What has Steph Curry taught Michael Jordan's Hornets?
Michael Jordan's Charlotte Hornets all but ignored the three-point line last season. They didn't launch many attempts, partly because they didn't have too many capable shooters, and partly because it wasn't schematically ideal in the eyes of their head coach.
But after watching the Golden State Warriors ride the three-point shot to a championship last year, the Hornets have adopted that mode of attack. Dramatically.
Here's ESPN's Kevin Pelton with a closer look:
The Hornets are the unlikely interloper in that star-studded group, having taken more than 34 percent of their shots from beyond the arc -- the league's third-highest mark. That's a dramatic change from last season, when Charlotte ranked 24th in 3-attempt rate and made a league-low 31.8 percent of its shots from long distance. And it's not a coincidence that the Hornets joined other successful teams in shooting 3s on a frequent basis. During the preseason, Charlotte head coach Steve Clifford said the team was paying attention to what won last season. "If you look at trends in this league, 3-point shooting percentage was the No. 1 factor in why teams won," Clifford said. "The five best 3-point shooting teams were the four teams who played in the conference finals and then the Clippers. All five of them were top 10 all-time in the NBA. That's the way this league has gone."
Adding Nicolas Batum, Frank Kaminsky, Spencer Hawes, Jeremy Lamb, Jeremy Lin and a few other pieces has certainly helped the cause, but so has head coach Steve Clifford's willingness to embrace a method that may hurt their ability to rebound and play defense.
(Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's injury definitely "helps," too, considering he made zero threes last year and was in line to play major minutes if he was healthy.)
The Hornets essentially pulled a 180, and good for them. It was the smart thing to do.
