If you look at what Miles has done in the past, that should give you a fair idea of what he wants to do and how his teams will play. Like most good coaches, he's tweaked his systems to who he has playing. That notion was applauded when we were discussing the football team and Coach Riley, but for some reason, I see guys on the page thinking we need to always play a certain style. If you look at Mile's teams in the past, they tended to perform a great deal based on what they had on their roster. Some years he averaged quite a bit more than other years. Some years they did a little run and gun, others they were a bit more patient. When you have plenty of scorers you don't mind getting in those track meets, but if you lack that, you better make every possession count. That's basketball.
If you consider Miles first season, I thought he got about all he could out of the kids. Offense wasn't their forte, so they leaned harder on Doc Sadler's defensive core. When it came to recruiting in talent, he knew we had a serious void and getting Petteway and Pitch in the mix was a real plus. Your thinking that those guys weren't necessary and we should have simply focused on getting high schoolers isn't wrong, but Miles was facing a BIG schedule. He understood that many fans were lamenting bringing in 'another mid major guy', knowing the major complaint with the last one was he didn't change his recruiting formula in order to get the talent he needed to compete and tried to simply use mid major type players against power 5 talent. Miles took the opportunity for an immediate upgrade in physical talent. Was it the right call? Well, this season it didn't appear to be, but last season certainly had us believing it was. I thought Miles actually did a good job in figuring out how to get the most out of Pett and Pitch...last year. This year, I thought he failed completely in creating an offense that used the talents of his entire team, and I believe he see's the mistake he created by trying to accommodate individuals over team.
Since you played some ball in college, then I'll assume you had seasons that were far from identical. I played too, and we had seasons that were heavy with wing and post scoring, followed by a season that was heavy with scoring from the point, then another that was totally dominated by the wings. Had we not had a coach who recognized the personnel differences, and had the vision to try and adjust the offense slightly, I doubt we would have won 79 games in 3 seasons. In my mind, I saw Miles struggle to find the right mix because of two issues. First was he just didn't have any shooters. It sounds simple, but truthfully, if you don't have someone who can consistently hit from the perimeter, defenses can sag and help all day to slow down guys driving or trying to work inside. Second, I think he had some major personality conflicts on the team. One would think that should be something a coach can overcome, but having been in a situation where most of the team hated the best player, it puts a coach between a rock and a hard place. Unless you have enough talent to offset completely disrupting the team dynamic and benching the star, you have to try to play peacemaker all the time. And I don't mean to suggest that everyone hated Pette, but I do think there were numerous guys who thought he was more problem than he was worth.
As for his substitutions and getting playing time to some of the guys like Fuller, I think that was a byproduct of some of those feelings against the star player. There was a clique that wanted to do their thing and didn't seem to embrace the idea of expanding the roles of some players. You could see in the body language when some substitutions came in that it wasn't a popular move in the minds of some of the players. The comment about Moses is spot on, but he was hampered with some injuries if I remember correctly, and he also had the problem of being a strict, on the box type player. That's exactly where Pette wants to go, and when we talk about spacing, it's nearly impossible to get it when guys are all but driving right into their own players.
I'm actually excited to see some of what we can accomplish with a group with a slightly more 'team mentality'. I don't have any problem bringing in someone who can add to the depth as long as they have the right attitude and skillset to contribute. The kid from Brown sounds like a bit of a beefy inside player who doesn't demand a great deal of touches, which is perfect. The Louisville kid is a bit of a question mark, but Miles knows better than any of us just how much he had to deal with the last year or two when in came to 'Me' minded guys. If this kid is ready to add his skills to a team, then I'd give him a good, hard look. We know that the BIG is a talented, and in many cases, deep conference. We'll need plenty of talent to get back to competing again.
I could just as easily say you'd be surprised at what guys say about the coach when he's not around....when one clique is hanging out in their door room venting about how miserable it is to play for a coach who won't dare bench a guy for cussing at teamates or any number of other ridiculous things pette did during the season. From listening to your posts, I don't think you'd be suprised because you've obviously been there done that like i have. You could say that perhaps the players understood what the coach was up against. maybe. and maybe some of those same guys are now wondering if the same thing will happen again this year with whatever JUCO ringers Miles brings in for his instant fix. For the record, I'm not against bringing in guys like that. If Miles can get good players to come here and put in work, then I'm ALL FOR THAT. I am against bringing guys in who will go unchecked by the head coach. thats all i'm saying.....but we've beat that horse to death. 
