2020 NBA draft profile: International prospect R.J. Hampton

With the NBA Draft weeks away, let’s dissect and analyze R.J. Hampton’s season with the New Zealand Breakers and where he might fall in the NBA 2020 Draft.

News cycles exploded in May of 2019 when R.J. Hampton — a projected lottery pick going into the 2020 NBA draft — “skipped” college and the NCAA to play professionally in the NBL in Australia, signing with the New Zealand Breakers.

American players in the past such as the OKC Thunder’s Terrance Ferguson have also followed this pathway called the “Next Stars” program. This was also the pathway that got LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton into the NBL.

Hampton wasn’t the primary option on the Breakers, like any professional sports team the goal is to win and a wiry 18-year-old isn’t going to be able to do that. Head coach Dan Shamir only had Hampton play 20.6 minutes per game in a 40-minute FIBA league. He started 13 of a possible 15 games.

Hampton was a productive piece on the team and showed he is a very capable playmaker – especially in the pick and roll. He was able to be a starter and transition into a secondary ball-handler and backup guard when it was asked of him.

The potential with Hampton is evident with his skill set as a hyper-athletic driver and as a light-footed defender, he can grow into being a two-way guard who is switchable on defense and can be a threat as a scorer and as a facilitator.

The keyword that comes up when you speak about Hampton is “project” — he is solid in many aspects, a jack of all trades. Hampton is raw as a prospect and his speed/athleticism is the only real outstanding quality, but we’ve seen players like Russell Westbrook be described like that so what does an NBA team get if they drafted R.J. Hampton?

2020 NBA Draft Profile

Name: R.J. Hampton
Height: 6’5″ (6’7” Wingspan)
Weight: 190 lbs.
Position: Guard
School/Club: New Zealand Breakers
NBA Comparison: Jordan Clarkson, Dante Exum

2019-2020 statistics

8.8 PPG
3.9 RPG
2.4 APG
40.7 FG%
29.5 3P%
67.9 FT%

Strengths: Athleticism

If you ask “what is R.J. Hampton’s best trait?” — the answer is his athleticism and speed. The potential for a one-man fast break with the general ability to go into a full spirit and still do the “basketball stuff” catch, pass, and score while breaking the sound barrier is outstanding. His overall ability to control himself while he’s sprinting is comparable to Russell Westbrook or John Wall.

It’s a variety of finishing around the basket and passes to players cutting or in shooing position with Hampton in the full-court. With the NBA’s pace increasing and teams understanding the analytics of free throws, layups, or 3’s — Hampton has already optimized his speed by setting up his teammates and taking advantage of back-peddling defenders, efficient stuff.

It took the other teams by surprise in the NBL and with some more muscle and definition on his body, he will be able to become a more imposing and stronger finisher.

All of us hold our breath when Ja Morant goes up in the air, hopefully, a similarly skinny guard like Hampton can put on that muscle so he doesn’t get knocked around when trying to finish around bigs, as we’ve seen other point guards recently do this like Damian Lillard or Lonzo Ball.

His gangly arms and his springy bounce allow him to sneak into tip the ball or rebound at a high level considering his slight frame. Hampton averaged 3.9 rebounds per game (with almost one offensive board per game.)

At his age and being a 6’5” guard provides Hampton with an inch or two over traditional point guards and allows him to grab more rebound than the guards defending him, similar to Westbrook.

Speaking of Westbrook, how good of a playmaker is Hampton?

R.J. Hampton’s strengths: Playmaking

The system that coach Shamir ran was very “European”. Running the break, off-ball action, and an emphasis on ball movement. When plays broke down it often fell into Hampton’s hands to run pick and rolls — which allowed an otherwise restricted Hampton showed how dangerous he can be as a facilitator.

Hampton ranked 21st in assist percentage and 24th in per-36 assists per game in the 2019-20 NBL season. Every NBA offense features the pick and roll and Hampton as a teenager was able to sparingly, functionally run a professional team’s offense, that’s something many NBA rookie guards can’t even do.

The pick and roll isn’t just about passing (unless you ask Joe Ingles) it’s also about being able to finish. Hampton’s electric speed allows him to get to the ring before a flat-footed big or set up dimes for his teammates.

Even in situations where he is taking it to the ring the way he’s creating space for himself often leaves room for cutters to sneak in along the baseline, or makes space for open shooters.

Hampton, whose explosive drives drew attention from the defense allowed the team to open up the court — leading to these assists and is also very commonplace in the NBA.

Hampton was very willing to be one of the cogs in the Breakers offense and was partly the reason why his season averages are unimpressive — compared to let’s say to the other draft prospect like LaMelo Ball.

The threat of him driving scares teams into collapsing their defense and it opened up large passing lanes for the Breakers — Hampton is really good at finding shooters pockets and it resulted in a lot of semi-contested shots for good shooters or giving them enough time to swing the ball around for more open shots.

It’s unlikely Hampton ever gets to double-digits assists with the current progression he’s on but it’s not out of the question that he may be a Kemba Walker-level facilitator. Walker averaged 5.1 assists per game in the 2019-2020 NBA Playoffs, while still being close to a 20 point per game scorer, the balance Hampton could grow into during his NBA career.

Hampton will grow into a better playmaker but can he improve on the things he’s currently lacking? His shooting and defense are the things we’ll look at next.

