Well I am replying to op saying Aldridge will miss the alley oops. I replied it's a good thing since he needs to work hard to establish the low post. So you may think its moot but the op was saying it was a big deal.
Last season, the alley oops may have been a small percentage of the scoring, but they were game-changers. Our slow offense went warp speed for a few seconds, then slowed down again. Each alley oop knocked the opponents back on their heels and made their coach question whether he should go to something else. He was counting on our being slow. It would be better if McMillan's system included a provision for going fast, but since it doesn't, it was nice that our PG disobeyed orders and inserted it occasionally.
Do you even realize how hard Aldridge worked last year in the post? You seem to be completely mis-characterizing the way he played with Roy out of the lineup last season; Aldridge generated probably 65-70% of his offense off of isolation elbow and low post plays. Certainly the alley-oops helped his numbers some and they added another weapon that teams had to scout, but the way you're talking about him "working hard" etc. comes off like you want him to be some one-dimensional guy that camps out on the block. If that's what you really want, I've got three words for you, "Fuck that noise." What made (makes?) Aldridge so good on offense is that he's as much a threat to hit a pick and pop 18 footer as he is to shoot from the low block and that third weapon of the threat of an alley-oop made him even that much tougher to cover. I want Aldridge to do whatever makes it toughest for defenses to "solve" him and having that catch at the rim is a huge weapon. What really needs to happen is that this team needs other guys who can step up their game when it matters most and that's been in precious short supply for quite some time.
