Cutting the angle is definitely the best.
Inferior techniques can sometimes still be pretty good and work in the right hands even if they're not that absolute most efficient way to do something. Sometimes people extend their bodies to finish guillotines and still get the tap, for example, even though crunching is much more efficient. Arguing 'it can work this way' is irrelevant to the argument if it's the best way or not.
The fact that someone who is generally well regarded teaches something a certain way doesn't mean it's the best way or even a particularly good way, whether that's Ryan Hall or Ryron Gracie. Personally, I tend to look towards how the people who consistently pull stuff off in high level competition teach it as the best way. Hall's a guy I trust on 50/50 and triangles probably above all else. He also has a passing DVD that's probably fine, but I'd rather study Lucas Lepri's as that's an area of strength I associate with Lepri and not Hall. I imagine Ryron Gracie could also teach you a heel hook, but if I'd already learned it from Gordon Ryan I would probably assume Gordon's way was better if even if Ryron could get a lot of guys to tap.
It's important never to forget the degree to which even very high level, successful practitioners regurgitate technique the way they were taught it, either because they've never really taken the time to examine how it actually works for themselves and others in practice, or because it's not an important part of their game so they've never devoted much time to breaking it down and trying to improve it. There are very, very few groups like the DDS that spend all their time breaking down the finer points of almost all technical areas of BJJ (the Mendes brothers also come to mind), and so when famous people show stuff neither they nor their students are known for doing it's not at all absurd to assume it's just a pass through of the way they were taught and not of any special value.
