RJ Hampton: Three's A Crowd

On development, unlucky circumstances and learning how to be a lead guard without the reps

On a warm November night during the crisp New Zealand summer, the scouting world packed into Spark Arena in Auckland to check out a top prospect for the upcoming NBA Draft. That prospect left scouts walking away very intrigued, finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists despite shooting 1-11 from deep.

No, that triple-double didn’t belong to the home team’s resident star, a top-five recruit out of high school who chose to sign there over offers to play at Kansas, Kentucky or Duke. The triple-double belonged to LaMelo Ball, his second consecutive triple-double, which is all the more impressive when you consider games are only 40 minutes long.

An overshadowed RJ Hampton, the aforementioned five-star recruit, finished the game with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Despite a strong showing, the night was emblematic of the disaster that Hampton’s tenure in the NBL became. Hampton played lead guard all through high school, thriving with the ball in his hands, and was siphoned to an off-ball role with the Breakers. He left the United States to market himself for the NBA Draft, yet found himself playing out of position while across the league, Ball thrived on a team built completely around him.

Now in the middle of his second season with the Orlando Magic, RJ still has not come back from the disaster of his time in the NBL. The flashes he shows are worthy of NBA minutes and a solid role with the ball in his hands, yet he plays third string in a backcourt of young stars, sharing the spotlight with Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony.

Rewind two months prior to the first Hampton-Ball meeting in the NBL. That was our first chance to see Hampton play on a big stage as an 18-year-old, and we came away mightily impressed. The contest: a preseason NBA exhibition with the Oklahoma City Thunder, featuring Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Steven Adams.

Hampton’s role with the Breakers at that point was as a lead guard, getting heavy pick-and-roll reps and handling in transition instead of running the wings. This was exactly what he did in high school, and what we thought his role would be in the NBA.

We can’t get that performance out of our head: the great live-dribble passing to cutters, the command and pace to the PNR while forcing switches and attacking in isolation, all things he did against NBA-level competition while he should’ve been a senior in high school.

The first two regular season games with the Breakers turned in mixed results: his second start, playing at the point, saw him produce 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists on 7-13 shooting. He was attacking the hoop early on, going 9-10 from the line in those two contests and made fairly sound decisions. He hit mid-range pull-ups out of the pick-and-roll, drilled shots off screening actions and showed the versatility to be a high-caliber combo guard who heats up when he’s included in the offense:

It’s hard to overestimate how players produce when they get to be a part of the gameplan and play to their strengths. An 18-year-old playing professional basketball likely needs more catering and comfort than other pros. Out of the gates, Hampton was given such hospitality, and he responded with 20-point outings.

The Breakers had other ideas for Hampton. On the heels of his 20-5-2 showing in his second professional game, the Breakers inserted veteran guard Thomas Abercrombie into the lineup. Abercrombie, alongside Corey Webster, would handle most of the ball handling duties and creation in the half-court. Instantly, Hampton was jettisoned to an off-ball role on the perimeter, no longer getting to push the ball in transition, create out of the PNR or attack defenses in the only way he knew how.

It’s hard to know if the Breakers were making the decision proactively based on legitimate concerns regarding Hampton’s ability to execute as the lead handler or a team-based conclusion reached when looking at the summation of the parts they had. Expecting a teenager to have the same amount of polish on the PNR that seasoned pros and 30-year-olds like Webster and Abercrombie would be asinine. We’ve always erred on the side of belief in Hampton and that the move was for the team’s benefit due to their veterans, not clear long-term ineptitude on their youngster’s part.

Hampton’s impact, and long-term teachings, floundered as a result of the off-ball move. Over the next nine games, Hampton would average 9.2 points, 2.4 assists. Hampton shot the ball admirably, going 10-28 (35.7%) from 3 over that stretch, and such a positive impact might have cemented his role for the rest of the season. If the long, athletic Hampton could hit enough shots, it would be best for the team to keep him in that position and let Abercrombie and Webster run the offense. After all, the Breakers were trying to win games, not develop Hampton in what they knew would be his lone NBL season. He finished the season averaging 9.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and shooting 29.4% from deep.

Here we are two seasons after his NBL campaign and Hampton is playing a utility guard role for the Orlando Magic, his second team in as many seasons. Averaging 7.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists, he is a bench target behind 2020 draftee Cole Anthony (taken nine spots ahead of him) and Jalen Suggs, a 2021 top-five pick the Magic are planning on building their entire franchise around.

For what it’s worth, the duo of Anthony and Hampton could be a solid combination. In 21 games where Anthony and Hampton shared the floor before Suggs was drafted, they played 10.1 minutes a night with each other, scoring 114.1 points per 100 possessions and trimming way down on the team’s normal turnover rate.

Hampton has played well with the Magic and gone largely unnoticed. He’s above 40% from 3-point range this season and has been a key floor-spacer, allowing him to extend his minutes next to one of those other guards. Tweaks to his shooting form, spearheaded by University of Memphis assistant coach Mike Miller, have greatly improved his off-ball impact. He’s raised his release to farther above his head, gets a steadier wrist flick on his release as opposed to a push shot from the front of his face and has stabilized his guide hand.

