Paul George is struggling shooting the ball. That might not come as news to anyone keeping up with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but what's been surprising has been how consistently managed to struggle from the field.
The All-Star forward has now shot under 50 percent in 21 straight games in which he's taken more than 12 shots, only six shy of Ricky Davis' 27-game under 50 percent streak — the worst in 35 years, according to Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders.
George admitted to thinking there's something mechanically wrong with his shot, and boy has he seen the bad end of it — shooting 29.3 percent from deep in March and 33.3 percent thus far in April — a far cry from the rest of his season, as he had managed to hit at a 40 percent clip in every month before then.
Considering that 45 percent of George's shots are coming from long-range, his struggles shooting the ball have become of great concern, averaging over seven attempts per game and making a whisker under 30 percent of them since the start of March.
If the problem is indeed mechanical, it likely won't be a quick fix, but will rather require a complete mental shake-up to get him back in a groove, or him being more selective with his own shots — knowing he's prone to put his team at a point of disadvantage.
Yet this doesn't provide a short-term solution for the Thunder, given that Russell Westbrook has shot a mere 29.8 percent from deep this season, and Carmelo Anthony has shot 36 percent — making George the best option on the team at 39.7 percent for the season — even better than marksman Alex Abrines (37.7 percent).
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