Portland Trail Blazers: 5 goals for C.J. McCollum in 2017-18

1. Tighten up on defense

C.J. McCollum accumulated 72 steals in 80 games last season, which just about averages out to 0.9 steals per game. By comparison, Stephen Curry — who some believe to be a poor defender — totaled 143 steals in 72 games last season (1.8), and Isaiah Thomas — who many know to be a poor defender — totaled 69 steals in 76 games last season (0.9).

Of course, steals don’t necessarily translate to how well a player plays defense. Overall, McCollum’s 107.9 defensive rating is poor, but he remains even with Portland’s 107.8 team defensive rating. The same can be said for his defensive win shares (0.02).

What’s really troubling is that opponents shot 5.6 percent better from 3-point range with McCollum as the primary defender and 1.6 percent better overall. When looking at McCollum’s on/off court numbers, opponents shot 2.6 percent better from 3-point range when McCollum was on the floor compared to when he was off.

Next: Complete 2017 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams

It’s clear that the area where McCollum needs to tighten up defensively is on the perimeter. If he can commit to being a two-way player this season, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll earn the All-Star bid and All-NBA bid he rightly deserves.