It's been a rough start to the year for both Onyeka Okongwu and Jock Landale.
Well, perhaps not from an overall basketball standpoint - after all, the Hawks have started 2-1, only falling short of a perfect record by a single-digit loss against the impressive Rockets on Saturday.
Rather, Okongwu and Landale share one common flaw to start the year - the two can't seem to put the ball through the net from behind the arc. If this doesn't change, the Hawks will continue to struggle to put opponents away - including a rematch against the Rockets on Monday.
Okongwu and Landale's shooting headlined poor team efficiency from deep against Houston
The Hawks caught a bad case of the shooting bug on Saturday.
While the Rockets were still able to convert on an impressive 14/35 (40%) of their long-range attempts, the Hawks faltered with a dismal 13/49 (26.5%) metric in the same category.
Centers Onyeka Okongwu and Jock Landale were front and center in such an unfortunate result - Okongwu's 0/5 conversion rate and Landale's 0/4 didn't achieve any semblance of spacing the defense out down low.
Recently, the Hawks didn't extend Okongwu at the contract extension deadline - you have to wonder what his future looks like in Atlanta if the shooting continues to falter.
Atlanta's centers must improve from range to best the Rockets (and beyond)
It's no mystery that a true threat from range at the center position is one of the most valuable assets in the entire NBA.
Just look at the New York Knicks - they rode their center, Karl-Anthony Towns, all the way to a championship last season thanks to his incredible ability to pull the opposing center as far away from the hoop as possible on a night-to-night basis.
While Okongwu and Landale can achieve a similar effect on average, the two just haven't been able to find their stroke this year.
Okongwu - a career 35% shooter from range, has converted on an ugly 15% of his shots from behind the arc this season. Obviously, 15% isn't anywhere near where he'd hoped to have been, even taking the small sample size into consideration.
Similarly, Jock Landale, a 33% shooter from range through his career, achieving a 38% or greater efficiency since 2024, has converted on just 11% of his three-point attempts to open the 2026-2027 campaign.
Look for the two bigs to bounce back in a big way against the Rockets in the second set of their double-header clash this coming Monday. If Atlanta's two bigs can't put it together from behind the arc, a 2-2 record appearing in their near future wouldn't be surprising at all.
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