Rui Hachimura is the secret sauce behind the Lakers’ turnaround

05.04.2024 18:24

The 26-year-old may not get the touches or recognition his teammates do, but Rui Hachimura is making the most of every opportunity with the Lakers.

It’s never easy coming home. And that’s why it was fitting that Washington played host to the Lakers — and specifically — Rui Hachimura on the final stop of their critical six-game road trip.

The city, once the birthplace of the now 26-year-old’s NBA career, will forever be tied to a different time. Sure, hieroglyphics like the pencil marks that measured his expanding height over the four years he spent roughing it on an aimless Wizards’ squad will remain etched on a wall for him to visit.

But the arena, the hardwood, and even the sound of his footsteps in the hall that previously represented something familial have given way to a foreign feeling. He is now a tourist and no longer a local.

Nostalgia, as hard as we try to bottle it up and preserve it, is destined to fade away. The childhood home and the memories spackled between every brick, left in the rearview in favor of an eye toward the future.

Hachimura caught the ball on the block during the first quarter Wednesday night. He stood in a triple-threat position with a sea of nautical-colored jerseys in front of him. He drove baseline and, once he was cut off, spun back like a bumper car hitting the wall.

His tree trunks for a lower half never wavered despite contact. Instead, the physicality capitulated him into space where he was able to rise and hit a turnaround jumper over the outstretched arms of Corey Kispert.

“There’s Rui Hachimura’s first shot...and of course, it’s in the midrange,” the Wizards’ play-by-play announcer wistfully detailed. The move and the shot location were staples in Hachimura’s game during his tenure with the team.

For one play and one night, the chiseled forward looked like the player the fanbase remembered. But as the game progressed, Hachimura revealed he had changed. He flashed a new role, a newly refined skill set, and a new attention to detail. Standing in front of them was what they envisioned when the organization drafted him ninth overall in 2019.

Hachimura’s startling ascension this year has also coincided directly with the Lakers’ turnaround. However, it didn’t happen without some bumps in the road early on.

Despite signing a multi-year deal in the offseason on the heels of a stellar playoff run, Hachimura conspicuously was assigned to a bench role and averaged just 22.4 minutes a contest in his first 20 games of the season.

“Just him trying to focus on the small things,” Darvin Ham shared when asked about the forward. Hachimura’s fluctuating role this year has drawn the ire of the fanbase with many faulting Ham for not only his rotation choices but also his lack of transparency regarding them.

That is until recently.

“Constantly on him about his awareness and activity defensively. Just his communication, him being in the right spot early. He’s been drawing some tough individual matchups. And it’s kind of like when that guy doesn’t have the ball it’s like, ‘Whew, I can relax,’” Ham added then. “It’s not like that. It takes all five to get a stop. And after you do your job on the ball, that ball gets swung. Now you’ve got to get in position to help and support your teammates who supported you earlier in the possession. Just him doing the little things. Sprinting back in transition guarding his guy, once he’s done guarding his guy, his activity and alertness and awareness on the weakside of the defense.”

Any criticism relating to Hachimura’s engagement on defense and willingness to do the “little things” isn’t something new. Although he has the talent, physical makeup, and pedigree, there has always been something that has felt one-dimensional about his bag.

Something missing.

While those question marks remain here and there, they’ve mostly fallen by the wayside. Since his rocky start, Hachimura has taken leaps—not steps—in dispelling that narrative. He has done it by helping stabilize the Lakers’ starting lineup.

After shuffling through various lackluster five-man combinations, Ham finally settled on D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Hachimura, LeBron James and Anthony Davis as his starters back at the beginning of February.

Since then, the Lakers are 19-8, have the league’s eighth-best point differential, second-best offensive rating (120.9), second-best 3-point percentage (40.4%) and are the most efficient team when it comes to shots at the rim (75.7%).

Looking under the hood, finding the right lineup when they did ultimately helped solve what was an ongoing issue: every group they trotted out bled points.

The new starting lineup has a +5.7 net rating in 683 non-garbage time possessions together. For context on why this is important, no other Lakers’ lineup that has logged at least 200 this season has a positive point differential (at all).

In terms of why the starters have worked as well as they have, the answer is multifaceted. However, whichever way you want to distribute the credit when stacking the lettuce, meat, and tomato, Hachimura has been the secret sauce to the burger.

