Adaptable defenses

Like any other sport, but more so than many, basketball has a chess game with regard to defensive schemes. If you recruit and train for speed and agility, you are vulnerable to power. If your defense is strong but slow, you have a hard time defending a mobile offense. Not many teams run a power offense today, but some will still have a post player or two who are on the squad mainly for defense and rebounding who are able to fill a spot if muscle is needed, just for that reason. You can only have 13 scholarship players on the roster, so a team cannot be all things to all situations. A coach just has to pick his scheme and train the team to adapt as well as possible when adverse situations arise. A parallel today would be defending the Wishbone offense in football. Not many teams run it today, so not many defenses are geared to defend it; and when they do see it, they may have trouble with it because they have a defensive team full of pass rushers. Offensive schemes change to suit the fashion of the day, and the defenses change to stop the offenses.