Landed in California at the end of January, Rui Hachimura had his best performance in his new colors on Tuesday against the Grizzlies. Off the bench, he was the X factor by scoring 17 points at 7/11 shooting in 27 minutes with a +/- of +22, allowing the Lakers to pocket the victory (112-103).
“I tried to be aggressive on both sides of the pitch” said Rui Hachimura. “Defence, offense, rebounds, you know…I think I did a good job and we were able to come out with the win”.
The former Wizards, first holder and now a substitute, is struggling to adapt to his new team. In 18 games, he averaged 9.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists, compared to Washington’s 13.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists.
His playing time is however identical but his role has already changed several times this season.
“Of course it’s difficult” recognized the Japanese. “ The role, the minutes and everything that changes, it’s difficult for me to adapt, but it’s the same for everyone. I just have to get used to it and always be ready to have an impact on matches.”.
For the moment, his performances are not detrimental to the Lakers, who have won 7 of their last 10 games. But on the Los Angeles side, we believe a lot in Rui Hachimura, and that’s why they brought him in knowing that he will be a free agent this summer. Darvin Ham, the Lakers coach, especially encourages his player to be more aggressive, to bring to the field the physical strength missing due to the absence of LeBron James.
“I always encouraged him to be more aggressive and more physical” thus confided Darvin Ham on what he expects from the strong winger. “ People say that since LeBron and D’Angelo are not available, then we have to score, score, score, but we mainly need physical inside. We need physicality defensively and offensively, attacking the circle aggressively.”.
| Rui Hachimura | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2019-20 | WAS | 48 | 30 | 46.6 | 28.7 | 82.9 | 1.6 | 4.5 | 6.1 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 13.5 |
| 2020-21 | WAS | 57 | 32 | 47.8 | 32.8 | 77.0 | 0.9 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 13.8 |
| 2021-22 | WAS | 42 | 23 | 49.1 | 44.7 | 69.7 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 11.3 |
| 2022-23 * | All Teams | 48 | 24 | 47.6 | 31.8 | 73.8 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 11.8 |
| 2022-23 * | WAS | 30 | 24 | 48.8 | 33.7 | 75.9 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 13.0 |
| 2022-23 * | ALL | 18 | 25 | 45.0 | 27.5 | 71.1 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 9.8 |
| Total | 195 | 28 | 47.7 | 34.9 | 77.0 | 1.0 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 12.7 | |
