Hornets Need Consistency From Oubre If They Want Playoff Wins

In his first season with the Charlotte Hornets, Kelly Oubre has been fairly inconsistent. Some nights, he will go 1-9 shooting with two points. Other nights, he will hit eight triples off the bench and finish with a team-high 28 points and four steals.

Despite the inconsistencies, Oubre has been an integral part of the Hornets’ success this season. Filling in for 13 spot-starts, he has stepped up when needed and has relished in the sixth man role this season. He has appeared in 71 of the Swarm’s 77 regular season games and is averaging 15.2 points per game.

Most teams would love to have a player coming off the bench averaging 15.2 points per game. Oubre has been hyper-efficient from two-point range this season. On pace to set a career-high, he has shot 57.1% on his two-point field goals, which has led to his high scoring average.

Unfortunately, he is taking 12.6 field goals per game and only 5.2 of them are coming from inside the arc. When looking at every season he has played 25 or more minutes per game, the 5.2 two-point attempts per game would be the lowest of his career. This means that he is taking a lot of three-point shots. In fact, he is attempting a career-high 7.4 triples per game, which is by far the most of his career.

A streaky three-point shooter is most vulnerable to inconsistent play, and that is what has happened to Oubre this season. In an ideal world, Oubre would keep hoisting up threes while also getting inside the arc a little more on offense. While he is not a bad three-point shooter, he is an even better finisher. If he can consistently attack the basket, the threes will naturally become more wide-open for him as the defense tries to adjust.

As the Hornets draw closer to the play-in tournament, they might not want to rely on so many three-point attempts on a nightly basis from Oubre. In a one-and-done style of tournament, a bad three-point shooting night is all it takes to end your season.