He's trying to go middle, which is something many below-the-rim players, Jefferson included, struggle with. In the past (last season and this preseason), he went soft middle, then spun baseline, fooling fewer and fewer defenders. One big problem (very nicely talked about by Chuck and Shaq on TNT last year) with how he executed was how deep he was posting up. He was trapping himself too deep under the basket when he spun baseline as a result. He's still posting too deep too often, but there is improvement. He needs to look to Marc Gasol and Pek as examples of below-the-rim players who go middle effectively with a hook shot. He's broad enough and has soft enough hands that he should be able to develop a good enough hook shot to make both his baseline spin and up-and-under more effective.
He's hit Foye a couple times up top for open 3-pt attempts. Nothing fantastic, admittedly, but it's the same pass that Jefferson needed nearly a decade to figure out. When he passes, though, he does so much more crisply than Jefferson. I mostly point this out as an indicator of progress (we've seen more passes as the preseason has progressed, even).
It is infuriating. This is one area where billyshelby's analysis would (or at least could) be instructive.
TS% of .582, with most of his points posting up in the halfcourt, is pretty ****ing fantastic (relatively low turnovers as well). Preseason scrubs, notwithstanding.
What makes this discussion difficult is the dearth of cheap, available, albeit relatively simple statistics about league-wide relative efficiency of different shot types (including halfcourt v. fastbreak). How often do offenses break down? How effective is back-to-the-basket iso scoring relative to dribble penetration? What is league-wide halfcourt scoring efficiency? It's extremely difficult to make a strong argument about the value Jefferson adds with his consistent offensive output in situations of low point expectancy without this data (it's being collected, just not being made freely available AFAIK).
At one extreme we have billyshelby, who seems to think that the only thing that matters is consistent scoring from the low post (ridiculously calling Jefferson "dynamic" because he has both an up-and-under move and a push shot). At the other extreme we have nerd, who thinks teams can execute to get put-backs and fastbreak points on every possession. This discussion will get a lot more interesting as the data becomes available.
That's a helluvan essay. I'll rep it to get you back for screwing with you (and Chris-LOL) the other day.