An NBA team has previously averaged less than 80 points while finishing a season shooting worse than 40percent from the field. Of course, that happened in a time of bow ties, black-and-white televisions and Ed Sullivan. It’s called the 1950s.

Four games into this season, the Charlotte Bobcats are in historic territory. They’re simultaneously last in the league in points per game (79.8) and field-goal percentage (36.0percent). Combine that with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio (59-to-77) and you have some strikingly bad offense.

That scoring average: It was the 1953-54 season. The NBA was an eight-team league, including such metropolises as Fort Wayne, Syracuse and Rochester. And there was a team up in Milwaukee with a scoring problem.

It averaged 70 points and finished the season 21-51, last in the Western Division. Fifty-some years later, with the NBA expanding to 30 teams, no franchise since has failed to average 80. In fact, there were seasons when it was rare for a team to fail to average 100.

That shooting percentage: So really, is it possible for an NBA team to shoot worse than 40 percent for a season?

Actually, yes, and even succeed doing so. Leaf through the 400-some pages of the NBA Guide and you discover the 1958-59 Boston Celtics. They shot an abysmal 39.5 percent for the season and that didn’t stop them from sweeping Minneapolis in the NBA Finals.

Of course, that Celtics team had a guy named Bill Russell, who might have been the greatest defensive center ever. And as badly as the Celtics shot, they still averaged more than 116 points per game.