It looks so much better than it did two years ago:

Developing the off-ball prowess was clearly the first step for Hampton. He didn’t get enough reps in the NBL to prove worthy of such a role in the association, and the emergence of Cole Anthony as a potent offensive lead guard has demanded more spot-up shooting.

The two actually have pretty good chemistry, and Anthony operates very well out of the Spread PNR. He finds Hampton frequently on the perimeter, and RJ knocks them down with ease.

Still, we’re hung up on the Hampton we saw in the preseason two years ago against the Thunder, the lead guard Hampton. As Suggs and Anthony both come into their own and spearhead the two-headed backcourt combination for the Magic, the opportunities for him to get those reps are few and far between.

So the question then becomes: how do you prove you’re capable of thriving in the pick-and-roll without getting ball screen reps?

The first area is in transition, believe it or not. Making quick, decisive drives with the ball in your hands to take space and attack openings is a skill that translates to the half-court. Seeing, and then exploiting, avenues towards the rim is about feel. Sure, the acceleration is different and space is much greater in the open floor, but the ability to make one or two quick dribble moves then burst to the hoop is a translatable skill.

Hampton has been electric in transition when he’s gotten there. A solid rebounder, we see that top-shelf athleticism when he turns on the jets and gets to the hoop:

What stands out most about his transition ability is how he makes one quick move: an in-and-out, a slight hesi, whatever it may be. His handle is solid but not spectacular, and his live-body athleticism stands out a on. He’s got an extra gear to tap into that others simply don’t.

The second way Hampton proves his worth is off secondary actions in the half-court out of the flow of the game. The Magic run a lot of high ball screen actions in simple sets to let Suggs and Anthony have as little complexity as possible to their reads. Sometimes that includes a pick-and-pop, or a 4-man filling to the top of the key.

When the initial PNR doesn’t produce a clean attempt, it will get reversed to a bigger teammate atop the key. From there, a quick swing into a sprint handoff for RJ Hampton gets him the ball on the run in a two-man action.

Few players get downhill as quickly as RJ, but he also has the ability to adjust to the defense and knife his way through to the rim when they get through the initial action:

Unfortunately, the speed with which those actions happen and the moving parts around him don’t provide a ton of passing looks that simulate a Spread PNR. Hampton’s challenges as a finisher greatly lower his efficiency. According to Synergy Sports Tech, he’s producing 0.569 points per possession (PPP) out of ball screens and 0.517 PPP out of handoffs, both in the bottom-ten percentile in the league.

Dive into his ball screen numbers more and the lack of efficiency in every category is staggering. Hampton is failing to convert at the rim, but he gets there for more than 50% of his PNR attempts. He’s only 9-22 (40.9%) on those, a fairly putrid mark, influenced heavily by two standout areas: poor touch off the glass from wide angles and an inability to handle contact to his core. He won’t turn 21 until February; there’s still time for that strength to come.

Because Hampton is so explosive and plays fast, he doesn’t have a great runner or patient game in the mid-range. He’s 1-6 on runners, many of which are rushed an off-balance. The dribble jumper isn’t there yet, either. His shot mechanics are much improved from a standstill, but the rhythm from hard drive to smooth pull-up leave a lot to be desired. That’s why he’s only 2-13 on pull-up jumpers out of the PNR and 9-32 overall in the half-court.

More creative sets are required for Hampton to get more space at the rim to finish, and he takes advantage in those sets. Off Spain PNR opportunities, clustered double-high ball screens or other looks, Hampton is able to see his oppportunity and turn on the jets, giving him the space to get to the basket. He’s especially good going to his left:

At this point, reality sets in: reps aren’t coming in the PNR until some of those efficiency numbers rise. Hampton needs space to get to the rim cleanly and finish despite his quick acceleration skills. Even with the poor finishing, he has been a frequent kickout artist from ball screens, routinely making the right read. While the efficiency as a scorer is far away, he’s impressed as a playmaker.

Hampton loves to throw right-hand hook passes while on the move. His processing speed is very high, he makes quick kickouts at the right time and knows how to slow down and read a defense when he can’t turn the corner quickly. He’s a much better passer than he gets credit for.

As solid of a passer as Hampton has been, he’s not in a situation where he’s surrounded by good enough shooters or scoring threats to be a pure facilitator. Without getting better at the rim, he isn’t a big enough threat to force defenses to collapse and get his teammates higher quality looks than someone like Anthony or Suggs can. And he won’t get more opportunities until he can prove he’s better in those small opportunities he gets. There’s a reason he’s already the third wheel in Orlando.

It’s just like asking for a promotion at your normal nine-to-five job. If you want to prove you can take on more responsibility, you must start by proving you master all that is already on your plate. Hampton needs to become more consistent as a secondary creator and finisher at the rim before he truly earns the PNR reps.

For us, we are incredibly hopeful that day comes and comes soon. Orlando may not be the spot for such opportunity, and the clock is ticking on getting him the development reps necessary to get him up to speed as an NBA pick-and-roll operator. Otherwise he may fall victim to countless circumstances squandering what we once saw as elite potential.