Scouting the Hornets' intriguing NBA Summer League invitee PJ Hall

In his final season at Clemson, Hall only knocked down 31.5% of his three-point attempts. In his maiden G-League season with the Grand Rapids Gold, he improved slightly, nailing 34.6% of his shots from long distance, but still leaving a bit to be desired when extrapolating his potential impact as a stretch big at the NBA level.

Inside the arc, Hall plays the game with his overwhelming off-ball physicality.

As a screener, the former undrafted free agent wreaks havoc, making strong, solid contact that frees up his teammates to thrive. Clemson used his physical frame as a screener on a myriad of actions; dribble hand offs, pick and pops, pin downs, etc., and when a guard failed to account for Hall's incoming screen, they'd often run down the court seeing stars after making contact with the well-built big man.

Although Hall impresses in screening actions with his physicality, he lacks some of that same punch playing through contact around the rim. When operating in the post, Hall has the tendency to shrink his already short (for NBA center standards) frame, extending the distance between himself and the basket instead of playing upright and through the chest of opposing post defenders. Hall also lacks NBA-level vertical pop to play up and over defenders, further accentuating his lack of height when playing inside.

He didn't put up crazy assist numbers at Clemson, but Hall does project as a high-feel player that can operate as an oversized offensive hub on the perimeter. Charles Lee specifically uses his big men in five-out sets, asking them to set strong screens and operate dribble hand-off actions, and Hall can do that. He threw some slick passes as a Tiger, raising eye brows with his vision and timing to hit teammates on cuts.

On defense, Hall is a classic tweener: not fast enough to switch and play on the perimeter, not big enough to guard opposing centers.

As a senior, Hall struggled to bang with opposing big men like Armando Bacot and DJ Burns. Granted, Bacot is one of the best big man in the illustrious history of the University of North Carolina, and Burns ascended to a plane only graced by Bill Walton and Hakeem Olajuwon for stretches of 2024, but Hall was powerless to slow down those two.

He brings some promise as a low man helper due to his 7'1" wingspan, but Hall's lack of lateral quickness makes it difficult for him to get in the right positions to utilize his length. He boasted an impressive block rate (5.6) as a senior at Clemson, but much of that was due to his strength that overpowered opposing college students.

Analyzing Hall's fit in Charlotte

Charles Lee often compares deploying bigs who play with different styles to throwing different pitches at a defense. In Hall, Charlotte could add a new pitch to their already well-rounded arsenal.

Moussa Diabate is the undersized, energetic, defense-first big that can switch onto the perimeter and hold his own, Ryan Kalkbrenner is the traditional rim-protecting center who plays around the rim on offense, and Mason Plumlee is the savvy, veteran option who proverbially gives you four points when you need four and four points when you need ten.

Signing Hall to a two-way contract would give the Hornets a fourth option at center that can space the floor and provide passable defense for Charlotte to run five-out looks on both ends of the court. Injuries happen, as Hornets fans know all too well, and adding another big man into the Hornets' system that plays a totally different style than the ones they employ would be good process. In a pinch, Hall could make the quick trip south to Charlotte and give the Hornets some minutes at either the four or the five.

If not Hall, a player of his archetype should fill the Hornets' final two-way contract slot. Thankfully for PJ, he has a few weeks to make the case for himself in Charlotte.

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