your point about sacrificing skill for athleticism. Athleticism is very important in high major college basketball, but it is also nice to have guys with high hoops IQ, a good feel for the game, and good fundamentals. And those things aren't mutually exclusive [see: CJ Fair]. Would much rather have guys who can play than a bunch of athletes who lack strong fundamentals.