From all those articles poking around the subject of "which seed will the Blazers be?" or "the order in this stacked West", one thing that is recurrently brought out is... Spacing and 3PT shooting.

Of course it is, it's the linchpin of a modern-NBA offense, and even we as fans know that the big-in-the-paint days is over and that Dunks are cool and all but nowadays come mostly on fast breaks. A 33% 3PT shooter produces 1 point per possession, and a 50% 2PT shooter too, so there's that.

So, summing both subjects up: how much 3pt%, shooting range (even long 2 pointers), spacing, do we need? How well-equipped are the Blazers in that department now that Crabbe is gone (even though his volume was lower than one would assume, at least his efficiency was high)?

Houston has all the range in the world. GSW has the renowed Splash Brothers and many shooters, SAS primes for spacing and ball movement, who else is good on this run?

OKC:PG13,韦斯特布鲁克,帕特森,麦克德莫特。不是很多啊f shooting, but they should be OK with their volume and mixing and matching. Still, no clear catch and shoot threat.

MIN:Crawford, Wiggins, KAT, Butler. None of which made more than 1.5 3 PT shot per game last season. Their spacing kind of sucks, but at least their mid range game is okayish. Spacing seems like a bit of a problem here.

LAC:Lou Will, Gallinari, PatBev, Rivers. They're better than I expected, but that'll hinge on Gallo's health and Rivers on an expanded role. Still, with mid range from Blake and space-opening from DaJ they'll be just fine (not good but not bad). Let's see how Doc will handle being without JJ Redick.

NOP:Jordan Crawford, Cousins, Holiday, Cunnigham. Former Blazers Dante Cunnigham appears here, so we see that NOP has very few credible threats. Cousins hits well from 3PT land, AD not so much but both have range. Rondo can't hit shit, but Jordan Crawford seems like and okayish Shooting Guard. They'll suffer like Minnie, but their twin-tower attack is the most puzzling question.

DEN:Harris, Chandler, Barton, Nelson, Murray. Their offense shines, and they have lots of credible shooters, though not that lot of volume in any one of them but Harris. Most of their bigs also shoot OK (Millsap, Juancho, Lyles, Joker), so I think of this group they have the biggest number of jump shooters. It seems spacing won't be one of Denver's problems, distribution and defense will.

UTA:Hood, Ingles, Joe Johson. The fourth in 3PM would be Rubio, which indicates the trouble Jazz will be in. At least both Hood and Ingles are great 3PT threats so as long as one of them is in the game, some spacing will be created. But the same as Rondo, defenses won't respect Rubio's shooting which will impact everything until he proves us wrong. They'll suffer too unless someone shines brighter or some non-shooter starts shooting.

PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS:Lillard, McColum, Aminu, Leonard Harkless... Then abyss. At least the percentage was great for PatCon and we have glimmers of hope on Layman, but should count on neither. Aminu and Harkless are threats but defenses won't preocupy a LOT on them, and Leonard... well.. is Leonard. We are well aware of our spacing issues, but at least McLillard can shoot from ANYWHERE given space, so we should give them space (cutting, PnR, Nurk effect?)

Overview:In the spacing department here in the crowded West there seem to be many types of teams, offenses varying from inside-out game, to all-out shooting, to PnR based, to big lineups. Spacing will be good regardless of situation, and it seems we are screwed but not as much as I previously thought.

Also, it seems Denver and Clippers have good enough shooters, while the rest of the West have either some dedicated few shooters (like Utah, and Portland), or okayish shooters and 3PT production by comitee (Min, NOP). Of course that alone will determine nothing but it's interesting to think about it, because we can't really say Utah will have poor spacing definetly, or Min for that matter.. Every team has its own way to incorporate those elements into offense, and great players (like, say, Cousins or KAT or Westbrook) find ways to bend defenses and create spacing with other threats.

How well positioned in the spacing game do we think our Portland Blazers are?

In the shooting department we'll depend on McLillard again, while hoping for Harkless and Aminu to be credible threats. Turner will do his thing but it won't help on spacing (unless he's the distributor), Noah just helps buy screening and cutting (his cuting was better late last year), and Nurk screening and drawing defenses. Many variables, and we'll need every bit of them if we're to succeed in this area of need.

(I personally think our spacing will be better than Min and NOP only, Utah slightly better while OKC will benefit from its stars' gravity. Clippers and Denver have good spacing but deficits in other areas)