Takeaways From the Charlotte Hornets Blowout Preseason Loss to the Brooklyn Nets

The Charlotte Hornets opened their preseason account with a loss against Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and the Brooklyn Nets. This is not a space that particularly cares about the results of the preseason, so let's focus on some of the processes that led to them. Here are a couple of takeaways from tonight's action.

Naz Reid As A Focal Point

There was no shortage of Naz Reid in the first half of tonight's game as Charles Lee was intentional in putting his newest chess piece in positions to succeed. The Hornets consistently ran actions involving Reid that forced the Nets to switch a smaller defender onto him which allowed Naz to operate comfortably inside the arc.

He flashed some fancy post footwork, scored on a bruising downhill drive, and knocked down one of his five three-point attempts. Granted, Charlotte was without their three primary scorers in Coby White, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel, but the clear focus on getting Naz the ball in good spots is something that should continue into the regular season.

The highlight of Reid's night, for me at least, was when he dove on the floor for a loose ball with 2:30 left in the second quarter of a meaningless preseason game. If anyone was wondering why Timberwolves fans fawned over the former Sixth Man of the Year, that's why.

Allen, O'Neale Prove Their Worth

The threat that both Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale present as pull-up jump shooters will be key in Charlotte's attempt to aggregate LaMelo's offensive imapct from beyond the arc.

After Allen nailed a couple of pull-up jumpers as a pick-and-roll ball handler, he took advantage of some defensive over-aggression to touch the paint and create shots for himself and his teammates. He canned all three of his long-range attempts and led the Hornets in first-half scoring before the reserves carried the torch in the second half.

His fellow former Sun, O'Neale, might still be throwing ball fakes somewhere in the bowels of the Spectrum Center. O'Neale's ability to create space with shot and pass fakes was on full display in the preseason opener, and the Hornets' offense benefited greatly from his presence.

Be on the lookout for O'Neale's live-dribble passing -- for a team lacking play creation like Charlotte is, any juice as a shot creator off the bench will be welcome. He led the team with five assists, all of them coming in the first half.

James' Point Guard Proficiency

Once Christian Anderson Jr. was ruled out for the game, it became clear that we'd see some Point Sion tonight. After struggling in that role at various points over the last 12 months, James looked pretty good on the ball against Brooklyn.

It wasn't flashy, it never will be with Sion, but his handle was functional, his decision-making was sharp, and he had an impressive left-handed finish off of a straight line drive that we didn't see much of last season. James finished with eight points, four rebounds, and shot 2/4 from deep while providing solid minutes on the defensive end: that's about all you need from him at this juncture.

Steinbach Sits

Rookie center Hannes Steinbach didn't enter the game until late in the third quarter, which tells us everything we need to know about where he stands in the front court pecking order.

One preseason game doesn't tell us much about the short or long-term prospects for the German big man, but it does give us an inkling that we shouldn't expect much from him early in the season.

McNeeley's Up and Down Night

If nothing else, Liam McNeeley can shoot the cover off the ball. He nailed four-straight long-range attempts in the third quarter after struggling mightly in the first half.

Outside of that hot stretch from downtown, though, McNeeley didn't offer the Hornets much. He turned the ball over six times, committed four fouls, and failed to record an assist even though he handled the ball plenty tonight.

I'm still bullish on McNeeley's long-term potential, but this is far from the start he was looking for after an impressive G-League campaign and a stellar Summer League to match.

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