Rookie Hall opens Summer League with shot at roster spot
The Thunder is going to be an expensive team in need of inexpensive talent. The NBA values the two-way wing more than any position. Maybe the Thunder can have both in Devon Hall.
When the Thunder tips off in the Las Vegas Summer League on Friday, it’ll do so with buzz about everything but the second-round pick out of the University of Virginia. Paul George is back. Carmelo Anthony’s future is in doubt because of said expenses. And for the young team that will play at the Thomas and Mack Center against Charlotte, high-flying Terrance Ferguson will be the headliner.
Barring players getting waived, the Thunder opens Summer League with 13 of its 15 roster spots occupied and a $147 million team. That price tag alone is reason enough for Hall to get consideration for a regular-season roster spot, but the rookie guard has a pedigree that suggests he might be ready for the NBA sooner rather than later.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder spent five years in Charlottesville developing from a threestar prospect to an NBA draftee. Rather than use its two second-round picks to trade up into the draft two weeks ago, the Thunder stayed put and selected Hall 53rd overall.
As a senior at Virginia, Hall averaged 11.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1
assists. From his junior to senior year, Hall experienced big spikes in his shooting splits, posting field goal/3-point/ free throw percentages of 45.2⁄43.2⁄89.4, increases of five points or more in each category.
“I know it was a big jump, but it was an uncommon work ethic,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett told The Oklahoman. “You watch him before practice, after practice, he had a routine. He was workmanlike or a pro in terms of his approach in practice, pre-practice and his shooting. He absolutely wore out his mechanics, shot and practice habits in the right way.”
Those attributes were evident even when Hall wasn’t getting playing time at Virginia.
Hall redshirted in part because he was logjammed behind three now-NBA guards at Virginia: 2017 Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon of the Bucks, physical Sixers guard Justin Anderson, and Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris.
But in Hall’s sophomore year after the Cavaliers lost by four points to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament final, Bennett had a message for the first-year starter. Hall had become one of the key cogs in one of the best defenses in the country.
“I remember after that pulling him aside and telling him our program is going to be good for the next few years,” Bennett said.
“He's a guy that was an All-ACC defender,” said Will Dawkins, the Thunder's vice president of identification and intelligence, on June 21. “He's a guy who improved his shooting every single year he was in college, attempts and accuracy. “So he's able to play on the ball, off the ball. We're interested in seeing him just kind of get on the floor and just fit in with our other wings and have a chance to play there.”
Bennett didn’t have to talk the Thunder into Hall. The Thunder staff is knowledgeable about his players and the culture of Cavaliers basketball and was thorough in its scouting and what they wanted. Hall feels like a Thunder fit. He was an All-ACC Academic Team selection who one Thunder staffer described as having presidential qualities.
But Hall has two more pluses in his favor. He'll will turn 23 on Saturday — bringing a ready-made maturity to the Thunder organization.
“Both of those guys bring veteran presences that you wouldn't get from a rookie,” Dawkins said of Hall and Kevin Hervey, the Thunder’s other second-round pick, who will turn 22 on July 9. “... that experience and ability to have been through some wars and been against highlevel games already, that's valuable when you're really evaluating them.”
The final plus is his price tag. As a secondround pick, if Hall makes the Thunder roster in training camp, he’s signable to a minimum contract of $838,464. He also could be signed as a twoway player whose NBA salary will be prorated depending on how many days he spends with the Thunder as opposed to the G-League Oklahoma City Blue. As a two-way player, Hall could spend a maximum of 45 days with the Thunder, but twoway salaries do not count against an NBA team’s salary cap, or against the required 15 guaranteed contract roster spots.
Either option would be less expensive or cost nothing against the Thunder’s ballooning luxury tax, whereas adding another veteran minimum signing could equate to millions more in taxes.
So, Hall’s opportunity comes with what he can provide in fit and bargain. Bennett thinks his latest college-to-pro player is uniquely qualified to seize that opportunity.
“What young players don’t understand when they have a chance to go to the NBA or high level after college, there’s only a few of those Russell Westbrooks. Paul Georges, or LeBron Jameses,” Bennett said. “You better learn to play a very specific role. You’re not coming in to be the main guy.
“He’s a complete player and person, and that’s hard to find in this day and age. He understands who he is as a player, understands what it is to play a role. That stuff matters.”