The NBA's obsession with shooters isn't going anywhere.

But not every player to hit the hardwood should let it fly.

Few things threaten a modern NBA attack more than erratic shooting. While cold spells are unavoidable, lengthy droughts can disrupt a team's entire offensive system. If defenses discover they can get away with giving a player breathing room, they can spoil the spacing elsewhere and suffocate the other four players on the floor.

The following players are struggling so desperately to find their form that they're now in danger of irreparably damaging their team's championship dreams.

Notable Exclusion: Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat

As far as Erik Spoelstra is concerned, we're wasting our time even mentioning Jimmy Butler's shooting percentages.

"I know that that's what everybody will look to, quite naturally," Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. "... It's not about stats, it's not about that final number on the box score. ... It's about how your team functions and are you winning because of a player. There is no debate about this, he's having an incredible impact on our winning."

There's no denying that last part.

Butler is the biggest reason the Miami Heat remain hovering around the Association's elite. He paces them in minutes, points, assists and steals. Their net rating is a dominant plus-8.2 with him and a disastrous minus-4.6 without.

Yet, a complete dismissal of Butler's inaccuracy seems erroneous. Step one in Miami's postseason guide is maximizing its star player. His shooting rates are among the worst he's ever posted.

His 42.9 field-goal percentage is the lowest it's been in six seasons. His 27.0 three-point conversion rate is the worst since his rookie year. He's nearly five percentage points behind his career average on shots from 10 to 16 feet (34.5, down from 39.3); he's almost 10 off his normal rate from 16 feet to the three-point line (28.6, 36.3). Of his 255 total jumpers, only 80 have hit their mark (31.4 percent).

There must be some concern here. Even while accounting for everything else he brings—ferocious defense, playmaking, leadership, a boatload of free throws—his shooting is holding this team back, especially when he's serving as the designated closer (34 clutch field-goal attempts, 15 more than anyone else).

The Heat aren't sniffing the conference finals without these numbers improving. But they might be on the playoff bubble without him, so it's hard to label anything he's doing as hurting their chances.

Mike Conley, Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz made an all-in move for Mike Conley this summer. The acquisition was almost universally supported throughout the hoops world, and many assumed Salt Lake City's finest had just found their missing piece.

"The Jazz were in as good of a position as anyone to jump into contention with one big move, and that's exactly what they've done by dealing for Conley," Jack Maloney wrote for CBS Sports. "... So much of the Jazz's struggles in the playoffs have revolved around not being able to find enough scoring, and Conley will be a big help in rectifying that problem."

The trade looked brilliant on paper. Conley could carry an offense, but he also added value as an off-ball spacer, making him an ideal offensive match for Donovan Mitchell. At the opposite end, Conley came schooled in the Memphis Grizzlies' grit-and-grind culture, so he was already equipped to meet Quin Snyder's defensive demands.

But in Conley's first game with the Jazz, he went an abysmal 1-of-16 from the field and 0-of-6 from deep. Turns out, that was much more than a brutal first impression and may have actually been a terrible trend-setter. He was 3-of-11 his next time out, and he's either been injured or still searching for his shot ever since.

His 36.5 field-goal percentage is by far the worst of his career. Throw out the 12 games he played in 2017-18, and his 36.0 three-point percentage becomes the second-lowest he's ever had. He's lagging behind his career norms from every shooting level, and since he's asked to do less as a passer, these scoring woes look even worse. Altogether, he's a $32.5 million player with a 12.3 player efficiency rating, which should be an impossible combination.

He's currently sidelined for the second time this season with a hamstring issue, and the Jazz are finding their groove without him. But that offseason excitement existed for a reason. Conley remains key to Utah's hopes of contending, which are little more than pipe dreams if he can't find his rhythm.

Marc Gasol, Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors don't win the 2018-19 title without Marc Gasol. Once he headed north of the border, Toronto's defense shored up in the middle and the offense blossomed with better spacing and brilliant movement of players and the ball.

Fast-forward to present day, and the Raptors might question whether they can compete for the crown with the big fella. He's still a critical component of their defense and a complementary wheel-greaser on offense passing out of the high post. But his shooting woes, working in conjunction with a frustrating willingness to even look at the basket, have often thwarted his own team's attack.

"Gasol appears smart and unselfish to a fault," The Athletic's Blake Murphy wrote, "fully aware of where his game stands in the team's pecking order at this stage of his career, rarely seeking to take a decent shot when he may be able to set up a better one."

Gasol's scoring value has cratered. He has never put up fewer shots (6.4 per game), and his points per game are more than five below his previous worst (6.6, was 11.7). He had never seen his field-goal percentage venture below 40 and only once saw it dip beneath 44.8; now, it's an unsightly 36.4 with a mind-numbingly bad 37.6 percent conversion rate on two-pointers.

He's a 6'11", 255-pound center, and he's not even finishing 55 percent of his looks inside of three feet. His 35.2 three-point percentage seems fine, until you realize he's had at least six feet of open space on 81 of his 88 attempts.

He can't be this punchless on the offensive end. Playoff defenses won't even look twice at him, and he'll hesitate to shoot even while he's left alone. Maybe that's why the Raptors have "registered interest" in Andre Drummond, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. If we know anything about this franchise, it's that it won't let sentimental attachments get in the way of potential on-court improvements.

Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers

This season was supposed to be different, for Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers offense.

Never mind that his first two NBA campaigns featured all of 17 three-point attempts and zero three-point makes. The offseason became some modern, hoop-crazed remake of Paul Revere's legendary ride, with cries of "The jumper is coming! The jumper is coming!" echoing across the basketball world.

There were optimism-laced workout videos of Simmons' splashing jumpers in pickup games. There was an encouragement to fire from Sixers skipper Brett Brown and then a promise from Simmons that "if it's open, I'll take it."

Then, the highly anticipated campaign tipped, and there was...nothing. No three-point attempts on opening night or the next 10 games that followed. He finally took one his 12th time out, hit it and didn't fire another his next two times out. Through 36 appearances, he has five takes and two makes from distance. He's also shooting just 59 percent at the free-throw line and 37.7 percent on sporadic jumpers.

Simmons remains a valuable piece for his defensive versatility, supersized playmaking and ability to attack the rim. But his refusal to even attempt to become a spacer puts a ceiling on this offense. Philly boasts one of the league's most talented starting fives and finds itself just 14th in offensive efficiency.

The Sixers keep pleading for a change. In November, Joel Embiid said bluntly, "We are going to need him to shoot," per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. In December, Brown made a public request for "a three-point shot a game, minimum," per ESPN's Tim Bontemps. The most recent remarks also came from Brown, as the coach lamented, "Evidently, I have failed," with the point guard still not embracing the long ball.

The list of players with three-plus triples this season features 357 names. It includes the likes of Tristan Thompson, Ian Mahinmi, Goga Bitadze and even Chandler Parsons, who's played all of 54 minutes. But Simmons isn't on it.

If he can't figure out some semblance of an outside shot, this offense gets too predictable against playoff defenses.

Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics

Marcus Smart does so many things on the basketball court that you almost want to forget the wayward shooting.

He's just as comfortable (and effective) pestering a point guard as he is battling a big man on the low block. He's a solid secondary playmaker who almost never gives the ball away. He's a 6'3", 227-pounder who typically impacts the game most with toughness and tenacity.

He's also a six-year veteran combo guard who has yet to develop a reliable shot.

Over the first two games this season, he misfired on nine of his 11 three-point attempts. Over the next two, he hit eight of 19. But his bar is so low that a single two-game hot streak—if we can even call two games a streak—had the Boston Globe asking, "Is Marcus Smart's 3-point shooting here to stay?"

It was as if Smart hadn't carried career conversion rates of 37.2 from the field and 31.0 from distance into this season. Hope bounced around Beantown that its defensive menace would also be doubling as a long-range assassin.

"He's shooting the ball extremely well right now," Kemba Walker said at the time. "We need him to continue that."

Considering the nature of this article, you've probably figured out Smart did not continue that. In fact, since his first four games, he's been the exact same 31.0 percent three-point shooter his first five seasons said he was. His 36.3 field-goal percentage for the year actually slips below his career 37.1 percent mark and is the ninth-worst of the 258 players who've logged 500-plus minutes.

It speaks to the rest of his game that he's nevertheless essential to the fabric of the franchise, but this presents Boston with the same postseason puzzle as ever. Teams won't respect Smart as a scorer or shooter—the Celtics' offensive rating shrinks by 5.5 points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor—and there's little (if any) evidence suggesting he can make them pay for leaving him unguarded.

Russell Westbrook, Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets knew what they were getting into.

They deemed Chris Paul an imperfect backcourt partner for James Harden and decided his old running mate, Russell Westbrook, might make for a better fit. Even if they were concerned about his shooting—they should've been, at the very least—they believed they could make the relationship mutually beneficial.

"The Rockets' confidence comes from a belief that Westbrook will be playing with at least three range shooters spacing the floor, creating more room to attack the rim," Jonathan Feigen wrote for the Houston Chronicle in July. "They believe that will help his own scoring but also will force the defense to the lane and off shooters, including Harden."

Whatever was supposed to happen, hasn't happened—not for Westbrook and not for the Rockets when he's on the court. The attack looks elite by virtue of Harden's presence, but Westbrook shaves a whopping 9.9 points per 100 possessions from its offensive efficiency just by stepping inside the lines.

By sharing touches, Westbrook can't always do what he does best, so that only increases the exposure of his flaws. He's having an awful shooting season even by his standards, and that's saying a ton—little of it appropriate to write here.

He might be the worst three-point shooter this league has ever seen, at least when factoring in his hair-pulling willingness to fire. Among the 432 players with 1,000 career three-point attempts, his 30.4 success rate is 15th-worst all-time. But it's dead last out of the 270 players who have played 150 games and averaged three-plus long-range looks a night.

Use that as context for the following: His 23.5 three-point percentage is the second-lowest of his career. Among seasons in which he's averaged multiple three-point attempts, it's his worst conversion rate by 5.5 percentage points. Oh, and he's also shooting worse than normal from the field and having his fourth-worst season at the free-throw line.

Houston knew Westbrook wasn't the most efficient player, but he's even less efficient than normal, and it might torpedo this team's shot at a title.

All stats, unless otherwise noted, courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference and accurate through games played Jan. 7.

Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.