Portland small forward Travis Outlaw has been one of the NBA's success stories. He arrived in the NBA straight from high school in small-town Mississippi, and at first appeared wholly unprepared. He had essentially dunked his way to great numbers in high-school, and he could still jump in the NBA. But his jumper was a little scary, his defense was nothing special and coaches had a hard time finding a use for him.

But he worked.

And he did something that you seldom see. He entered the NBA with a noted weakness -- shooting -- and has since turned it into his calling card.

The athletic things Outlaw can do -- finishing on the break, catching alley-oops, getting the occasional spectacular block -- now take a backseat to his ability to get off a high quality shot just about whenever he wants. He can catch and shoot from downtown, or drive and show off the high point of release in his mid-range game.

That last quality has made him Portland's Option 1b (behind Brandon Roy) as a crunch-time shooter.

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