Blazers: 5 goals for Jake Layman to achieve in his contract season
By Nate Mann
Three-point shooting
For more shot attempts to benefit his case for an increase in play time, Layman must knock down three-pointers at a higher rate. The Blazers originally traded for him to add a sizable floor spacer to its depth chart – in the trade’s announcement, Neil Olshey said, “His ability to defend multiple positions and shoot the ball from range will be positive additions to our roster.”
But in his rookie season, Layman made 13 of his 51 three-pointers, a 25.5% conversion rate. His outside shooting even regressed the following year – he made 4 of 20 threes (20.0%).
The only Blazers player to shoot worse on enough attempts in 2017-2018 was Caleb Swanigan, a forward who won’t be spending much time on the perimeter in the future.
Diving deeper, certain types of threes need more improvement than others for the third-year pro.
Obviously, catch-and-shoot threes are the most important shooting style for Layman to develop. As a wing who plays off the ball, a majority of his outside shots will be taken without any dribbles and within a few seconds of catching a pass.
As previously mentioned, all of Layman’s threes in 2017-2018 didn’t have a defender closer than four feet. Despite the wide open nature of these shots, he couldn’t convert on more than one-third of them.
If he plays alongside Lillard or McCollum, the defense will occasionally break down and (most likely) leave Layman unguarded on the perimeter. To encourage Terry Stotts to play him in this lineup, Layman must capitalize on these open attempts by making more than 33.3% of them.