PJ Hairston to the Hornets, in depth analysis

As you can tell, we have mixed opinions on 9th overall pick Noah Vonleh. Here is the war room talk about P.J. Hairston, former UNC SG by way of the NBA D-League, drafted 26th overall by the Charlotte Hornets.

Matt: A great talent who, like many players before him, is not going to stay out of trouble
Of all the players who have come into the draft with character issues, the fact that PJ went as high as he did speaks volumes about his skill level.  But is he worth the risk?

Grade:C-

Before I go any further, I need a moment...

"I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred, and when I die I'll be a Tar Heel dead.

So it's ra ra Carolina-lina, ra ra Carolina-lina, ra ra Carolina-lina GO TO HELL DUKE!"

Ok, now I can begin.  To evaluate this guy effectively, I am going to look at this the same way an NBA scout would.  First, his skill set.  If you listed the needs of the Hornets 1-10, numbers 1-5 would be shooting.  6 would be depth at the PG position, 7 would be depth inside, and 8-10 would be shooting again.  PJ can shoot the ball.  At 6'6", he is a good size for the 2 guard and has a muscular body that can finish through contact.  He needs to work on his handle and his shot selection, but this guy can score from anywhere on the floor.  The potential is there to be a starting SG on a good NBA team.  I am sure Joel will show you video below of PJ's game, so here is a game I compare him to...

Offensively, PJ has many of the same skills and tendencies as Aaron Afflalo.  Afflalo can, however, find the open man a little better and plays much stronger defense.  Coach Clifford will teach him how to play D to the level his body should allow him to, and this team is one that will share the ball, so his passing has to get better.  In looking for a shooter, you get a guy who can score from anywhere on the floor, a good find at this point.  But is it worth the risk?

Let me lay out some name for you.  Sean May, Adam Morrison, Alexis Ajinca, DJ Augustin, Brandan Wright.  What do all these players have in common?  Bust picks for the Hornets/Bobcats.  Our history has been shaky in the draft.  Where have we drafted well?  I use this phrase loosley, as our best draft pick in franchise history has been Kemba Walker.  What did he have that other players didn't?  Heart.  

Kemba Walker has heart.  Miles and miles of heart

I am not sure what the opposite of heaving heart is (other than not having heart obviously) but that is PJ.  My boy was given chance after chance after chance and kept screwing it up!  Let me sum up what he did.  He had drugs, and guns, in cars that were not his, while taking money from people he should not have taken it from.  I will leave his grades out of this one.  While his teammates were playing ball and getting better, this is what PJ was doing:

Being this close to the crew that got him in the trouble he is today is not good for a young man.  PJ is going to need some serious help to keep his head on straight.  When one thing goes wrong for this guy, 10 things will.  Keep this guy by your side MKG!

How could the Hornets get a better grade from me?  There are 3 players who would have gotten better grades than PJ. For fun, here they are in countdown form, because that is more suspenseful.

3) CJ Wilcox

Not only can this guy light it up from deep, but he plays extremely hard.  That is what we need in Charlotte. 

2) Cleanthony Early

Early should have gone much higher than he did.  He is a versatile forward who can score inside and out.  His 3-point shot is much better.  Like Hairston, he is a tough, physical guy who can rebound with ease

1) Shabazz Napier    

All he does is win.  The last time we picked a guy like this, it turned out pretty good for us in Kemba Walker.  Pick guys that are willing to do whatever it takes to get better, make his team better, and win.  There is a reason Lebron wanted this guy on his team

Joel: If Hairston stays out of trouble, he is the best player available and the best fit for the Hornets at 26
Charlotte gets a shooter, and a guy who wants to play for the Hornets. Getting Hairston this late in the draft is a major steal, has starter potential at 26 overall.

Grade: A

There's two parts of this you have to go into whenever you talk about P.J. Hairston: the basketball player and the guy with off the court troubles. Lets start with the BBall player.

 

                                                                     Yes this is the picture I chose to use. Because, the internet. 

First and foremost, Hairston is shooter with great size. The guy has a pure stroke with terrific, consistent mechanics. Anywhere in the half court he's a threat to pull up from three, and makes them at a good clip. At UNC he averaged 15 ppg his sophomore year  on nearly 40% shooting form deep. Playing in the D-league after he was um, removed, from UNC, he upped those numbers considerably to 21 ppg, though at a slightly lower 35% from three point range. Now a player with those kind of numbers at UNC would have been a top 10 draft pick. As ALL Carolina fans will tell you (literally every single one), adding Hairston's 21 ppg to the team may have brought the Tar Heels into competition for a national championship.

