Hornets struggle from deep in preseason loss to Wizards
It has been only two preseason games, but a troubling trend has become very noticeable for the Charlotte Hornets. A lack of success from three-point range. Charlotte made just six of 30 attempts from deep in their 98-92 loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday night. This comes after making just 10 of 38 attempts in Tuesday’s loss in Miami.
Unlike Tuesday’s loss, there was not a single Hornets player who made more than one three-point attempt. Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, J.T. Thor, Edmond Sumner, and Frank Ntilikina each made one three-pointer, while P.J. Washington was 0-4 and Bryce McGowens missed both of his attempts.
Through two preseason games, Charlotte is converting on just 23.5 percent of their attempts behind the three-point line. This is the worst mark of any NBA team, and even worse than Ra’anana Maccabi Ra’anana’s 26 percent mark from their long exhibition matchup with the Brooklyn Nets. Charlotte’s eight made threes per game are the least in the NBA, with the LA Clippers being the next closest team with 8.5.
While these are only preseason games, and the results do not matter, the fact that the Hornets have not shown signs of growth in one of the areas that they need improvement in is concerning. Charlotte was one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league last year, one of the contributing factors to why they struggled to win more than a small handful of games.
Sounding the alarms about the Hornets being a poor three-point shooting team again this season is not yet necessary, but it is something to monitor with the regular season rapidly approaching. If they are not able to show tangible signs of growth over their next two games, it would be appropriate to be concerned. Additionally, if these struggles carry over into the beginning of the regular season, it would be a major red flag that could ultimately result in big changes taking place during the season.
