Three-point shooting
The Blazers didn’t draft Swanigan to be a stretch four – they selected Collins for that role. Still, he took his fair share of three-pointers across various levels of competition during his rookie season.
- Preseason: 0.5-for-1.1 (42.9%)
- G-League: 0.6-for-1.9 (30.8%)
- Regular season: 0.0-for-0.3 (12.5% – he shot eight threes the whole year)
- 2018 Summer League: 0.6-for-1.3 (44.4%)
As with his other stats, Swanigan failed to replicate his three-point shooting success from the G-League and Summer League at the NBA level. The brief flashes of over 40% shooting provide hope, but such small sample sizes hint that inconsistency will be the theme of his outside shooting.
By design, Portland’s bench will be full of three-point shooters. Like Davis did in 2017-2018, Swanigan will spend a majority of his time inside the three-point line to make sure there’s a body in the paint.
Sharing the frontcourt with Collins makes his interior presence especially important as Collins doesn’t have the frame to body opponents down low.
So, for his second NBA campaign, Swanigan needs to be smart with his three-point shots. The only time he should hang on the perimeter is for the rare pick-and-pop when the opposing center sags too much. These open attempts can boost Swanigan’s three-point percentage to its Summer League levels, as well as limit the number of possessions in which Portland has no one in the paint.