The Charlotte Hornets bounced back from a dud of a preseason opener to play a significantly more pleasing second game. Brandon Miller made his return while Grayson Allen sat out with a sore knee. The Milwaukee Bucks gave some of their young guys a rest but played their more veteran players a relatively significant amount of minutes. The Hornets handled business without a problem. The Bucks got off to an inordinately hot start from three, but once they cooled off, they were no match for the preseason Hornets. Here are the takeaways:
Early returns on the play making by committee are promising
It’s obviously a lot different running an offense against a preseason defense, especially when that defense is a Bucks team that doesn’t project to be particularly good at that end. But preseason is all we have to go on. The Nets game was a little clunky, but last night’s game looked a lot more cohesive. There are concerns about how the offense will operate without a play maker like LaMelo Ball, and this game was a proof of concept of what it will look like. The Hornets had 29 assists on 39 made baskets, and no player had more than five assists. Liam McNeeley led the team with his five assists while Dennis Schroder, Brandon Miller, and Sion James each had four. The offense was free flowing and everyone seemed to know their role. With the way the Hornets have built their roster and the way they run their offense, it seems like they’ll be just fine going this route.
Brandon Miller is ready to be the face of the team
The trade of LaMelo Ball signaled that the Hornets were comfortable making Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel the new cornerstones of the team. We still haven’t seen Knueppel in the preseason, but Miller made his debut and looked like he’s more than comfortable operating as the lead dog. He led all scorers with 18 points in 23 minutes and splashed four threes in pretty quick succession in the first half. But more important than the production was the comfort with which he played. He wasn’t sped up at all but he also didn’t have any instances where he gets hung up after picking up his dribble. He fit in with everybody else but was the best player while doing that.
Naz Reid is going to be heavily featured as a mismatch hunter
We saw a little bit of this in the preseason opener, and the Hornets leaned into it even more against the Bucks. The Bucks did a lot of switching and cross matching, and Reid punished them when they did. He scored 16 points and made five of his eight shots inside the arc. He had some really nifty post ups and overwhelmed smaller players with his size. He also passed the ball better than his one assist would suggest. I was impressed with his vision and unselfishness, even with a head of steam going towards the basket.
This team is going to threaten 3-point records this year
This isn’t news, but there were parts of this game where you could see how combustible this team can be from deep. There was a cold spell in the middle part of the first half, then all the sudden the Hornets landed a barrage on the Bucks and broke open a huge lead. The guys seem to feed off one another once one or two go down. And this happened without Kon Knueppel and Grayson Allen, who are both candidates to shoot over 40% from three on high volume. There are going to be quite a few avalanches this season.
