Rui Hachimura

[nate33]

Do we have a second go to scorer late in games?

Not yet.

Hachimura has been doing most of his post-up scoring against mismatches. I don't think you can just give him the ball against a set defense and expect points.

But I do think he can be utilized in critical possessions by having him be a screener for Beal or Westbrook. If they don't switch on the screen, that should give Beal/Westbrook enough daylight to get off a good shot. If they do switch, then you feed Hachimura and let him post up the mismatch.

The other big benefit of his presence is it forces teams to play a true power forward against him. They can't play a 6-6 220 pound jump shooter in the PF spot and expect him to hold up defensively against Rui. It makes it harder for other teams to play a 4-out lineup and spread the floor.

[prime1time]

An impressive 11.5 fta/36 in his first 2 games. He looks stronger.

In Peter earlier but he added 10 pounds of muscle and hasn’t lost any lateral quickness.

[DCZards]

Rui is growing (especially physically) into a role that I had not envisioned for him—as a low-post scorer. I saw him as a midrange jump shooter with, hopefully, the ability to stretch his perimeter shooting out into 3 ball land. Rui will be an outstanding asset if he can continue to improve his low-post game as well as his 3 pt shot.

Brooks addressed Hachimura’s development on both offense and defense in his post game remarks last night. He said (like many here have noted) that Rui’s defensive struggles are largely the result of his lack of awareness on that end of the court. But Brooks went on to say that Rui has worked hard on that aspect of his game and that he’s seen significant improvement. “He sees things much quicker,” Brooks said.

The video is available on the Wizards website (link below). Brooks’ remarks about Rui start at around 1:15:
https://www.nba.com/wizards/

[keynote]

Rui is growing (especially physically) into a role that I had not envisioned for him—as a low-post scorer. I saw him as a midrange jump shooter with, hopefully, the ability to stretch his perimeter shooting out into 3 ball land. Rui will be an outstanding asset if he can continue to improve his low-post game as well as his 3 pt shot.

Aldridge went through a similar progression from purely a midrange perimeter scorer to a low post threat. He's got 3" and 25 lbs on Rui, though.

Rui's ability to score in the post is nice, but in most modern offenses, such opportunities for players Rui's size come off of secondary actions. Honing his 3 point jumper should still be priority #1.

[doclinkin]

Rui is growing (especially physically) into a role that I had not envisioned for him—as a low-post scorer. I saw him as a midrange jump shooter with, hopefully, the ability to stretch his perimeter shooting out into 3 ball land. Rui will be an outstanding asset if he can continue to improve his low-post game as well as his 3 pt shot.

Aldridge went through a similar progression from purely a midrange perimeter scorer to a low post threat. He's got 3" and 25 lbs on Rui, though.

Rui's ability to score in the post is nice, but in most modern offenses, such opportunities for players Rui's size come off of secondary actions. Honing his 3 point jumper should still be priority #1.

His 3 ball and face up skills are coming, but to me team defense, boxing out, and rebounding are priority #1. He needs a Big Man tutor. Some basic footwork and technique will make a difference. You can't practice defense alone in a gym. But if you get someone to bang against and someone to put the ball up you can do rebounding drills and work on boxouts and footwork and low post defense. He taught himself skills in large part from watching video, he needs reps on defense so he is not a second behind everyone and knows what to do when the ball goes up. If there is a shooter outside working on their own 3 ball, he can also work on his offensive rebounding and kickouts. How to pass out of trouble. The fact that he has started to pick up assists is encouraging.

I wish we could convince Tom Izzo to jump to the NBA. Hire Manu and Duncan as coach in waiting and big man skills coaches.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Rui is growing (especially physically) into a role that I had not envisioned for him—as a low-post scorer. I saw him as a midrange jump shooter with, hopefully, the ability to stretch his perimeter shooting out into 3 ball land. Rui will be an outstanding asset if he can continue to improve his low-post game as well as his 3 pt shot.

Aldridge went through a similar progression from purely a midrange perimeter scorer to a low post threat. He's got 3" and 25 lbs on Rui, though.

Rui's ability to score in the post is nice, but in most modern offenses, such opportunities for players Rui's size come off of secondary actions. Honing his 3 point jumper should still be priority #1.

LaMarcus improved a lot. I remember when I believed Andray Blatche , (who I consider a very good second round selection by Ernie), was playing as well or better than LMA.

[nate33]

I wish we could convince Tom Izzo to jump to the NBA. Hire Manu and Duncan as coach in waiting and big man skills coaches.

Great idea with Izzo. I love that guy. My favorite college coach. He always seemed to win not by recruiting elite talent, but by teaching and inspiring more ordinary talent.

Manu as an assistant is also a great idea. I don't see Duncan leaving San Antonio though.

[JWizmentality]

Love what I'm seeing from Rui.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Beal made a leap after his fourth or fifth season. Rui has already made a leap in his sophomore season.

He has a Karl Malone body and he’s holding position and getting free throws like a seasoned veteran. Teams also have to respect his three point shot.

I’ve criticized Sheppard for drafting Rui.

[NatP4]

Rui is my favorite part of the season so far. Effortless scorer that has always reminded me of a combination of LMA and Kawhi offensively. He doesn’t rebound, probably won’t ever be a double digit rebound guy, but his feel for the game is much better and he is much stronger and aggressive this year. He passes out of the post and is much better with his help defense.

[keynote]

Beal made a leap after his fourth or fifth season. Rui has already made a leap in his sophomore season.

He has a Karl Malone body...

Whoa, there. Malone in his playing days would have Rui by about 25-30 lbs of muscle. And, he was probably still faster in a straight line than Rui.

