Commercial rhododendron growers tend to force a lot of top growth in order to produce a more saleable plant - people want to see a lot of growth and buds and rarely think about the root structure.

PJM is probably the toughest rhodendron ever developed, but even they would not have produced much new root growth by the end of July from a spring planting - especially if the rootball was not loosened a bit when they were planted - so they would have been effected by high winds.

Any pruning done at this point would just stimulate late growth which might or might not survive the winter. Better to wait until after next spring's bloom to assess the plants and do any needed pruning. Some sort of wind shield such as burlap for the winter would probably be better than staking.

Thanks Mainegrower. It was really kind of a freakish event and poor timing. The site is generally protected from the wind but tornadoes are not very common in PA and I can tell you no wind barriers would have helped. All my other Rhodo's are fine but have been in for several years. I will follow your suggestion and wait from spring to assess them.

Probably root-bound. This is very common, I'm not sure all the cases of supposed overly large tops of nursery plants are not really overly deformed roots instead.