Possible NBA Draft target for Portland Trail Blazers — RJ Hampton
Guard | NZ Breakers (NBL) | 6’5 | 188 lbs | 19 years old
Blazers executive Neil Olshey isn’t afraid of going against the grain of public opinion when it comes to his decision-making on draft day. He’s not opposed to spurning positional needs in favor of raw, untapped potential, going as far as selecting players who don’t necessarily fit in with the current roster or perceived direction of the franchise.
Talent and perceived upside reign supreme for Olshey, even when it means that a drafted player isn’t ready to contribute from the onset of their career.
In 2013, Olshey selected CJ McCollum tenth overall after having selected another 6’3 scoring guard the year prior (Damian Lillard). In 2018, Olshey selected Anfernee Simons straight out of high school with the 24th pick, despite the guard being quite raw and inexperienced.
And in 2019, Olshey selected Nassir Little with the 25th pick after sliding on draft night due to efficiency and feel concerns. None of these players established themselves as regular rotation players as rookies, primarily because that’s not a focus for Olshey when it comes to drafting.
Should he continue down that path of gambling on upside and raw talent, New Zealand Breakers guard RJ Hampton certainly fits the billing. Joining fellow lottery hopeful LaMelo Ball in the NBL, Hampton struggled out of the gate while adjusting to a physical defensive-minded league as a teenager lacking in strength and polish.
The 19-year-old finished an abbreviated season with averages of 9.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists on a not-so-great .417/.294/.737 shooting split, though he did make notable strides as a decision-maker and defender.
Fascinating take from RJ Hampton. Hesitation freezes the big and then a couple impossibly long strides to finish for the and-1 pic.twitter.com/kRZEo7Povg
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) December 20, 2019
Athletic as all hell, Hampton’s main selling points are his ridiculous first-step, top-shelf acceleration, shifty handling flashes, stride length differentiation, and lethal slashing ability attacking off the catch and getting downhill out of the pick-and-roll.
He proved that he might not be capable of handling a true initiator role despite his heavy usage on the Under Armour circuit last year, but his avenues for success in the NBA are quite clear. Few players will possess his level of horizontal athleticism, which should bode well for his potential to become one of the more useful spot-up play-finishers in the entire league.
There are still quite a few areas that Hampton will need to sharpen before he’s worthy of playing time. The defense is, to put it nicely, bad, with poor awareness and a severe lack of functional strength dampening his impact on that end. He’s light on his feet and rather quick, plus his wingspan is solid for a guard (6’7), so he should at least be competent at the point of attack when matched up with players who don’t overpower him physically.
The shooting is a real question mark as well, given the knee valgus and elbow flair, but he’s been working on tweaks during the extended draft cycle, so there’s still hope that he becomes respectable in time.
As it stands, he’s not a player who will get minutes for the Portland Trail Blazers from day one. His selection with the No. 16 pick would mirror Simons’ in 2017, as a raw, athletic combo-guard with clear upside but apparent hurdles to overcome in order to reach it.
Simons has yet to pan out (for various reasons), but Hampton’s size and superior athletic profile do give him more room for growth, along with a clear path to rotation minutes as a slashing, closeout-attacking off-guard next to Lillard and McCollum. He’d be a gamble at 16 and wouldn’t address any of the team’s immediate needs on the wing, but he could be a move that pays dividends down the road.