Post#847 » by Hal14 » Thu Mar 7, 2024 3:23 am
PJ Hall continues to grow on me as a potential pick for us.
I honestly don't even think it'd really be a reach if we took him at 30.
But I think we'll trade that pick and probably grab someone in the 35-50 range. Hall could be really good value there.
As I was mentioning the other day, I'd like to see us draft a big who can shoot. Since our offense relies a lot on shooting/spacing. The guys we’ve had recently who have been young guys to actually get consistent rotation mins (Grant, Hauser, Pritchard) have all been shooters. And we already have a couple bigs who aren’t shooters (Kornet, Tillman)
Hauser and Pritchard were both elite shooters in college. Grant was just ok as a shooter in college but he really worked his tail off in BOS to get better at his shooting.
PJ Hall seems to be a better shooter than Grant was in college but not as good as Hauser/Pritchard.
One of the best indicators of 3 pt shooting performance in the future is past 3PA volume. Hall has really been letting it fly, especially lately. He's taken 24 threes in his last 5 games (4.8 3PA/game) which is really good volume for a 6'10" big man in college. And he's made 9 of those shots, which is 37.5%.
FT% is of course another good indicator for shooting projection. His 4 yrs in college he's shot 75% FT as a freshman, then 78.1% as a sophomore, and each of the last 2 yrs he's at 78.6%.
Last season as a junior he shot 39.8% from 3.
He's solid defensively, he's got solid passing for a big. He can drive and kick..run DHO. Can finish strong around the basket. Age 22 on draft night which limits his ceiling but Pritchard and Hauser were both like 23 when drafted so we've had some success with older guys who are further along in their development, more NBA-ready, not long term development projects.
I kind of see Hall as like a big man version of Pritchard/Hauser. All 3 were guys who were 4 year college players, were all projected 2nd round picks, or undrafted in Hauser's case (we picked Pritchard higher than he was projected). White guys who could shoot, good fundamentals, high basketball IQ, plays hard, plays the game the right way, nothing flashy, just gets it done - but lacking in crazy athleticism, explosiveness, leaping and is just average (or undersized) in size for their position.
1/11/24 The birth of a new Hal. From now on being less combative, avoiding confrontation - like Switzerland