Reggie Bullock is off to a terrible start, but there is reason for hope

The Dallas Mavericks shooting guard position has become a little like the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Every year a new person fills the position and there is hope that they will do a good job. Delon Wright appeared nervous and agitated each time he was put in a position to make a play. He stammered much like Professor Quirrell. Josh Richardson was a fraud and eventually forgot how to play basketball, much like Professor Lockhart.

This leads us to the most successful Defense Against the Dark Arts professor of the entire Harry Potter series, Remus Lupin. Lupin was a fantastic and knowledgeable teacher who was the perfect fit to guide the students through a difficult time. Reggie Bullock appeared to be a fantastic fit as a great shooter who played solid defense and did not need the ball in contrast to both Wright and Richardson. Thus far, Bullock has not worked.

But Lupin had a secret. He was a werewolf and the full moon held sway over him. Bullock is not a werewolf but he appears to be controlled by something else the same way Lupin was by the moon. Bullock is controlled by the calendar.

Association is not causation, but if history is any indication Bullock should begin finding his shooting form very soon. There are a variety of potential explanations for this phenomenon but perhaps the simplest is the best. Bullock just needs some time to get into the flow of things.

For his career, Bullock is 70-of-237 on threes in the months of October and November. This is 29.5 percent three point shooting. For reference, famous brick layer Russell Westbrook is a career 30.6 percent three point shooter. In all other months, Bullock is 511-of-1265 from three. This is 40.4 percent three point shooting. For reference noted sharpshooter Ray Allen was a career 40.0 percent three point shooter. So in October and November, he shoots like Russell Westbrook and the rest of the year he shoots like Ray Allen.

Bullock has played good defense this season but a “3-and-D” player has to provide both. Bullock has shot 28.4 percent on threes thus far this season which is roughly in line with his career 29.5 percent in October and November. If he can simply follow suit and shoot in line with his customary 40.4 percent for the rest of the season, he will have gone a long way towards removing the curse on this position. If being a fantastic person has any impact at all on removing curses, Bullock is already well on his way.