Adelaide coach Joey Wright reveals how close the 36ers got to signing RJ Hampton
Adelaide had “pretty much locked up” the signature of one of the two teenage US stars in the NBL who are predicted to go in the top five of the 2020 NBA Draft, 36ers coach Joey Wright has revealed.
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The Adelaide 36ers had “pretty much locked up” the signing of teenage phenomenon RJ Hampton, who is projected to be a high 2020 NBA draft pick, coach Joey Wright has revealed.
Along with Illawarra’s Lamelo Ball, Hampton’s signing with the New Zealand Breakers has resulted in groundbreaking interest in the NBL - with fans and NBA officials flocking to games to see the two young guns who have been touted as going as high as the top five in next year’s NBA draft.
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The two US teenagers are in Australia through the NBL’s ‘Next Stars’ program, which was sparked by now Oklahoma City Thunder starter Terrance Ferguson signing with the 36ers in 2016 instead of joining a US college program.
But the Sixers could have, and even should have, had Hampton playing for them this season Wright has revealed.
After Hampton scored 15 points and five assists for the Breakers in their 17-point loss to the Sixers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Wright said Adelaide came close to getting the prized signature of the 18-year-old 196cm point guard.
“We really set the wheels to get RJ,” Wright said.
“We pretty much locked it up, it was a done deal and we lost that at the last minute.
“It’s a long story.”
Wright has been good friends with Hampton’s father Rod, who played college basketball for SMU from 1987 to 1991.
But the teen star instead chose the Breakers, where he has averaged over 22 minutes a game.
The latest ESPN mock draft has Hampton projected as the fifth best player in the 2020 draft class, while Ball has risen to be third after his initial time in the NBL.
Wright said the hype around those two talents had done something he had not witnessed in Australian basketball.
“The whole time I’ve been in basketball in Australia, Australians have never really come out to see a basketball player,” he said.
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“Andrew Bogut was maybe the first one, people kind of forget that Patty Mills played in this league and he was an amazing player but Bogut was the one who started it and now (with) Lamelo and RJ people are showing up.”
Hampton was upstaged by Adelaide’s enigmatic Eric Griffin, who scored 24 points in just 18 minutes off the bench in the Sixers comfortable win.
Only weeks ago Wright put a rocket up the 29-year-old tall for his hot and cold start to the NBL and the Adelaide coach said his x-factor import needed to be challenged for his best to come out.
“It is, it is and that’s always a danger when you have to challenge a player consistently because sometimes they feel like you are attacking them and then I feel like I’m being attacked if he’s not doing the things that he’s supposed to do on court,” he said.
“But he has responded really well in the last couple of days, I sent him a message the other day saying I was really happy with the way he responded to it and I’m even happier with him tonight.”