The Portland Trail Blazers currently rank as the second-worst team in the association when it comes to catch-and-shoot three-point percentage (32.5), ahead of only the Indiana Pacers (30.1). To make matters worse, they rank in the top ten in attempts per game at 29.5.
Portland is taking and missing a lot of three-point attempts. Eventually, something must give -- they either need to adjust their offensive approach or address this issue externally by adding more capable floor spacers. Given the analytical importance of the three-ball in the modern NBA, the answer should be the latter.
Blazers must add more reliable shooters before February's trade deadline
The Blazers have a winning formula in terms of their style of play under interim head coach Tiago Splitter. They are a team that wins the possession battles by forcing turnovers and crashing the offensive glass. Because of this, the Blazers have overcome their poor shooting to remain competitive in the vast majority of their games to start the season. They have only had two blowout losses at the hands of the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Seven of their ten losses have been by single digits, including two heartbreaking buzzer beaters. This is despite having almost half their roster on the injury report!
The rebuilding Blazers continue to improve each year and are now looking to build on last year's 36-win season with a legitimate shot at a play-in spot. The health of their roster will inevitably fix itself, but in order to increase their chances of making that play-in a reality, they must add shooting before February's trade deadline.
This isn't a case of the Blazers' current players regressing to the mean and simply shooting better, leading to more wins. This is a case of them lacking reliable shooters on the roster. We're now entering the third season of Portland ranking in the bottom five in three-point efficiency, which is a large enough sample size to show that they're not going through a shooting slump; they're just bad at shooting.
This year, they're shooting 32.1% from beyond the arc, which ranks third-worst in the association, ahead of only the Pacers and Dallas Mavericks. The silver lining is that the Blazers are 7-10 despite their shooting woes and demanding schedule.
The next step in their rebuilding phase is to add a sharpshooter, ideally a two-way player who doesn't compromise their defensive identity. That's easier said than done, as it's a coveted player archetype. Still, the Blazers desperately need it to close the gap out west and turn the tide in some of the close games they've been on the losing end of.