Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from the 2018 offseason

3. The Blazers needed more shooting, so they acquired more shooting

One of Portland’s most glaring deficiencies during the 2018 NBA Playoffs was the lack of reliable outside shooting. Al-Farouq Aminu (43.3 percent in playoff 3-pointers) and C.J. McCollum (42.3 percent) were the only two Blazers to shoot above league-average (36.2 percent) from beyond the arc in the postseason. The rest of the team shot 19-for-73 (26.0 percent) from distance. All told, their 33.3 team 3-point percentage was third-worst in the playoffs.

It’s clear that general manager Neil Olshey set out this summer to patch up that hole. Free agent additions Curry (42.5 percent 3-point shooter in 2016-17) and Stauskas (40.0 percent in 2017-18) are noted sharpshooters. Rookie Trent Jr. shot an ACC-best 40.2 percent from 3-point range in his lone season at Duke. Fellow rook Simons also has a good shooting stroke that could improve over time, going 34.6 percent from outside during the Las Vegas Summer League.

The Blazers are certainly hoping that these new acquisitions will be potent enough from outside to stretch the floor and put defenses on notice. They likely want their returning players to become more consistent from 3 as well. A major key for the Blazers to keep up in the Western Conference will be to prevent opponents from forcing them to become a stagnant, two-man isolation offense.