Toumani Camara is one of Portland’s most important players. The Trail Blazers need him at his best if they want to make the playoffs this year. Unfortunately, as April approaches, Camara has been playing his worst ball of the season, putting the team’s postseason hopes in serious jeopardy.
Toumani Camara is in a serious slump
Camara has been riding the struggle bus since the calendar flipped to March. He’s averaging 9.1 points on an absolutely disastrous 30.4% from the field and 24.1% from deep. This is his worst scoring month of the season so far, and his least efficient too, if that part even needed to be said.
The third-year forward has been a streaky shooter since he came into the league, but it did feel like he was starting to find some consistency this year. He shot north of 37% from beyond the arc in December, January, and February. Now, though, his ability as a marksman is in question once again.
Luckily for Camara, he doesn’t have to hit threes to contribute. After all, he’s an All-Defensive-stamped stopper. However, he’s slipped a bit on that end compared to his sophomore campaign.
According to BBall Index, Camara ranks in the 0th percentile as a screen navigator, earning a big fat F grade in that category. He’s also been a 57th percentile off-ball chaser and a 29th percentile help defender, per the same site. Those numbers are probably a bit harsh, but it’s definitely true that he hasn’t been hitting the same high notes on defense as he was last year.
The harsh reality for wings and guards in today’s NBA is that defensive value is often tethered to offense. It’s not enough to be a one-way player. If you can’t keep defenses honest in some capacity on O, then you won’t be able to stay on the floor for long stretches, which lessens the impact of your defense. Matisse Thybulle knows all about how that works, and Camara is at risk of facing that phenomenon if he doesn’t start hitting shots.
Camara’s struggles couldn’t be coming at a worse time
Portland needs Camara to reach their competitive ceiling. He’s a key cog of his team because of his switch-knife defense and nonstop motor. When he plays well, they play well. Camara is averaging 14.3 points on 48/39/76 splits in wins this season. In losses, he’s averaging 10.4 points on 37/31/59 splits.
Lately, the lefty has been posting numbers that more closely match those from the losses. That’s a bad sign for a Blazers team that will likely appear in the play-in next month. In order to advance from the play-in and not get embarrassed by the Spurs or the Thunder in the first round, they desperately need Camara to find his groove again.
Camara has some time to figure things out. If he can’t do so, though, April is going to be rough for the Blazers.