Recruiting Report: Christian Hampton (2020)
Every year at the Chance Harman Classic, I get the opportunity to watch some terrific talent from outside of the state of Virginia. The past three or four years I’ve had the opportunity to watch Northwest Guilford out of the Greensboro area, one of the top public school teams in the state of North Carolina.
Every year I go in expecting to find someone new on their team, and every year they don’t disappoint. This season it was junior Christian Hampton, an athletic 6’3″ guard who does a little bit of everything. In their win over North Cross when I watched, he finished with a stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
It was a good night for Hampton and his team, who he thinks will be able to make a run when the playoffs come around.
“I thought everything went well,” Hampton said after the win. “We had some spurts where we looked like we could beat anyone in the nation, and we had spurts where it looked like our coach’s son’s rec team could beat us. We have to just continue to mature and get better with each other, and know when to turn it on and put away the games. We’re still figuring that out but come March and playoff time I think we’ll be fine.”
Hampton’s physical and athletic attributes are top notch, as he has good burst, a strong frame and freakish athletic ability above the rim. He gets downhill and gets in the lane where he can finish at the rim, find his shooters or hit the midrange pull-up. He relentlessly attacks opponents in transition and in the half court, putting pressure on them almost every possession he touches the ball.
While he’s effective with the ball in his hands and playing in a free flowing game, he knows he needs to hone his perimeter skill set moving forward, and he’s already working on that.
“I’m more of a slasher, I guess I’d say,” Hampton said of his game. “I want to play like Russell Westbrook, but I’m really trying to get my three-point shooting better. It looks like it’s coming along but I want to get better at that, and by the end of the year I’m going to be the best three-point shooter in the nation!”
Hampton is no secret in the hoop state, and while he doesn’t have any offers to date he is seeing interest from ECU, College of Charleston, Boston College, Appalachian State, Western Carolina and more. Last year he played for Team CP3 16U, and if he gets the opportunity to play on the EYBL again this season there’s no way coaches won’t pull the trigger when they see his raw talent, athleticism and his high ceiling.
As far as what Hampton believes makes him a division one caliber player, it’s all in the mindset of an alpha dog.
“I think I can really play at the next level, I can handle the pace or whatever, and I think I can help out whatever school win a championship. I just want to show that I can really play and ball and I can compete with anyone who steps on the floor with me.
Hampton won’t be offer-less for long, and expect coaches up and down the east coast to be driving to gyms to see this walking highlight reel play.