Portland Trail Blazers: Dorell Wright Needs To Improve
When discussing the Portland Trail Blazers, people always think about the starters. Indeed, the starters are what carry a team to the heights the Blazers reached last year. But, in the NBA, success is impossible to sustain without at least a solid bench. The Portland Trail Blazers haven’t had great production the past few years from the bench. Dorell Wright can help right the ship.
Last year, the Trail Blazers’ bench wasn’t a very good unit. In fact, Portland’s bench was a black hole when it came to production. The bench ranked 30th in points, averaging a measly 23.6 points per game, which was ranked dead-last in the league.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
The bench wasn’t doing much right, finishing 25th in field goal percentage, 23rd in rebounds, 30th in field goals made and 22nd in 3-point percentage. Clearly, the bench was a major weakness for a team with a very strong starting unit.
Considering the Blazers run-and-gun style of play, the low 3-point percentage is surprising. The team loaded with players who can shoot it from downtown, so the bench not getting it done was a big problem.
The floor wasn’t being stretched, and as a result, the pick and roll wasn’t working as well as it should have. Driving lanes were blocked with defenders and offense was very difficult to come by for the second unit that was led by Mo Williams.
Dorell Wright under-performing added to that miserable production. The team acquired Wright to stretch the floor, but he has struggled to do that with Portland. Wright couldn’t find the basket in an efficient manner last year, as he only shot 37.4 percent from the floor, which is the lowest mark of his career.
He couldn’t find his long range stroke either, shooting only 34.2 percent from downtown, the second-lowest percentage of his career.
As a result, Wright had his worst season in the past five years. His Player Efficiency Rating and Win Shares took a massive hit, going from 16 and 4.9 in 2012-13, to 11.9 and 1.9, respectively, in 2013-14.
Now, Wright is not an incredibly gifted player to begin with. But he can do one thing well and that’s shoot the ball from deep. His best seasons were fueled by his shooting ability. His best attribute has always been his shooting touch and the ability to stretch the floor. So when he couldn’t do that last season, the Trail Blazers bench couldn’t do much offensively.
What do the Blazers need? A return of the 3-point shot via Dorell Wright. Now that Portland acquired Steve Blake, the bench will be running a much smoother pick and roll. For that pick and roll to be successful, the team needs Wright to step up and be the dead-eye shooter we’ve seen in the past.
Without it, the Blazers could be in for another year of overworked starters that could lead to injury. Seeing as the Blazers managed to avoid the injury bug last year and their starters led their team to a huge 54-win season, the team could use an effective bench unit for once. There is no telling how badly the Blazers would struggle if one of more of their starters misses extended time.