The Portland Trail Blazers are just a few weeks away from training camp, with the season itself starting in under two months now. The Blazers have a slightly different team to last year, with a lot of the role players being different to this time last year.
Keeping in mind the new pieces on the roster, who will lead each statistical category for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022?
Field Goal Percentage – Cody Zeller
Cody Zeller is the most likely player to lead the Blazers in field goal percentage in the 2022 season. Though Jusuf Nurkic may be the better offensive player overall, his shot profile, extra volume and league-average rim finishing means he has only ever sat around the 50 percent mark from the field. This has never stopped him from being an excellent offensive player, but Zeller will be the more efficient of the two.
Zeller, with Larry Nance Jr a potential backup five, will likely only have limited shot opportunities, making him the likely efficiency leader this year.
Zeller isn’t the best finisher at the rim in the NBA with his 64 percent career rate, but because almost 58 percent of his shots in his career come from this range, this makes him a highly efficient player from the field. Zeller doesn’t attempt threes or mid-range shots, so you can almost guarantee he will have the highest number from the field.
The only player who could come close is the efficient Nance, who is a better finisher at the rim than Nance, but takes three-four three-pointers per game.