Rui Hachimura 2.0

[gambitx777]

I don't see any reason not to bench KCP and start Rui , Kispert and Kuz.

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[payitforward]

Absolutely! Let's see these kids play!

&, one way or another, that's what is bound to happen. But, I don't even think KCP's minutes will need to go down, will they?

Dinwiddie, Harrell & Bertans combined to play over 70 minutes a game. Meanwhile, Porzingis is injured.

Ish will take Holiday's minutes & take minutes away from Neto as well, but that's mostly unrelated.

Let's see Vernon Carey too! Ditto Todd. & Cassius Winston!

[FAH1223]

Below average PPA for Rui

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Rui has shown a dramatic -- & very welcome! -- jump in his 3-pt. FG%. OTOH, his 2-pt. % is down from his rookie year, & so is his FT%. Plus he's getting to the line a little less than he did 2 years ago.

As a result, his overall scoring efficiency is only up 1% from his rookie year -- & actually down 1/2 of a percentage point from last year. The rest of his production is just about the same as his rookie year.

He's only played 303 minutes so far this season, so it's way too early to draw any conclusions.

[9 and 20]

Is he out for a bit with the ankle? Rough season for him. After the mental health break, came in, hit some threes, kicked his teammate in the face, and now hurts his ankle. On top of that, Kuzma has kind of taken his role.

[Ruzious]

Is he out for a bit with the ankle? Rough season for him. After the mental health break, came in, hit some threes, kicked his teammate in the face, and now hurts his ankle. On top of that, Kuzma has kind of taken his role.

He's questionable for today's game, so it can't be too bad - though not likely that he'll kick a teammate in the face again.

[9 and 20]

Rui tried to make Kispert famous like Dunleavy - 'white guy pigeonholed into a jump shooting role but can do a little more on the court but now is known only for getting kicked in the face'

[gambitx777]

Sweet chin music lol offfff hope the kids ok.

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[prime1time]

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Needless to say this is just stunning. I pointed out that he was 9/15 from 3 in the playoffs and it was ignored. Now here we are. It's funny how when Rui's struggling, this thread is popping. But now that he's shown indisputable progress, it's as silent as a mouse. The rise of Kuzma has blocked Rui from truly shining. What's next for Rui is to increase his volume from 3. With his ability to knock them down, he will make himself an indispensable part of our lineup. Teams will run him off the 3-point line and he will feast. Rui needs to start. Kuzma needs to move to the 3.

[Halcyon]

He needs more playing time.

[WallToWall]

The 3 ball is nice. However, he needs to do more. A lot more. At the very least, he needs to do one more thing, be it rebounding or assisting or blocking or setting good picks, at an average level. Right now he does none of those other things at even average level. A sharp shooter has a place on a team but don’t expect minutes.
Edit… and I am a Rui fan.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The 3 ball is nice. However, he needs to do more. A lot more. At the very least, he needs to do one more thing, be it rebounding or assisting or blocking or setting good picks, at an average level. Right now he does none of those other things at even average level. A sharp shooter has a place on a team but don’t expect minutes.
Edit… and I am a Rui fan.

Yes, I agree. Now Rui needs to rebound better and also become a plus player on the other side of the ball.

His trade value will be pretty high if they decide to trade him. Scoring is IMO overvalued. I think Rui can become a near-ideal sixth man as a go to scorer.

[prime1time]

The 3 ball is nice. However, he needs to do more. A lot more. At the very least, he needs to do one more thing, be it rebounding or assisting or blocking or setting good picks, at an average level. Right now he does none of those other things at even average level. A sharp shooter has a place on a team but don’t expect minutes.
Edit… and I am a Rui fan.

Lol what? There are literally players in the league who can only shoot. If all he does is shoot well he already has tremondous value given that he is not a disaster defensively like a Bertans or a Brynn Forbes. As far as the other stuff goes, I think it's clearly a result of Kuzma's ascension and Rui's displacement. Rui has basically been reduced to being a spot-up shooter like Bertans. In reality, Hachimura should be featured much more offensively. Ultimately, I always impressed about how people insist on moving the needle and refuse to give this man his due.

There are people who insisted in this thread that he'd never become a good shooter. Now that he's the best shooter on the team, we talk about how he needs to do other things. Yes, it would be nice if Hachimura develops into a top 5 or 10 SF, but how about we take a step back and recognize the amazing growth he's already accomplished. As he continues to improve he'll become that much more of a force.

[prime1time]

The 3 ball is nice. However, he needs to do more. A lot more. At the very least, he needs to do one more thing, be it rebounding or assisting or blocking or setting good picks, at an average level. Right now he does none of those other things at even average level. A sharp shooter has a place on a team but don’t expect minutes.
Edit… and I am a Rui fan.

Yes, I agree. Now Rui needs to rebound better and also become a plus player on the other side of the ball.

His trade value will be pretty high if they decide to trade him. Scoring is IMO overvalued. I think Rui can become a near-ideal sixth man as a go to scorer.

He should also improve his ball-handling, playmaking, mid-range shooting, low-post scoring, on-ball defense, basketball-iq.

[pcbothwel]

The 3 ball is nice. However, he needs to do more. A lot more. At the very least, he needs to do one more thing, be it rebounding or assisting or blocking or setting good picks, at an average level. Right now he does none of those other things at even average level. A sharp shooter has a place on a team but don’t expect minutes.
Edit… and I am a Rui fan.

Yes, I agree. Now Rui needs to rebound better and also become a plus player on the other side of the ball.

His trade value will be pretty high if they decide to trade him. Scoring is IMO overvalued. I think Rui can become a near-ideal sixth man as a go to scorer.

