The Portland Trail Blazers have officially traded Anfernee Simons to the Boston Celtics in a one-for-one swap for Jrue Holiday. That will make their biggest weakness of three-point shooting even worse, to the point where it should now be considered a fatal flaw.
This past season, the Blazers were the fifth-worst three-point shooting team in the league, connecting on 34.2 percent of their attempts. In 2023-24, they ranked dead last at 34.5 percent.
The analytics show that's a significant problem given the importance of the three-ball in the modern NBA. Unsurprisingly, the two best teams throughout last season, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics, were also the two most efficient three-point shooting teams.
Blazers have no shot at the playoffs unless they add shooting
For the Blazers, going from Simons to Holiday, with no other key addition outside of No. 16 overall pick Yang Hansen, only makes this more of an uphill battle.
Holiday isn't a bad shooter by any means; he's shot a 37.0 percent clip from beyond the arc throughout his career. But he's also nowhere near the same volume as Simons.
Last year, Holiday made 35.3 percent on 4.9 attempts. Compare that to Simons' 36.3 percent on 8.5 attempts in what was a down year for the former Blazers guard, and it's easy to see that Portland needs help in this crucial department.
After trading for the 35-year-old Holiday, the sense of urgency has increased as well. The Blazers hope the veteran guard is their missing piece to help them return to the playoffs. But in the Western Conference, that's unlikely to be the case without surrounding Holiday and Portland's young core with shooters.
General manager Joe Cronin dropped the ball in free agency as several sharpshooting options such as Tim Hardaway Jr. (Nuggets), Duncan Robinson (Pistons via sign-and-trade), Ty Jerome (Grizzlies), and Luke Kennard (Grizzlies) all landed elsewhere. The fact that Portland hasn't made any other win-now moves this offseason to pair with Holiday makes the trade all the more puzzling.
There's still time for Cronin to address this massive issue, but it's looking increasingly bleak as options continue to dwindle each day the Blazers remain idle.
With 13 players on their roster, the Blazers must make a move to reach their minimum. Three-point shooting must be the top priority for whoever they add. Otherwise, they're bound to fall short of their playoff aspirations.