At the end-of-season exit interview, Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin identified shooting as a roster weakness that Portland needs to address going forward.
"The Spurs series showed us that we don't shoot the ball well enough. Shooting is something we knew we were deficient in. Dame will definitely help us, but it's something we need to address going forward. We played a lot of possessions in the mud," Cronin said.
Since then, the Blazers traded away one of their best shooters on the team in Jerami Grant. That's understandable, as his production didn't justify such a massive contract. But turning Grant and Kris Murray into Ja Morant is where Cronin lost me.
Ja Morant makes Blazers' shooting woes that much worse
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the star Portland acquired had been flying under the radar in trade rumors linking him to the Blazers. That's how Cronin has operated since taking over this position, with Deni Avdija, Jrue Holiday, and now Morant as the most notable headliners.
All these surprising trades have one thing in common: they were initially perceived as controversial moves by Cronin. To his credit, these bold bets have paid off in a major way, shaping Portland's entire rebuild. The Blazers are hoping that Cronin continues to cook with a high-upside swing on Morant, though it's hard to see him fitting well in terms of addressing Portland's needs.
At least the Blazers have a plethora of guards to help address their playmaking and turnover problems. Lillard's return will give them a major boost in the shooting department as well. But as Cronin said himself, this was an issue that Portland needed to address well beyond Dame's return.
Considering Morant shot 23.5 percent from downtown last season, this move contradicts those plans.
Trading Murray was an addition-by-subtraction move. Still, the concern is the shooting downgrade from Grant to Morant is so drastic that it mitigates any of these other attempts to fix their floor spacing problems.
Portland has frequently ranked as a bottom-five team in three-point efficiency throughout its rebuild. They finished this past season ranking 28th, ahead of only the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings at 34.3 percent.
As new head coach Micah Nori pointed out at his introductory press conference, Portland had a good shot profile last season. For the most part, their shots either came at the rim or beyond the arc. They attempted the third most three-pointers per game in the league at 42.2, behind only the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets.
Though they have the correct analytical process to maximize points in the modern NBA, this roster isn't built to match that playstyle. In fact, they're even further away from being a decent shooting team after trading away Grant for Morant.
Cronin may not have sacrificed many assets to land Morant, but the poor fit with the roster makes this a puzzling decision. He pinpointed Portland's offensive problem... and then made a move to compound it further.
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