He should also improve his ball-handling, playmaking, mid-range shooting, low-post scoring, on-ball defense, basketball-iq.

This is my issue. I've been a Rui fan from the get go and LOVE seeing his shot fall, but man he appears really slow with a poor handle along with a very cavalier demeanor.
He doesnt get by anyone like he did last year and doesnt have the array of counters that Kuz has.

Again, the only way this team can put together a contender (Other than Beal bouncing back and KP staying healthy) is Deni breaking out and trading either Rui or Kuz.

[nate33]

Yes, I agree. Now Rui needs to rebound better and also become a plus player on the other side of the ball.

His trade value will be pretty high if they decide to trade him. Scoring is IMO overvalued. I think Rui can become a near-ideal sixth man as a go to scorer.

He should also improve his ball-handling, playmaking, mid-range shooting, low-post scoring, on-ball defense, basketball-iq.

This is my issue. I've been a Rui fan from the get go and LOVE seeing his shot fall, but man he appears really slow with a poor handle along with a very cavalier demeanor.
He doesnt get by anyone like he did last year and doesnt have the array of counters that Kuz has.

Again, the only way this team can put together a contender (Other than Beal bouncing back and KP staying healthy) is Deni breaking out and trading either Rui or Kuz.

Yeah, it's looking more and more like Rui is going to be less of a primary scorer, and more of a 3&D role player. That's still useful. Every team can use a guy who can defend 3 through 5 while hitting catch-and-shoot 3's. But that's more like the 5th or 6th best guy in a rotation, not a top 4 guy. Basically, he could be the next Jae Crowder.

The problem is, a guy like Jae Crowder is typically worth the MLE or less, which means nearly every team in the league will have the ability to go after him in free agency and prevent us from resigning him to a team friendly contract. With that the case, we ought to consider trading him this offseason instead of letting him walk for nothing in 2023. I'd be curious to see what deals are out there this summer if Rui is coming off a 40-game season with him shooting north of 45% from 3-point range. I'd love to pick up a mid 1st round pick or an undeveloped talent like Jalen Suggs who has more years left on his rookie deal.

If Rui was a hyper active defender and decision maker on defense like Avdija, he'd be worth a lot more. I'd love for him to become a sharp-shooting version of Aaron Gordon, but I'm losing hope that he has the innate basketball IQ to ever get there.

[Ruzious]

He also needs to learn when to pass. He's missing a lot of the 2's he's taken recently because he's been well covered and just made up his mind to shoot anyway. It's bizarre that he's become a 3 point specialist. I'm glad he's become good at it, and It's fine that he has a score-first mentality, but he's got to be smarter about passing.

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Needless to say this is just stunning. I pointed out that he was 9/15 from 3 in the playoffs and it was ignored. Now here we are. It's funny how when Rui's struggling, this thread is popping. But now that he's shown indisputable progress, it's as silent as a mouse. The rise of Kuzma has blocked Rui from truly shining. What's next for Rui is to increase his volume from 3. With his ability to knock them down, he will make himself an indispensable part of our lineup. Teams will run him off the 3-point line and he will feast. Rui needs to start. Kuzma needs to move to the 3.

Rui's 3-point shooting is great, no question about it. The rest of your post, prime, I don't understand. No one ignored his going 9-15 on 3's in the playoffs, & Rui hasn't made "indisputable progress" in any way but his 3-pt. shooting. Above all, Kyle Kuzma hasn't "blocked Rui from truly shining" (not even sure what that means...).

As far as Rui's play is concerned, improvement is the most important thing, no doubt about it. & shooting 50+% on 3's definitely is "stunning" -- all the more stunning when it's on almost twice as many attempts per 40 minutes! But, it isn't enough on its own to establish Rui (or any other player for that matter), & b/c his 2-point % is down & so is his FT%, Rui's overall scoring efficiency is still a bit below an average NBA 4.

Still -- it's slightly better than Kuzma's scoring efficiency, & it's Kuzma's starting spot at the 4 which you are suggesting Rui should take.

The problem with that is Kuzma's better at the rest of the stuff; nor do we want to put Kispert on the bench. Still... there are plenty of minutes at the 3 & 4 for all three of Rui, Kuz & Kispert to play as many minutes as they can handle. Doesn't much matter who starts!

& Rui definitely needs to play a lot of minutes -- not b/c he has shown that he's good overall, but b/c he hasn't shown that. Overall, he's way below average as an NBA 4. In fact, overall, he's no better so far this year than he was as a rookie. Largely b/c his rebounding has dropped....

[DCZards]

He also needs to learn when to pass. He's missing a lot of the 2's he's taken recently because he's been well covered and just made up his mind to shoot anyway. It's bizarre that he's become a 3 point specialist. I'm glad he's become good at it, and It's fine that he has a score-first mentality, but he's got to be smarter about passing.

Yup..that’s where Rui really struggles on offense, making good decisions when he has the ball. Instead of passing the ball when he’s covered, Rui is much more likely to force a contested jumper.

That kind of decision really hurts the team… and Rui's 2pt efficiency.

But I do love how much and how quickly Rui has improved his 3pt shooting, He'll need to get his shot off more quickly though if he's ever going to become a high volume 3pt shooter.

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If a player can improve at one thing, it gives you at least a reason to hope that he can improve at some other thing. For that reason -- even aside from the help it gives the team -- Rui's radically improved 3-pointer is a terrific thing to see.

As nate points out, Rui doesn't have a great feel for the game. If he's going to succeed, it'll have to be as a "skills" player -- i.e. he has to be very efficient in what he does undertake. For that reason too, the 3 pt. jump is a nice thing to see.