P.J. Hairston Scouting Report and Video Breakdown -

Scouting Report by Jonathan Givony. Video Breakdown by Mike Schmitz

P.J. Hairston was pressured to play out this season within the D-League with the Texas Legends after being dismissed by North Carolina in December. He put up monstrous scoring numbers, however nonetheless has many query marks round him. Now that he is formally within the Draft as an robotically eligible participant, we will take a step again and conduct a list of all the things he displayed this season as an NBA prospect, in addition to the issues he nonetheless has to enhance on.

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Hairston is likely one of the few prospects on this draft who seems to be prepared to come back in and play a task within the NBA straight away. His thick, robust construct (230 kilos) is a serious purpose why he was capable of alter to the D-League so rapidly, averaging 27 factors per-40 minutes, as his taking pictures means and aggressive fashion of play are tailor made for the NBA.

Hairston’s jump-shot is clearly his most translatable NBA talent. He made 73 3-pointers in 26 D-League video games, not needing any time to regulate to the a lot additional distance of the NBA 3-point line due to his terrific taking pictures mechanics and vary. Hairston has a pure and exquisite stroke, with nice stability and observe by way of, and constant elevation which he makes use of successfully to create separation and get his shot off rapidly in a mess of how. Whereas he was a little bit bit streaky along with his ft set this season (made 34% of his makes an attempt), his means to come back off screens, shoot off dribble hand-offs, and hit pull-ups from everywhere in the ground. He is terrific in fast actions, being particularly efficient in transition and early-offense conditions, which makes him a really priceless weapon within the more and more up-tempo nature of the NBA. Simply to finish the image about the kind of shooter he’s, he made 87% of his free throw makes an attempt this season, fourth greatest amongst all gamers in our High-100 prospect rankings.

Hairston’s thick construct and aggressive nature permits him to be considerably of a menace to assault opponents off the dribble, totally on closeouts and early-offense conditions. He is tough to cease when he can get a step on his defender and make his option to the basket in a straight-line, as he is robust sufficient to easily bully his option to the rim and take contact contained in the paint to complete performs off. He generated 6.9 free throw makes an attempt per-40 minutes this season, a really strong mark, and converts these successfully as already famous.

Spending most of his time guarding small forwards, like he did at North Carolina, Hairston confirmed very good potential defensively this season, notably early on when he was locked in and actually centered on getting stops (one thing that undoubtedly wavered because the yr moved on and the truth of the D-League set in). His glorious wingspan (6-9 ½) and powerful body permits him to play larger than his just-average peak, and he does an excellent job of getting over ball-screens due to his fast ft and talent to combat by way of picks. His size and strong instincts serve him nicely within the passing lanes (1.9 steals per-40, identical to at North Carolina) and he’ll additionally provide you with the occasional blocked shot for good measure. If Hairston places his thoughts to it, he ought to have the ability to emerge as a strong defender at each wing spots within the NBA.

Sadly, Hairston developed some unhealthy habits because the season moved on, as his effort stage actually tapered off in direction of the top of the yr. He appeared to be taking part in at half-speed on many possessions defensively, which is partially a product of the D-League’s fashion of play and tradition, but in addition one thing that was a problem for him earlier in his profession, as there have been some considerations prior to now about his weight and work ethic. Hairston appeared so centered on leaking out offensively that his rebounding numbers fell dramatically from his sophomore marketing campaign at UNC (7.4 per-40 then, 4.3 this yr).

Hairston additionally ranked as one of many worst passers within the D-League this season, producing an help on simply 4.1% of his possessions (21 complete assists in 839 minutes), one of many lowest charges amongst all gamers in our High-100 prospect rankings. Whereas a few of this has to do with the character of his function on the Texas Legends (primarily a employed gun) and a few of it’s a product of the fashion of play of the D-League basically, his help charge ranks very poorly even in comparison with different D-League wing gamers, useless final amongst NBADL taking pictures guards actually.

Hairston shouldn’t be somebody a crew can actually run a variety of offense by way of, as he is at his greatest taking part in off the ball. Isolation and choose and roll performs made up simply 13% of his offense this season, just like final yr at UNC (15.8%), as he merely shouldn’t be an awesome ball-handler or resolution maker. Hairston possesses simply a mean first step, and does not present nice change of pace or path means to compensate for that. Almost 70% of his half-court makes an attempt got here on jump-shots, and he struggles considerably making an attempt to complete contained in the painthe hit simply 50% of his these makes an attempt (across the basket plus runners/floaters) within the half-court this season, after changing 51% of them in faculty final yr. Hairston will not ever be described as a freakish athlete, notably when it comes to his pure leaping means, even when he can throw down some spectacular dunks in transition at instances due to his lengthy wingspan.

NBA groups will definitely need to do extra analysis about Hairston’s dismissal from UNC, in addition to his general character. Barring any vital crimson flags, although, all in all it appears very straightforward to discover a function and area of interest for Hairston within the NBA, notably if he is keen to place the hassle in defensively.

We have taken a extra visible take a look at his strengths and weaknesses due to recreation movie from the D-League within the following video scouting report, courtesy of Mike Schmitz.

All of our video scouting experiences this season will be discovered right here.