It's kind of disingenuous to include the pnr ball handler possessions in that figure if you want to make that point since I did count only isos and post ups as the low-efficiency shots that Aldridge uses and since he has no ball-handling responsibilities.
It's not disingenuous in the least. Those three shot types - isos, pick and roll ball handlers, and post-ups - belong together because they're the three on-ball shot types, generally used to initiate offenses and to get buckets when the offense breaks down and/or the shot clock is short.
What % of possessions do teams use on isos and post ups is the real question? I would guess it'd be around 25-30? Or am I wrong? 30 vs 43 paints much different picture. How many teams use 43% of their possessions on ISOs and postups specifically? How many pnr ball-handler possessions do Portland use when Aldridge is on the floor and what % of their possessions are on-ball(iso, postup, ballhandler in pnr)? Because from what I'm seeing Lillard himself uses 44% of his possessions as pnr ballhandler.
1. What teams do v. what specific players do isn't relevant. Presumably you want your best on-ball players using more on-ball possessions than your worst on-ball players. As such, since LMA has proven to be efficient out of post-ups, even at high volume, he's going to get more on-ball opportunities than other players on his team or other teams.
2. I'd love to have on-court/off-court play type statistics, but as far as I know they aren't available (for free anyway). What we do know, however, is that Portland's offense was 7.3 pts/100 possessions better with LMA on-court v. off-court. It's unclear how much of that is attributable to LMA, and how much is attributable to teammates.
There will always be some % of inefficient possessions in any case, I am perfectly aware that creating great looks is not easy and some portion of them will be low-efficiency shots. My point is that 43% on isos and postups is way too high and either shows badly constructed offense and/or chucking tendencies.
A couple things:
1. We should be careful with the word "inefficient." Once you remove putbacks and transition (and misc) attempts, and look at just halfcourt offense, league average scoring efficiency is 0.918 PPP. If you can get 0.96 PPP on post-ups, which generally occur when the defense is already set, you're golden. If you can leverage/bend the defense with those post-ups to create open looks for your teammates, even better.
FWIW, league-wide post-ups (0.853 PPP) were more efficient than either isos (0.839) or pick-and-roll handlers (0.784) this past season. In fact, they were more efficient than combined pick-and-roll handlers and finishers (0.844 PPP). Despite this, there were nearly twice as many terminal possessions used by pick-and-roll handlers (40220) than out of post-ups (22537) (ignoring entirely the 17967 terminal possessions used by roll men). Why? Two reasons come to mind: first, for most players, it's easier to create space dribbling around a screen than it is isolating or posting up; second, I'd guess pick-and-rolls generally leverage/bend the defense better than isos or post-ups, creating better/open shots for players off-ball.
2. It's not just that creating good looks is hard, and teams are left with only on-ball options in short shot clocks, but also that it's good on-ball offense that bends defenses early in the shot clock to create open looks off-ball. Defenses will (continue to) play straight up if on-ball players don't prove they can score against them. How much offense do you think is initiated through passes by stationary players to teammates either standing still, cutting, or coming off screens? I'd guess very little. The vast majority of halfcourt offense is created through pick-and-rolls, isos and post-ups.