Earlier in the season, the Lakers ran into a Goldilocks issue as every forward they lined up next to James and Davis was too defense or offense-oriented. Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt are pests on the perimeter but are extremely limited on the other end. Taurean Prince, in comparison, has been a reliable floor-spacer in his career but proved too small to offer resistance against opposing star wings or starting-caliber help on the boards.

Not too cold and not too hot, Hachimura has been just right next to the Lakers’ star front court.

He’s made enough progress on defense to help take on the opposition’s best scorers while also being mindful of his off-ball responsibilities as the low man. And when the miss happens, Hachimura has been noticeably more active on the glass.

“I think the way he’s making the most strides is his defense,” Ham said following the Lakers’ win over the Wizards on Wednesday. “His communication, his ability to guard the ball, he’s getting better and better at keeping the ball in front (of him) and defensive rebounding. Those are the areas where I’m extremely proud of him.”

Hachimura may never be as dynamic a defender as Vanderbilt, but at 6’8” and 230 pounds, he has the frame and explosiveness to make things difficult. The same rings true when it comes to rebounding.

Given how physically small the Lakers’ starting backcourt is and James’ inconsistent effort in ending defensive possessions, Hachimura being more of a presence on the boards has helped take some of the massive responsibility off of Davis’ shoulders.

During the team’s recent 5-1 road trip, Hachimura averaged 7.5 rebounds per game, which was way up from his 4.1 rate on the season.

The extra attention to doing the little things has not come at the expense of his offense. Hachimura is not only having a career year in multiple categories, but he is also doing it within the construct of the team’s system.

Mostly gone are the midrange jumpers in isolation that primarily composed his diet in Washington. They have taken a backseat for a more off-ball, Morey-Ball-centric approach.

According to PBP stats, 69.2% of Hachimura’s attempts this season have come either at the rim or from three. That’s up 7% from his time with the Lakers following last year's trade deadline and nearly 13% more than his best mark with the Wizards.

Whether by design or as a result of playing next to four other on-ball players, Hachimura’s alterations to his shot profile have also come in concert with him becoming a play-finisher rather than a playmaker as a whopping 86% of his makes have been assisted upon (previous high: 78%).

Due to playing more off of the ball, there has naturally been more importance on Hachimura’s 3-point shooting becoming a viable threat than ever before.

NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at Washington Wizards

Like his defense and rebounding, Hachimura’s long ball has waxed and waned throughout his career (36% average).

Because of this and the Lakers’ other threats on the floor, defenses have dared Hachmura to be the one to beat them this season either by hugging the “nail” against him or sagging off of him completely from the corners.

This is a bet he’s embraced, relished and capitalized on.

On the year, Hachimura is shooting a blistering 42% from behind the arc. Since becoming a starter, however, that has only increased as he has canned his threes at a 45% clip and 47.3% of his open/wide-open chances.

Beyond his flamethrowing making an already dynamic offense even more frightening, Hachimura has also been the beneficiary of teams simply running out of defenders and schemes to account for the number of scoring options in the Lakers’ starting lineup.

With opposing coaches having to decide whether to throw size toward the backcourt to try and blanket Russell and Reaves or at James and Davis to limit their impact, this often leaves Hachimura with a mismatch.

Hachimura and the Lakers alike have exploited this by putting him in the post (1.18 ppp) or on the baseline after a timely cut (1.5 ppp). And when he’s found in the paint, Hachimura has been downright destructive, converting an unfathomable 82% of his opportunities at the rim since becoming a starter.

Despite playing next to several former all-stars and Hall of Famers, it’s Hachimura who has been the straw that broke the defense’s back. Because a fifth option simply shouldn’t be this potent or imposing.

With only five games left, it remains to be seen how far the Lakers will end up. Perhaps if they had gone to this group earlier, their fortunes would be different and they would not find themselves in the play-in as they do. Or maybe the early season jostling helped light a fire under certain players like Hachimura to hit their stride at the right time.

Whatever the case may be, the Lakers and Hachimura are bulldozing their way to the finish line together.

The former lottery pick who packed his bags and found his footing in the big city. And the team who didn’t unearth a gem, but rather, cleaned, sharpened, and brought it to the light.