1. Once again, his post-ups aren't inefficient. On initial halfcourt shots, league average is under 0.92 PPP. LMA's scoring at a 0.96 PPP clip on post-ups.
2. I get your point, and recognize that LMA isn't renowned as a passer. I posted some team stats that show how Portland did a poor job of turning their (relatively) efficient on-ball offense into off-ball looks to support said point.
3. So...you'd run PnR every time down the floor? How might the defense adjust to that? What happens to Lillard's efficiency when his offensive workload, as well as defensive focus/planning, goes up? Is CJ McCollum - the only other competent scorer out of PnR's on Portland's roster - ready to pick up that slack? How might opposing teams adjust their lineups when they know they have fewer LMA post-ups to defend?
4. Basketball is a dynamic game; you can't just change one set of possessions without that change affecting a bunch of other **** (not that you've said otherwise). That people frequently assert that you can just wave your hand and "get" easy buckets blows my mind. It's the same dynamism that makes measures like ts% and eFG% worthless without context (LMA v. Favors is a perfect example).
To get back to my initial point, LMA and Favs aren't in the same league offensively. Whether LMA demands post touches too frequently or his coaches have over-used him in the post is immaterial. Dude's a terrific scorer/offensive player regardless. He's not a great fit next to Tim Duncan IMO, so it'll be interesting to see how he's utilised this season, and whether Pops staggers their minutes as much as possible.
No, I didn't say I'd run PnR every time down the floor. There are plenty other actions and options available that don't include pnr(cuts, screening action off the ball, DHOs, high post action, etc.). My point was more to emphasize my preference of using PnR instead of post up with Aldridge to initiate the offense and create advantage in the half-court, not to say that 100% of my offense would be PnR. If you have 15-20 seconds on the clock(assuming no mismatches) dumping the ball in the post and relying on Aldridge to create better look for the rest of the team is not anywhere close to my first option. You dump the ball to Aldridge if you are content with what he gives you in the post vs what you can get while using other options in the rest of the shot clock, while knowing that this post up will probably be available to you anyways with 5-7 second to go as well. Chances are Aldridge will still get some good number of post-ups both as a result of the offense creating opportunities for him to establish good post-up position and in broken possessions, so opponents couldn't really rely on limiting LMA as a post-up threat enough to make any serious adjustments that won't get them punished.
I absolutely agree with you that LMA is much better offensive player than Favors, I just think his offensive talent either is being misused to an extent or he himself is making decisions that limit his efficiency... or maybe he's just not good enough off-the ball to get more high-efficiency shots - as the roll man in the pnr and on cuts specifically and instead relies on post-ups and isos and long-2 spot ups.
BTW I still think Favors has another gear and he will improve even more in the coming years. His post up is not great right now, but he can get better at it as he gets more opportunities to work in-game situations on it. His spot ups can improve as well(last year he made a great jump on his mid-range jumpers in the first year he specifically focused his work on it) and I think he can be one of the better pnr finishers in the league if he gets a competent PG anytime soon. He probably will never be as skillful as Aldridge is on-ball, but I think he can somewhat compensate for it by being better pnr finisher and all-around finisher around the rim.
edit: I have to fess up and say you've swayed my opinion on Aldridge a bit, GVC. I don't see him nearly as negatively as I did before that thread. I still don't think he uses his talents optimally, but still... you gave some nice perspective about his offensive use. You should post more. This board needs more quality posts like yours.
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