R.J. Hampton’s weaknesses: Shooting

As you may expect a typical NBL defense is more structured, disciplined, and smarter than a college team with a bunch of teenagers trying their hardest to make the NBA. Hampton was streaky as a shooter and at times looking like an average shooter, and at other times was given the Andre Roberson treatment.

Overall, for the season Hampton shot 28.6 percent from three, with going 67.9 from the free-throw line (not great). Hampton was ranked within the bottom 15 in the league for True shooting percentage, granted in 15-game sample size but it’s still worrying.

ESPN NBA draft analyst Mike Schmitz does a good job of breaking down with Hampton some of the funkiness with his shot in Schmitz’s film breakdown.

The shot selection can be questionable at times, two examples stuck out during a game against the South East Melbourne Phoenix – the shots themselves aren’t awful takes like shooting 19 seconds left on the shot clock. However, if you’re an optimist you can say these shots come from places Hampton should be focusing on, behind the arc and on switches.

This game was his return from a hip injury which eventually ended his season in February and decided to return to the states to continue his rehabilitation and prepare for the draft. Hampton has had eight or nine months of pre-draft training and with the draft set for November 18th and has spent his time wisely. More to come on that on that later.

The second issue was Hampton’s defense. The tools are there but what was missing?

R.J. Hampton’s weaknesses: Defense

Hampton wasn’t exclusively guarding point guards, his height and wingspan allowed him to cover 1-3 in the NBL (in the NBA he might struggle with some small forwards.) The Breakers were fifth in defensive rating – yes, the NBL only has nine teams but they were only 0.2 from being third.

Hampton wasn’t burdened with the toughest assignment every night – he was capable of defending his man to the best he could as an 18-year-old but teams hunted him. Hampton was forced into switches against the elite guards in the NBL, that’s where the trouble began.

Getting caught on screens is one of the biggest issues, especially when he’s an off-ball defender chasing shooters around. These skills come with time but the tunnel vision of Hampton when following the ball — and not looking forward to screens is a difficult improvement to fix in an open gym. The man to man defense isn’t perfect but there’s the promise, like any draft prospect. He has the tools of being an intelligent and quick defender, as mentioned 6’5” height, 6’7” wingspan, and hops like bugs bunny.

He’s prone to jump on a pump fake and sometimes misses the scouting report, Hampton was going under screens during a game against John Roberson IV – one of the best shooters on the planet if you didn’t know.

There have been defensive lapses — one particular example was Hampton was switched onto a big and forgot to box him out once the shot went up from the arc and allowed an easy put-back, or just losing a man on a fast break.

The best way for Hampton to prove is to put on weight and be in a situation where he can be held accountable, or continue his development as a team defender which was a surprising positive with Hampton this season.

the development has been a key reason why NBA teams have fallen in love with Hampton, so where will he land? And what has he done to climb up mock drafts?

Overall outlook on R.J. Hampton

The overall outlook on R.J. Hampton can be done in three words – Work in Progress.

Hampton does a lot of things well and not many things great and for where he’s projected in the draft (roughly 7th through 15th) that might be the best kind of prospect to draft. Hampton has projected within the early 20s for this draft a few months ago and two particular things have stood out to NBA teams that have pushed him into the lottery.

Physical growth

According to the NBL’s Liam Santamaria Hampton has put on 20 pounds of muscle since he arrived on New Zealand shores last year and recently measured 6’6” in shoes.

Repeatedly it has been brought up as a possible issue for Hampton. His weight could limit him when finishing around the ring, but his increased size and weight has made him from a hopeful switchable guard to now being a lock to be able to handle 1-3 in the NBA. We tend to forget these are teenagers and in time they will fill out into their growing bodies.

Pre-Draft

The real progress Hampton has made over the pre-draft process is in his shooting. NBA veteran sharpshooter Mike Miller has been working with Hampton – Miller has changed Hampton’s shot dramatically and now looks like something that could be a more reliable and impactful jump shot. Rather than the spaghetti arm throw he had previously.

Draft scouts and NBA front offices have praised his work ethic over and over, which includes Hampton’s maturity in the pre-draft process. According to Santamaria, Hampton has impressed in pre-draft interviews and when he spoke with R.J. Hampton’s father, Rod Hampton. Santamaria emphasized R.J.’s maturity is a factor in his draft stock increasing.  

"“They’re really excited about where he is sitting right now a couple weeks out from the draft… Teams love a lot about him. Really what stands out with him in this process is his maturity. The kid is really impressive when you sit down with him, and we knew that from the day we first met him and we had him on the show, you listen to the way he speaks.”"

Who should draft R.J. Hampton?

The Athletic’s NBA Draft expert Sam Vecenie placed Hampton at 12th overall in his recent mock draft (paywall). The range from 7th-to-15th is Vecenie’s projection and looking at the nine teams in that range, my suggestions are broken down into two categories who could best use Hampton.

For a non-contending team that are looking for a two-way starting point guard, the list includes the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Washington Wizards, and the Phoenix Suns.

For soon-to-be or trying-to-contend teams, Hampton would be best suited as a back-up point guard who could possibly take over the starting role in the future. These teams include the New Orleans Pelicans, Boston Celtics (especially), and the Orlando Magic.

Hampton is the real deal and don’t let the unknown of the NBL or international play scare you away, the two-way potential for a lightning-quick guard, great finisher, and graceful playmaker is something you want in today’s NBA.