After forgoing college ball to play professionally for the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL, point guard R.J. Hampton saw his NBA draft stock decline during the 2019/20 season. However, changes in Hampton’s jumper have Sam Vecenie of The Athletic reappraising the 6’5″ 19-year-old’s NBA fit.
Though Hampton’s shooting was inefficient with the Breakers (he shot just 29.5% from three-point range and 40.7% from the field overall), Vecenie noted that he has been addressing this issue ahead of the draft with former NBA sharpshooter Mike Miller and trainer Tyler Relph, as previously outlined.
Here are more notes about the upcoming NBA draft, now slated for November 18th:
- Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman has updated his list of his top 50 2020 NBA draft prospects. Illawarra Hawks point guard LaMelo Ball, Ratiopharm Ulm point guard Killian Hayes, and USC freshman center Onyeka Okongwu comprise Wasserman’s current top three selections.
- Point guard Theo Maledon, a likely first round draft pick this year who most recently played for France’s ASVEL, has talked with nine NBA teams thus far, including the Knicks, per Ian Begley of SNY (Twitter link). Maledon’s meeting with the Knicks, who have the eighth pick in 2020, happened after the lottery.
- As we previously relayed, the NBA recently announced its plans for a new draft combine, which has been running since this Monday, September 28, and is set to continue into November.
This year just has the same kind of feel as the 2013 draft where someone surprising ends up going #1. Going into that draft almost every mock had Anthony Bennett going either 4 or 5, and Cleveland fans know the rest of that story. Okongwu kind of has that Bennett smell to him. I wonder if Minnesota would pull something like that off.
Wouldn’t they go with a 4 that gas range? Okongwu isn’t a stretch. Hes and undersized center. Obi makes more sense as a reach pick.
The difference in my mind is not that Bennett and Okongwu were similar players on the court. It is that their numbers in their 1 year in college were eerily similar.
Okongwu – 16.2 points, 8.6 boards, 1.1 assists.
Bennett – 16.1 points, 8.1 boards, 1.0 assists.
Toppin might be a similar position, but I think he is far more proven as a player in college. That is by no means a guarantee of future success, but it is what it is. I guess I could have gone with a Michael Olowokandi comparison, but I thought the Bennett one would be fresher in people’s minds. Either way, my main point is that I do not think Okongwu will do very well at the next level.