Detroit Pistons: Donta Hall’s battle for the final roster spot

The Detroit Pistons signed Alabama star defender Donta Hall to an Exhibit 10 deal. Here’s what the forward has to do to land a spot on the final roster.

Dunking machine Donta Hall will get an opportunity to make the Detroit Pistons roster out of training camp.

On Tuesday, the Detroit Pistons signed the former Alabama forward to an Exhibit 10 contract, reported by Yahoo! Sports contributor Keith Smith. The Exhibit 10 contract allows Hall to either play on a two-way contract or be optioned to play for the Grand Rapids Drive. My colleague Ryan Love has more to say in his article here.

Hall was a standout defender during his four years at Alabama. He was honored twice with SEC All-Defensive Team accolades and also led the SEC in rebounds his senior year with 8.7 per game.

He’s also a dunk-a-holic with 191-of-400 made field goals ending with him dunking.

Undrafted out of college, Hall, who will turn 22 on Aug. 7, signed with the Pistons Las Vegas Summer League team where he appeared in five games. On a small sample size, Hall showed some defensive promise.

He had 11 blocks in 83 total minutes and five steals. He did, however, also get 14 personal fouls. He scored 30 total points on 21 field goal attempts. Fourteen of those points came from the free throw line.

He did have the third-highest player efficiency rating with 23.58. But if you go by PER, Detroit Pistons legend Boban Marjanovic is the fourth-best player of all time, as his unrestricted PER is 26.4. Sorry, I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.

The road for Hall to make the final roster for the Pistons is a tough one. There’s definitely a high chance that he makes progress as a two-way player or a full-time member of the Drive instead of the main roster. However, Hall will be playing for a spot on the frontcourt, which the team should consider all options.

At 6-foot-9, Hall’s athleticism and wingspan allowed for him to block 228 shots in college. His defensive tangibles have always been there, but the number of fouls coupled with a lack of lateral quickness will allow for similar-sized and smaller-sized NBA players to drive by him pretty easily. Which in turn, can lead to committing fouls.

More from PistonPowered

• Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
• Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
• The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
• Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
• Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?

Another con is his lack of shooting. As the league progresses even more into a shooters league, players like Hall will have difficulty finding roster spots due to their range, or lack thereof. Hall took just one 3-point shot in college, though he did make it, so he’s perfect from beyond the arc entering the NBA.

That all being said, unless Christian Wood is a flop during training camp, the odds will be against Hall making the final roster. However, a year or two in the G-League could help turn him into an asset.

As a freshman at Alabama, Hall shot just 43 percent from the free-throw line. His senior season saw an increase to 72 percent at the line on 3.6 tries per game. That’s a good indication that he can progress other elements of his game and can grow his range outside of just finishing at the rim. Adding a mid-range game to his strong defensive skill set would be valuable, obviously.

It was apparent early on that Hall stuck out. In high school, Hall skied over his opponents and swatted shots. His motivation comes from his dead, who died of a heart attack watching him play.

Expect that same drive as Hall competes for a spot on the Pistons roster.