Trail Blazers Coach Tiago Splitter Offers Clear Solution for Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija, and Jerami Grant

Portland Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter has overseen a 9-16 effort so far during a season he wasn't expecting to be in this position. Still, he has adapted well enough to have three 19+-points-per-game scorers: Deni Avdija (25.4 PPG), Shaedon Sharpe (21.1 PPG), and Jerami Grant (19.3 PPG).

While the three are powering Portland on the offensive end, they're not doing it efficiently. Avdija (0.55) has the best of the bunch. Sharpe is below 0.50. Splitter has a solution for the three to improve, though.

Splitter wants the trio to attack the cup more.

“Those guys have talent; we need them to be aggressive,” Splitter told RG.org. “So, I don't see just a number. I see the game, I see what they're doing, and if it's the right shot for that particular play.”

Splitter made it clear that shot selection paints a clearer picture, as opposed to the raw shot totals from the field.

“Sometimes, if you take 30 shots in a game and they were good shots, that's fine. Sometimes, you make four shots, and they're all bad shots; that's not good. So, it doesn't say everything, the number of field goals. So you've got to be careful with that [when judging]," Splitter said.

Blazers Lose Shootout to Pelicans After Overreliance on Three-Pointers

The Blazers lost 143-120 to the New Orleans Pelicans on the road on Thursday night, largely because of their overreliance on the three-point shot. While Sharpe went 4/6 from beyond the arc, Avdija and Grant shot 2/12.

Overall, as a team, the Trail Blazers made just 14 of 48 attempts from the three-point line. Portland was missing its three primary big men, Donovan Clingan, Yang Hansen, and Robert Williams III, but there were other ways to exploit a bottom-five defense with an advantage in the frontcourt.

We'll see how the Blazers' top three weapons on the wing integrate Splitter's ask of them moving forward.