Charlotte Hornets: Grading P.J. Washington’s 2019-2020 season

Expectations weren’t high for P.J. Washington coming into his first year in the league, but the rookie played well for the Charlotte Hornets. Let’s take a brief look at just how well he did play.

Being a lottery pick in the NBA comes with some baggage and some are suited for it and some aren’t. P.J. Washington is apparently among the ones who are as the 6’7″ forward out of Kentucky held his own this year for the Charlotte Hornets.

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Sure, he’s not going to win Rookie of the Year, but he was an instant starter and gave some valuable minutes while finishing fourth on the team in points per game. That’s a good sign as it’s been some time since a rookie delivered that much production on a consistent basis for the Hornets.

In terms of all rookies, his 12.2 points per game are the 11th highest among first-year players. His 5.4 rebounds rank fifth among all first-year players and fourth on the team. He was also pretty efficient from the floor, making 45% from the field and 37% from deep.

That three-point field goal percentage is second on the squad among players who have played at least 40 games, giving P.J. a nice toolset for spacing the floor against slower, bigger defenders that might be matched up against him at the power forward spot.

His free-throws need some work, though, as he shot a less than ideal 65% from the line. That’s not terrible, but if he becomes a bigger focal point of the offense, he’ll be spending more time there. I’d also like to see his foul totals go down a bit as he’s second on the team in that particular category but given his usual position, that’s not too surprising.

All in all, Washington has been a very solid addition for the Charlotte Hornets and I could definitely see him becoming a very versatile player, capable of putting up 16/8/3 a game if utilized correctly. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of progress he makes in his second year.

While the team failed to make the playoffs yet again, there were some positives and the play of P.J. Washinton was certainly one of them. If he can continue to improve next season, he’ll be a pivotal piece of the equation as the Charlotte Hornets look to claw their way back into being a playoff quality team.

It may be a long wait to see how he develops given the current circumstances, but hopefully, our patience will be rewarded. Did we get the grade right? Let us know what you think.