Rui Hachimura Discussion: Huge Buckets

LOL tough crowd department again. OK here’s an attaboy Rui for your 30 points, 11-17, 4-5 3pt, 6 rebounds and 0 turnovers against that front line.

woooo

 

Flew to another state to get a poodle?







JK Rui …. whatever makes you happy to play like you’re playing.

 

He was definitely up for the assignment and leveled up his play to account for being without our big two. Some top notch scoring. He put in a no win scenario at center when Hayes was out, but he battled as well as he could.


I found this one equally funny and sad

 

I really like Rui, and I think he's staring to figure this thing out.

Please don't trade him, Rob. Great size, skilled offensively, could shoot it. Once he starts mastering the "little things" defending and rebounding consistently, I think he's going to be very good. He's also locked in for the next 2 years at a reasonable contract. Keep him, Rob.

 

Mitchell didn't look all that much "superstar" a couple nights ago. A-F how does he grade on:

Scoring consistently / average

3 point %

Handles

Playmaking

Passing

Defense on ball ..... and what positions can he effectively guard?

Team defense

Rebounding

Durability / injury proneness

Athleticism / quickness besides vertical which I've read is great?

Basketball IQ

Heart

 

Looks like the injury was to his face though, right, with the mask on? Rust I can see though. I'm just honestly curious how he checks off all those boxes besides being a good scorer, having a great vertical and being a strong looking dude for his size.

 

he's a legit star who can carry a playoff offense. for me, the big development is that the last two years he's been getting better defensively.

overall, i think he's better than booker and murray, whom i think most would be super excited about nabbing. he'd be a great fit with lebron/AD and then just AD when lebron's done (if AD isn't also done then, lol).

once again, i don't really see a great path to him, but he's the only guy whom i've heard may move that i'd be willing to give up the house (dlo/rui/all the picks) for. i just still think if he moves, he's going to ny.

 

AD was my No. 1 target before we got him, actually long before he was even rumored to be an option for the Lakers. We did get him, and I have been among the few super happy about it from the very beginning to this day.

Mitchell has been on my radar since his epic series against Murray in 2020 PO, that was truly something special. He also played pretty well on team USA, which is telling as well. He seems to deliver when it matters, which is my favorite metric when assessing a player.

 

His latest 2 playoffs series get a big no from me .

 

same here. i always wanted AD and couldn't believe we pulled it off--particularly considering the C Bags planned, openly, for YEARS, to get him.

luka's my current AD (guy who's among the very best players in the game that i think we have a shot to get one day).

mitchell's not on that level, but he's good enough to empty the (already partially depleted) chest for, imo.

all that said, we roll into next year with the same cast and a better coach, and we're in the mix for 4th instead of 9th. after that, i do believe in the puncher's chance.

since this is the rui thread, i think part of our consideration is whether it's better to have guys like him and reaves--young, performing at or above their contracts--or rolling them into max players who may not be franchise cornerstones. mitchell's right on the edge for me, but i'd do it. not looking forward to doing it for young, though.

 

Agree with loterally every word in your post. Just to be clear - while AD was my No. 1 target, Mitchell is not. Od course he's not on the level of Luka and some.other 0layers around the league. He's still a player I have really liked for a few years now and could stomach our youth program be scrapped for to some extent.

To also bring it back to Rui, I would really like to see what this team.could accomplish with a competent coach. I like most of our players, or quite frankly, all of them. And Rui is one of my favorites, the way he compliments AD and LBJ on offense and seems to progress in the D and "little things" departments (slowly but still) make his contract a bargain, and he's generally easy to root for.

 

Not Rui’s best night. He'll bounce back in the next one.

 

Rui trying to channel something special today?

 

couple nice dunks in folks' grills yesterday. he's getting better at moving off the ball, which will be a great tool for him.

 

Rui is playing more and more like Aaron Gordon and that is a huge weapon for us.

IF we beat pels tomorrow and face nugget in the 1st round, having Rui start for us this time around instead of a MIDGET 3-GUARD LINEUP that Ham decided to roll out in game 1 of the series (which imo COST US THE SERIES), is going to pay huge dividends for us. We need to play much bigger against Denver this time around..no 3-guard lineups AT ALL please

 

Love to see Rui get all of those easy baskets.
These will be much harder to come by against Denver, but if Rui can also get the three ball to fall, we become a much harder team to guard.

 

The passing was nice - biggest surprise for me. He was a black hole in the past