Portland Trail Blazers: 3 goals for Gary Trent Jr’s. rookie season

2. Shoot 35 percent from the 3-point line

Trent is known for his offensive talent and ability to shoot the ball from all over the floor. He was the No. 1 3-point shooter in the ACC last season. The Blazers headed into this summer with really only two good shooters on the team in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. They went out and signed good shooters in Stauskas and Seth Curry, and also drafted Simons, who is a solid shooter.

Trent has a chance to see early minutes at the wing position and should see plenty of open looks playing off the ball in this Blazers offense. He has a quick, good-looking jump shot and does not hesitate when he gets a look at a shot. The rookie isn’t afraid to put up rushed shots, or shoot with defenders in his face.

Trent can shoot coming off screens, pull-ups and does not need to get his feet set to get his shot off. He is a high-volume shooter, and that is precisely what this Blazers franchise needed coming off their bench.

Trent did only shoot 30 percent from the 3-point line in Las Vegas, but he took 30 attempts, which was ninth in all of Summer League. It did not matter if he is cold, Trent is going to shoot the ball.

Last season, all of the Blazers wing players who played meaningful minutes took over 100 3-point attempts. Trent should have no issue surpassing that number and should be looking to knock down at least 35 percent of his shots. Right now, he is known mostly as a shooter and needs to live up to that right away in his career.

Too many times last season, teams playing the Blazers would sag off guys like Connaughton, Maurice Harkless, Evan Turner and Al-Farouq Aminu. This would result in more double teams for Lillard, McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic and they would be forced to give the ball up. Portland is a win-now mode, and it will need Trent to be a reliable shooter on the floor that defenses have to respect from deep.