Originally Posted by
FBinNY
It could be a bent hanger, but it doesn't look very bent in the photo, though it's hard to tell either way because of the camera angle. I took the OPs statement that it looked OK at face value. He also said it worked with an older derailleur, though I understand that older designs can be more forgiving on bent hangers than some modern ones.
You may be more familiar with these RDs than I am (never had one in my hands), so you might know form experience whether a bent hanger would bring the upper body into the sprocket. But it would seem that only a very bent hanger should be able to do so.
That's where the Shadow and standard derailleurs differ. A shadow derailleur is very sensitive to a bent derailleur hanger because the pivot is attached to a plate 30mm or so to the left of the actual derailleur hanger. Because of this, any amount the derailleur hanger is off, is multiplied by the length of the plate. ie a hanger off 1mm could make the actual pivot (30mm away) off over 5mm.