Portland Trail Blazers: 5 reasons to be excited for 2018-19 NBA season

PORTLAND, OR - NOVEMBER 13: CJ McCollum #3 of the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers, and Evan Turner #1 of the Portland Trail Blazers high five during the game against the Denver Nuggets on November 13, 2017 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)

5. All those 3s

The 3-point shot was first fully implemented by the long-defunct ABL of the early 1960s as an equivalent to baseball’s home run. Just over a half-century later, the 3-pointer is an integral part of almost every NBA team’s offense.

However, while the league, on average, is shooting more 3s per game than ever before, every team doesn’t implement them at the same volume. The Blazers found themselves in the top 10 of attempts per game for six straight seasons from 2011-12 through 2016-17, peaking at third in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

In 2017-18, however, they plummeted to 19th in the NBA, as their new defensive focus (which made them the sixth-stingiest team in the league) led to a neglect in proficiency on the other end.

This year, Portland is looking to bring back that perimeter prowess. For this reason, they acquired Seth Curry (42.5 percent from 3-point range in 2016-17), Nik Stauskas (40.0 percent in 2017-18) and Gary Trent Jr. (40.2 percent at Duke last year, best in his conference) to give the Blazers offense more reliable shooting options.

Additionally, returning frontcourt players Al-Farouq Aminu, Zach Collins and Meyers Leonard will likely be called upon to shoot more 3s in order to stretch the floor. Once you couple that with sharpshooting stars Lillard (36.1 percent) and McCollum (39.7 percent), the Trail Blazers are certainly going to be hitting a lot of “home runs” this season.

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