Toronto Raptors: Top 3 things that Gary Trent Jr. brings to the squad

No. 3: Elite 3-Point shooting

In just 2.5 years with Portland, Trent expedited his graduation from the Lillard-McCollum Sniper Academy. He got the league’s attention when he shot an otherworldly 47% from deep in the bubble last summer. This season, he got the green light to launch it from distance and it paid off.

Unless you’ve been following the Blazers, his game goes under the radar while he quietly averaged 3.0 3s made per game (currently good for 16th in the league), 39% on 7.4 Three-point attempts.

Clearly, he’s not shy to launch them, and he has a quick release that needs very little room to drop swish bombs. When defenders are in the 2-4 Feet range-  Gary makes 38% of his attempts from 3. That number vaults to 47.4% when defenders slack off and give him room.

He will fit perfectly in Toronto’s free-flowing offense with his ability to move well off the ball and create in transition. His elite shooting is a problem for opposing teams and will help stretch the floor and give guys like Pascal Siakam, VanVleet, OG Anunoby, and Lowry more room to cut to the rim and do some damage in the paint.

"“Gary Trent is a player with lots of upside, shooter, defender, fits our core team. That’s what we’re excited about,” Masai Ujiri said of the new recruit. “I think it works both sides.”"

As we look ahead to what is going to be a difficult run to lock in a playoff spot- it is not going to be easy to replace what Powell brought to the Raptors. But don’t sleep on Gary Trent Jr. There’s a new sharpshooter in town.