Apply the Szemerédi--Trotter incidence theorem to the fiber-lines configuration: for $X \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ and $n$ small-projection directions, the count $n |X|$ is bounded by $|X| + nS + |X|^{2/3} (nS)^{2/3}$.
Algebraic lemma extracting the projection bound $n \le S^2/P + 1$ from the Szemerédi--Trotter incidence inequality $nP \le P + nS + P^{2/3}(nS)^{2/3}$.
Szemerédi--Trotter projection theorem (finite case). Under the assumption that the set of small-projection directions is finite and $S < |X|$, we have $|D(X, S)| \le S^2/|X| + 1$.
Szemerédi--Trotter projection theorem. Let $X$ be a finite set of points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ and $D = D(X, S)$ the set of directions $\theta \in [0, \pi)$ with $|\pi_\theta(X)| \le S$. Then $|D| \le S^2/|X| + 1$ (with the convention that the bound is vacuously satisfied when $D$ is infinite, since then $S \ge |X|$).
Beck's theorem / Szemerédi--Trotter lower bound on lines. There exists a constant $C > 0$ such that for any finite point set $E \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ and any choice of $S$ lines through each point $x \in E$, the union $L = \bigcup_{x \in E} L_x$ has size $|L| \gtrsim \min(|E| \cdot S, |E|^{1/2} S^{3/2})$.