WOJ BOMB: Hachimura to Lakers

[Dr Aki]

Pretty solid debut for Rui tonight.

Looked comfortable in the Lakers defensive schemes, had a few nervous moments, like those two potential breakaway dunks that had to be turned into layups. He's instantly displaced Wenyen Gabriel in the rotation.

On offence, he mostly stood out on the wing and leaked out for transition buckets. He was given a few possessions in the low post and on the wing and he managed to get to his spots and either score or draw fouls.

Showed a bit of everything he was capable of tonight.

[Pythagoras]

Pretty solid debut for Rui tonight.

Looked comfortable in the Lakers defensive schemes, had a few nervous moments, like those two potential breakaway dunks that had to be turned into layups. He's instantly displaced Wenyen Gabriel in the rotation.

On offence, he mostly stood out on the wing and leaked out for transition buckets. He was given a few possessions in the low post and on the wing and he managed to get to his spots and either score or draw fouls.

Showed a bit of everything he was capable of tonight.

I didn’t like Wenyen completely being frozen out of the lineup like that. He’s been solid this year. I’d hope Ham could find some kind of role for him even with Rui on the team.

Still, a lot to like even though it’s just one game.

[dockingsched]

Pretty solid debut for Rui tonight.

Looked comfortable in the Lakers defensive schemes, had a few nervous moments, like those two potential breakaway dunks that had to be turned into layups. He's instantly displaced Wenyen Gabriel in the rotation.

On offence, he mostly stood out on the wing and leaked out for transition buckets. He was given a few possessions in the low post and on the wing and he managed to get to his spots and either score or draw fouls.

Showed a bit of everything he was capable of tonight.

I didn’t like Wenten completely being frozen out of the lineup like that. He’s been solid this year. I’d hope Ham could find some kind of role for him even with Rui on the team.

Still, a lot to like even though it’s just one game.

Think that was mostly due to AD coming back. Gabriel and Bryant gonna be battling for backup minutes as long as AD is playing.

[Dr Aki]

Apparently Japanese fans crashed the NBA app in Japan tonight

Read on Twitter

[Slava]

The professionalism of some of these guys is crazy. To think he went from living in DC for 4 years to getting traded while on a road trip in Orlando to flying to LA to complete his medical, go through a practice and then play in LA all within 3 days is unimaginable.

[Jimmy Recard]

Pretty solid debut for Rui tonight.

Looked comfortable in the Lakers defensive schemes, had a few nervous moments, like those two potential breakaway dunks that had to be turned into layups. He's instantly displaced Wenyen Gabriel in the rotation.

On offence, he mostly stood out on the wing and leaked out for transition buckets. He was given a few possessions in the low post and on the wing and he managed to get to his spots and either score or draw fouls.

Showed a bit of everything he was capable of tonight.

I think LeBron will love playing with Rui for this alone, he gets out and runs with purpose in transition, with or without the ball. He’s not gonna crash the boards but he does a great job at taking advantage of teams in transition or semi transition. This also creates cross matches where Rui is really effective. When he’s got a smaller guy on him, he doesn’t mess around, he seals them right under the basket and either gets a bucket or a foul.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Thing about Rui is it’s a different world playing in LA off of LeBron and AD. He’s going to get a lot of open looks. He learns that if he just cuts hard or runs the floor hard he’s going to get easy baskets. Those two draw so much attention and double and triple teams that he can crash the boards for easy put backs. This is what Thomas Bryant has figured out, run hard and find the holes in the defense and you will get all the easy buckets you can handle. It will be a world of difference for Hachimura than it was in Washington where you just don’t have that level of player around you.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Pretty solid debut for Rui tonight.

Looked comfortable in the Lakers defensive schemes, had a few nervous moments, like those two potential breakaway dunks that had to be turned into layups. He's instantly displaced Wenyen Gabriel in the rotation.

On offence, he mostly stood out on the wing and leaked out for transition buckets. He was given a few possessions in the low post and on the wing and he managed to get to his spots and either score or draw fouls.

Showed a bit of everything he was capable of tonight.

I didn’t like Wenyen completely being frozen out of the lineup like that. He’s been solid this year. I’d hope Ham could find some kind of role for him even with Rui on the team.

Still, a lot to like even though it’s just one game.

I agree. I hope they can find Wenyon 10 minutes a night. He’s athletic, plays hard and makes things happen. He’s very solid but man…it may be a numbers crunch. But maybe Ham (probably not) will dial LeBron back to 30 minutes a game in non-marquee games to get Gabriel some extra minutes. It would be a smart move long term.

[Memories]

Pretty solid debut for Rui tonight.

Looked comfortable in the Lakers defensive schemes, had a few nervous moments, like those two potential breakaway dunks that had to be turned into layups. He's instantly displaced Wenyen Gabriel in the rotation.

On offence, he mostly stood out on the wing and leaked out for transition buckets. He was given a few possessions in the low post and on the wing and he managed to get to his spots and either score or draw fouls.

Showed a bit of everything he was capable of tonight.

I didn’t like Wenyen completely being frozen out of the lineup like that. He’s been solid this year. I’d hope Ham could find some kind of role for him even with Rui on the team.

Still, a lot to like even though it’s just one game.

I agree. I hope they can find Wenyon 10 minutes a night. He’s athletic, plays hard and makes things happen. He’s very solid but man…it may be a numbers crunch. But maybe Ham (probably not) will dial LeBron back to 30 minutes a game in non-marquee games to get Gabriel some extra minutes. It would be a smart move long term.

