Forward tilts and jabs as separate moves make the inputs way too specific and precise, making misinputs incredibly easy.
Side specials would take away the ability to easily neutral special out of dash, and are tricky (even if not impossible) to perform while idle.
I can live with 'em, this isn't a dealbreaker for me, but I'd much rather not have 'em - if they even are there, they haven't actually been confirm. I don't think NASB 2 will be bad, and I don't think it's impossible for it to be better than the first, but I'm also not seeing much that makes this game better than the first relative to the red flags I'm seeing. If I don't favour it, I can just treat it as a different game and play it alongside NASB 1, unless they pull a Brawl. Most of the stuff I'm criticising is in Slap anyway, and that game is rad. It's really not as big a deal for me as you're making it out to be. Hell, both of the two issues I named could be VERY easily remedied if the strafe button is back - press strafe and you'll always perform a jab regardless of stick intensity, press strafe while dashing to perform a neutral special, so on. I still need to wait for more, but I'm just not too confident. There's a big information overload here and I need time to properly process and analyse it.
Also, while I prefer yellow blocking over dodges and rolls, I do think giving more defense options is a smart move. As long as they don't have air dodges, I'm good on that one.