Brandon Miller’s potential is enormous. The Charlotte Hornets second-year swingman came out of the gate as a rookie, with a polished offensive game and defensive chops well beyond his years that coalesced into a package that many thought would blossom in year two alongside his All Star running mate LaMelo Ball.

It hasn’t quite happened yet.

Miller has sputtered out of the gate in the early 2024-2025s. His per-game averages of 15.3 points and 4.2 rebounds are down from his shockingly strong rookie year, but the efficiency numbers are even more concerning. Through nine games, Miller is shooting 35.3% from the field, and just 30.6% from downtown, a steep decline from 2023 to 2024.

His shot diet has evolved tremendously. Miller shot 6.7 three-pointers per game as a rookie, a number that has risen to 9.4 per game under Charles Lee’s leadership. Charlotte’s first-year head coach comes from the Joe Mazzulla school of pace and spacing to the Nth degree, which has pushed Miller’s game further beyond the arc.

Charles Lee talked this offseason about changing Miller’s shot diet, wanting his oversized wing to shoot more threes and fewer long twos, and that change has paid off. As a rookie, Brandon Miller made 39% of his shots from mid-range, an 88th percentile in the NBA (stats via Cleaning the Glass). That number has plummeted under Lee’s tutelage, to 24%, more in line with league average.

Overall, his shot attempts are up (14.6 per game as a rookie to 15.1 as a sophomore) and his three-point attempts are up, but efficiency has suffered. All this said, it’s not time to panic.

Miller is stuck in a shooting slump that he will get out of soon enough. Charles Lee’s free-flowing, fast-paced offense has created plenty of open looks for Miller. He just doesn’t hit them.

When you compare it to early season issues, discomfort in Lee’s system, rust from his early season glute injury, or a period of him and LaMelo Ball figuring out how to play against each other, these shooting issues won’t last long to last. term.

Miller has the ability to score in bunches, and I think it will take one extended burner (like his third quarter against the Indiana Pacers a few weeks ago) for the great sophomore to find his form. He’s too talented, too agile with the ball in his hand, too explosive attacking the rim, and too good a shooter for this slump to last long.

In the words of New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers: RELAX. Miller and Ball’s games are handcrafted to deliver buckets to the same backfield, and they will come, perhaps as soon as Tuesday’s game in Brooklyn. The Nets have the league’s sixth-worst defense (according to Net Rating); an important opponent for Miller to regain his attacking form.

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