Rui is a solid NBA athlete with some upside. Malone was a genetic freak who was stronger and faster than his opponent 82 games out of the year.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Rookie Karl Malone wasn’t that much bigger IMO.

[keynote]

Rookie Karl Malone wasn’t that much bigger IMO.

According to that same rookie card, Malone was 250 lbs as a rook.


Rui is listed at 235. That's closer than the 25+ lb gap I had predicted, but it's also a non-trivial size advantage. Most NBA players at 250+ lbs. are plodding; a few (Artest, Rick Fox) have enough lateral quickness to defend the permeter. Players clocking in at 250+ with Malone's straight line speed are exceedingly rare. You're talking LeBron, and perhaps the Admiral after a few years in the league, and...?

[doclinkin]

Karl Malone was in a rare category of musculature and athleticism. Along with players like:
Zion WIlliamson, at Duke. Pre weight gain and injury.
Blake Griffin.

Rui is a solid individual, but he isn't even in the Grandmama Larry Johnson category of muscles plus explosiveness. Still, kid is strong and smooth and developing nicely.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

No argument.

Karl Malone and Rui should not have been mentioned for the distraction. I still say Malone didn’t appear to be 250 or 260 as a rookie.

[Ruzious]

Karl Malone was in a rare category of musculature and athleticism. Along with players like:
Zion WIlliamson, at Duke. Pre weight gain and injury.
Blake Griffin.

Rui is a solid individual, but he isn't even in the Grandmama Larry Johnson category of muscles plus explosiveness. Still, kid is strong and smooth and developing nicely.

I remember seeing Karl Malone vs Wayman Tisdale in their senior seasons - Louisiana Tech vs Oklahoma. Tisdale was the great All-American everyone knew about and Malone was the up and comer that only the basketball nerds heard of. It was an epic college big-man battle that showed Malone could play at Tisdale's level - and then some. And the rest was history. We won't mention that the Bullets picked Kenny Green over Malone. Noooooo.

[pcbothwel]

Rui is my favorite part of the season so far. Effortless scorer that has always reminded me of a combination of LMA and Kawhi offensively. He doesn’t rebound, probably won’t ever be a double digit rebound guy, but his feel for the game is much better and he is much stronger and aggressive this year. He passes out of the post and is much better with his help defense.

Guys, its okay to see the Kawhi comparison. I know it feels blasphemous, but Im not sure how you look at production improvement from start of last year, to bubble, to this year and NOT bring up Kawhi.

Leonard has developed his playmaking skills over the last 2 years, but his demeanor, skill set, body type & movement patters... just like Rui. If he truly can shoot 65-70% at the rim, 35-37% from 3, and ~43-45% in between... thats a TOUGH cover for anybody.

I think Deni, Brown, and Bonga are great complimentary players that will/should help us win games. But Rui (and Bryant less so)is the X Factor this year in that they can score efficiently at a higher usage rate and appear to have the trust of Russ & Beal so they shoot less.

[nate33]

No argument.

Karl Malone and Rui should not have been mentioned for the distraction. I still say Malone didn’t appear to be 250 or 260 as a rookie.

And Rui might be a bit closer to 240 with the added muscle this offseason.

[NatP4]

https://stathead.com/tiny/MMLBP

[doclinkin]

Rui is my favorite part of the season so far. Effortless scorer that has always reminded me of a combination of LMA and Kawhi offensively. He doesn’t rebound, probably won’t ever be a double digit rebound guy, but his feel for the game is much better and he is much stronger and aggressive this year. He passes out of the post and is much better with his help defense.

Guys, its okay to see the Kawhi comparison. I know it feels blasphemous, but Im not sure how you look at production improvement from start of last year, to bubble, to this year and NOT bring up Kawhi.

The enlarged section is why.

"Ballman gets paid."

Kawhi knew that in college. You can say 'offensively' as many times as you want, but the reason why Kawhi is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and the reason why we know his name, and the reason people mention him (over say DeMarr DeRozan, or pick whatever forward with an efficient mid range game) is that aside from LeBJ he is the most complete player in the game. He has machine like efficiency at both ends. He can defend any position if called to do so. With strength and the instincts to make the right reads on defense. Yes he honed his craft on offense, but on defense he is mostly flawless. He is a basketball savant.

I literally think Kawhi is on the autism spectrum, with his blank affect and complete honesty. One of my best friends diagnosed herself as an adult as being on the ASD spectrum, eventually confirmed by a psychiatrist. Kawhi exhibits classic behaviors of what they used to call Aspergers syndrome. One of the markers is to dial in and concentrate and become world class experts on a single topic they care about. In Kawhi's case all he seems to really care about is good basketball. He can't really articulate it. He won't be an on-court vocal leader about it. I get the impression he wants to be surrounded by people who already know the game so he doesn't HAVE to talk about it.

I am appreciative of watching Rui grow in his comfort level. Even learning from teammates and beginning to pass. His talent level is astounding. He does seem to learn very quickly, making moves it doesn't seem he has been taught. He seems to observe and incorporate parts of other people's offensive game just by seeing it done. I just wish we could surround him with world class defenders so that he could learn by watching from these players on the opposite end of the floor. Let's make a highlight reel of Jordan and Pippen on defense, so that he can learn from these two. He has world class talent. He has an opportunity while he is still learning the game to learn good habits at both ends. Sadly we have not put him in position to do so. This is a key reason I wanted to land players like Saddiq Bey and Xavier Tillman in the draft (plus future picks). Rui Hachimura with Saddiq Bey's focus on defense, and Tillman's pick and roll/ball screening and advanced interior skill set WOULD have a chance to be a discount Kawhi Leonard.