CJ McCollum looks for his shot as Blazers fall in West

The Portland Trail Blazers’ offense has been terrible this season. And lately, the team hasn’t gotten any help from one of its steadiest and most reliable performers.

CJ McCollum can shoot. Holy wow, can CJ McCollum shoot.

So how come CJ McCollum can’t shoot?

The Blazers’ shooting ace, who has a career 45.7% field goal percentage (including almost 42% from three), is mired in a slump.

The good news: McCollum’s field goal percentage has gone up in each of his last four games.

The bad news: It’s gone from terrible to merely bad. In those four games, McCollum has gone 4/15 (27%), 7/20 (35%), 8/22 (36%), and 6/16 (38%) from the field.

Additionally, McCollum has shot just 3/15 (20%) from the three-point line during that span.

The worst news: The Blazers are 1-3 in that stretch, with all three losses coming at home.

CJ McCollum’s Struggles

How much is McCollum struggling? Let us count the ways.

According to The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Mike Richman,

"“Since becoming a full-time starter in 2015-16, McCollum has only had one longer stretch of games where he has attempted at least 15 shots a night while shooting below 40 percent.”"

In fact, McCollum hasn’t shot higher than 50% in a game since November 25, when he went 11-for-20 (55%) and scored 26 points to help the Blazers seize a comeback victory against the Wizards. That came just three days after a horrid 1-for-14 night in a loss at Philly, in which McCollum scored a season-low 5 points.

McCollum, who can usually work to find a shot anywhere on the court (deep threes; delicate midrange teardrops; layups on slashing drives through the paint), can’t find much of anything lately. In his last four games, he’s averaging just 14.5 points per game, over six points below his season average.

He’s also not getting to the free throw line, with a measly four free-throw attempts in his last five games.

Shooters Gotta Shoot

Before the Blazers lost to the Wizards on Tuesday, television and radio analyst Michael Holton said he’s not worried about McCollum’s shooting woes because he’s still getting good looks. Coach Terry Stotts has said the same thing. This means the Blazers offense is functioning as it should in order to get McCollum open shots; he’s just not making them.

McCollum is a shooter and his shots will no doubt start falling. McCollum himself isn’t worried, telling Richman he wants to avoid, “paralysis by analysis” and just keep shooting the ball.

Rip City probably shouldn’t worry, either. McCollum will almost certainly find his shot again. But his poor performances lately are affecting the team in a big way.

The Long Road Ahead

The Blazers have lost three in a row at home. And now they must play the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors in quick succession. How big of a hole will the staggering Blazers dig for themselves while McCollum shoots his way out of a slump?

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The season is long and four games is a small sample size. Nobody will be surprised if McCollum regains his stroke and drops 40 points against the Rockets or the Warriors.

But if McCollum doesn’t get his groove back soon, the Blazers could find themselves in deep trouble amongst a crowded and competitive Western Conference.