Carolina fans ^^^ were devastated after hearing P.J. Hairston lost his eligibility. Pictured: ^^^ what this sounded like to the rest of us. 

Matt sees the world through light blue colored glasses, and he believes P.J. can be more than just a shooter. I don't see it. He's not particularly quick, can't (doesn't?) pass, and there's not much mid range to his game (though I am intrigued by that floater, looks decent). Basically his game involves getting himself open for shots as soon as he gets the ball, but if he's just a shooter at 40% from three, he really doesn't need to have much else. Ever seen Ray Allen's crossover? Didn't think so. (I feel like I've used this joke too many times in recent blog posts. Noted) Learn how to pass and pump fake and that's a career. He is built like a truck, which could lend to being a good defensive player, but make no mistake Hairston is not currently a good defensive player.

P.J. Hairston's judgement off the court is undoubtedly the reason he fell as far as he did during the draft, and it needs to be mentioned as part of the player you are getting. Hairston was basically primed to be a star at the highest profile college basketball program in the country, and for lack of a better word, royally F@#$ed that one up. Within a month of the offseason Hairston was on the news every week. In no particular order: marijuana possession (charges dropped), impermissible benefits in the form of rental cars (several times), a handgun outside the car on a stop (no charges were filed), and speeding several times of at least 30 mph over the speed limit. Any one of these offenses by itself is not that bad, but the flipside to the high profile programs is when you're in the news every week the country is going to take notice. Eventually the impermissible benefits got Hairston banned for life from college athletics.

P.J. Hairston, who's shooting ability will either land him in the All-Star game or in jail. DEEEYAMMMN

Hairston seemed to clean his act up in the D-League, but on a personal level I believe North Carolina is probably the worst place he could have landed. You could say "He's closer to family, so he won't get in that kind of trouble again." But being close to family did little to prevent all that trouble after his high profile summer.

I'll let Kendrick Lamar explain. 

It's cuz the homies.

Look, Wells and I are local Carolina boys who grew up in or around Greensboro where Hairston is from. All that to say we at least knew people who knew Hairston. Everybody says he's not a bad guy, he was just niave and maybe a little dumb about the people he associated with, and the things he would let them talk him into. We also know where he came from, Greensboro's no Detroit, but Hairston definitely grew up hard. You have to worry about the kid being around the same crowd that got him in trouble, and hopefully he can leave that all behind.

Because we clearly need more Kendrick on the blog

Andy: Hairston addresses a glaring hole in Charlotte's roster
If PJ can stay on the straight and narrow, he should start right away and enjoy a nice career.

Grade: A-

I had the privilege of watching PJ Hairston play at Dudley High School in Greensboro.  The Dudley PA guy referred to PJ as "The Pearl."  With a nickname like that, he was destined for greatness it seemed. 

The Pearl in action

Hairston's bumpy road to the NBA has been well documented, and its not worth it to recite the details here.  Putting the past behind him will be key for PJ to fulfill his potential.  He could not have asked for a better situation to come into in the NBA.  Hairston should be given an opportunity to start at the 2 for Charlotte right away.  He is going to be surrounded by fans who (mostly) still like him.  Carolina fans will probably be quicker to forgive his transgressions than a fan base like, say New York. It should be a real asset for him to be around another Carolina great, Michael Jordan, on a day to day basis.  Charlotte has also been in desperate need of an outside scorer and Hairston should give them that presence from the get go.

His Airness

In my opinion, Hairston will need to do three things to become the player he is capable of being and the player Charlotte envisions.

1. Become a more complete scorer: At this point, I don't think Hairston is capable of driving and scoring in the lane on a consistent basis.  I believe he can add this dimension to his game given his good size and athleticism.  

     2.  Excel on the defensive end: Hairston was a pretty good perimeter defender in college, and he
          needs to bring great effort on that end of the floor night in and night out.

     3.  Avoid temptation: While I do think Charlotte is a great fit for PJ, I worry about a few things. 
          Charlotte is not far from his childhood home and from his stomping grounds where he was
          getting in trouble around Chapel Hill.  He needs to keep the bad influences out of his life.

No more of this PJ

At worst, Charlotte is getting a good outside shooter.  I believe there is always a spot on NBA rosters for good shooters.  At best, Charlotte is getting their starting shooting guard for the foreseeable future who can be their reliable scoring threat and a complete player.  I tend to lean slightly towards the latter.  If PJ can develop the areas of his game he needs to, and, more importantly stay out of trouble, he has the tools necessary to be a very good NBA player and certainly a great value for the Hornets at 26.