Midseason report card: grading every Hornets player’s performance at All-Star break
By Ben Handler
J.T. Thor, Grade: C-
In Thor, we have the rare 6’10” big man shooting 37% from the floor. The third-year man out of Auburn came into the league with some decent buzz but hasn’t been able to put anything together.
He continues to be very inefficient on both ends, struggling to score inside and out, with very marginal defensive impact. Thor is supposed to be a stretch big, but he’s shooting just 31% on the season from deep, not good enough to alter the defense.
Somehow he’s shooting just 32/79 on 2-point shots this season, barely over 40%. Those are just unacceptable shooting numbers for an NBA player, especially a big man. He’s not doing nearly enough on the defensive end, or on the boards to make up for such a shoddy offensive game.
Thor has a team option on his contract for just under $2 million next season and it’ll be interesting to see if Charlotte wants to pull the plug on the J.T. Thor experiment or give him one more season to see if he can improve.
Thor is still only 21 years old and came into the league with some decent pedigree so he could always click down the road. But most likely, Thor is another guy who just isn’t quite destined for a long NBA career.