Honestly, Ham is still pretty slow as a coach. He was continuing playing 3 guard lineups throughout the game despite it not working for the 50th time. It was somewhat understandable during the games where they had a bunch of injures, especially AD. But now with him back, Rui, no excuses.

That lineup with Schroder, Christie, Rui, Lebron and AD/Bryant was the first time the Lakers had an actual balanced sized lineup in probably 2 or 3 years. Amazing what having a wing with actual talent can do for an otherwise guard heavy team right?

I don’t understand what the heck the Wizards were doing to Rui. Kid can play. Smooth shot, strong as hell, hustled on defense and matched up well with wings (we saw against the Clippers what the Lakers without any wing talent was like there), and showed good post moves to the basket. I like this kid a lot.

[zimpy27]

Reminded me of Kuzma honestly.

[Memories]

Reminded me of Kuzma honestly.

Honestly, if Rui plays like this consistently, he would be better than Kuzma’s time with the Lakers. Rui also showed smarts out there, which is unfortunately, a big weak point for Kuzma’s BBall IQ.

[hoosierdaddy34]

I didn’t like Wenyen completely being frozen out of the lineup like that. He’s been solid this year. I’d hope Ham could find some kind of role for him even with Rui on the team.

Still, a lot to like even though it’s just one game.

I agree. I hope they can find Wenyon 10 minutes a night. He’s athletic, plays hard and makes things happen. He’s very solid but man…it may be a numbers crunch. But maybe Ham (probably not) will dial LeBron back to 30 minutes a game in non-marquee games to get Gabriel some extra minutes. It would be a smart move long term.

Honestly, Ham is still pretty slow as a coach. He was continuing playing 3 guard lineups throughout the game despite it not working for the 50th time. It was somewhat understandable during the games where they had a bunch of injures, especially AD. But now with him back, Rui, no excuses.

That lineup with Schroder, Christie, Rui, Lebron and AD/Bryant was the first time the Lakers had an actual balanced sized lineup in probably 2 or 3 years. Amazing what having a wing with actual talent can do for an otherwise guard heavy team right?

I don’t understand what the heck the Wizards were doing to Rui. Kid can play. Smooth shot, strong as hell, hustled on defense and matched up well with wings (we saw against the Clippers what the Lakers without any wing talent was like there), and showed good post moves to the basket. I like this kid a lot.

I don’t hate throwing a tiny lineup out there for 4 or 5 minutes to give a team a different look. Something else to think about. Especially on off nights. The less predictable you can be, the better.

[Memories]

I agree. I hope they can find Wenyon 10 minutes a night. He’s athletic, plays hard and makes things happen. He’s very solid but man…it may be a numbers crunch. But maybe Ham (probably not) will dial LeBron back to 30 minutes a game in non-marquee games to get Gabriel some extra minutes. It would be a smart move long term.

Honestly, Ham is still pretty slow as a coach. He was continuing playing 3 guard lineups throughout the game despite it not working for the 50th time. It was somewhat understandable during the games where they had a bunch of injures, especially AD. But now with him back, Rui, no excuses.

That lineup with Schroder, Christie, Rui, Lebron and AD/Bryant was the first time the Lakers had an actual balanced sized lineup in probably 2 or 3 years. Amazing what having a wing with actual talent can do for an otherwise guard heavy team right?

I don’t understand what the heck the Wizards were doing to Rui. Kid can play. Smooth shot, strong as hell, hustled on defense and matched up well with wings (we saw against the Clippers what the Lakers without any wing talent was like there), and showed good post moves to the basket. I like this kid a lot.

I don’t hate throwing a tiny lineup out there for 4 or 5 minutes to give a team a different look. Something else to think about. Especially on off nights. The less predictable you can be, the better.

It’s predictable when that’s been the Lakers MO for the last 2 and a half years.

[zimpy27]

Reminded me of Kuzma honestly.

Honestly, if Rui plays like this consistently, he would be better than Kuzma’s time with the Lakers. Rui also showed smarts out there, which is unfortunately, a big weak point for Kuzma’s BBall IQ.

Just comparing Rui's season this year with Kuzma at same age on Lakers..

Very similar. Rui could fit the role better.

[KyRo23]

Rui looks smoother than Kuz, but Kuz played very hard. I gave him a hard time during his time on LA, mostly because I always heard about how good his defense was, but I always pointed out how many times he got cooked.

There would be times, weekly where Kuz would come in and switch onto a struggling scorer and they would go off. Great rebounder though for sure. Streaky as well. I don't think Rui living up to Kuz is something that is going to be overly hard to do.

[Memories]

Reminded me of Kuzma honestly.

Honestly, if Rui plays like this consistently, he would be better than Kuzma’s time with the Lakers. Rui also showed smarts out there, which is unfortunately, a big weak point for Kuzma’s BBall IQ.

Just comparing Rui's season this year with Kuzma at same age on Lakers..

Very similar. Rui could fit the role better.

Not really a fair comparison because of team situations. And they don’t have the same play style at all.

It would be like comparing Victor Oladipo’s time with the Magic/Thunder against Eric Gordon when they were the same age at 23.

[GrandTheftRondo]

Can’t wait to hear Laker fans talk up this dude like he’s the second coming of Jesus Christ or some ****

[Slava]

Can’t wait to hear Laker fans talk up this dude like he’s the second coming of Jesus Christ or some ****

Well, we did make Rondo look like black Jesus, so sure.

[JN61]

The professionalism of some of these guys is crazy. To think he went from living in DC for 4 years to getting traded while on a road trip in Orlando to flying to LA to complete his medical, go through a practice and then play in LA all within 3 days is unimaginable.

Well. Guys used to do this next day after being traded.

[John Murdoch]

Tobias Harris clone