unbelievable trade given that it's essentially Nunn and two 2nd round picks (one of them is a swap in 2028). He doesn't need to be one of our best players in order for this trade to be a win - he just needs to be better than whatever the hell NUNN was bringing us. It's also on the coaching staff to PLAY him. So I hope Ham doesn't roll out their ridiculous 3-guard lineups anymore as there's really NO reason for them now. I love this trade - Rui is such a big pickup in terms of talent, asset management, and just NEED for a big wing on this roster. Hats off to Rob Pelinka on this - let's give credit where credit is due. He dropped the ball on literally every trade before this one...let's hope this is the beginning of Rob making a huge comeback
Love love LOVE this trade. Rob knocked this one out of the park. Big up side if he can get his 3pt shot back to what it was last season, young, and we can actually resign him. This was a big win to correct the imbalance in our lineups.
I’m absolutely stoked about this trade for Rui. He’s exactly the piece we’ve been missing. Sorta makes up for the blunder of trading Kuz. Now we can at least competently match up with teams like New Orleans, the snakes and C Bags. Good job Rob!
Perfect sized, tweener, huge wing or PF, not over the top in any aspect but not bad either. They say he can disappear on D for lapses which isn't good but maybe Ham's culture can change that. Really need him to perform on that side. Shooting is what it says it is and it's intriguing. He is 35%-36% career but last season was connecting at a 45% clip which is outstanding even for only 3 attempts. Why the increase over previous seasons I don't know (maybe because they got rid of Westbrook). Off to a rough start this season shooting .337 from distance, hopefully, the attention LBJ and AD draw will give him some wide-opens. Not missing Nunn. Current (Jan 2023) scout report from Sportsforcaster.com is promising: https://sportsforecaster.com/nba/p/227319/Rui_Hachimura
Zach Harper (Athletic) gives us a C+ for the deal You're just not going to get me to care about 3 second round picks. Not when we have plenty left (6 or 7 between now and the end of the decade) AND we've shown we can/will buy them on draft night if we see someone we're interested in sitting there. Also, our scouts can work with whatever they've given. First round pick, second round pick, undrafted... we'll be fine on draft nights. Wiz got a C
Wow. This is actually... good. I didn't know Rui was available. For Nun, well... we got much bigger and more flexible now. Hachimura is a serious face up threat, he's what, 6'8, around 235? Yeah, we can use that. He sucks on D, I think (prove me wrong!) but these days it seems much more important to score, and he can do that for sure. He has these scoring explosions sometimes, and we don't even need that. Just some consistency would be good. With him, Max, Brown and of course Bron, that's a much better wing rotation now. Much, much better.
Lakers are extremely good at finding NBA talent. Those second round picks are probably more valuable with the Lakers then other teams. Still seems like a reasonable move. If he can hit catch and shoot 3 pretty much all you need to be a factor with Lebron and AD
What we needed was a big wing who can play D and knock down 3s w/a high percentage. Pelinka nabbed a guy to fit the bill. Let's hope he digs LA and lives up to his potential, which looks pretty large to me. 7'2" wingspan. I dig it! Yokoso Hachimura!
Jeanie must be happy now that Lakers have now tapped into the Japanese market. $$$ awaits if he plays well
BTW: LOL @ Harper's analysis: "Is this a greater position of need for the Lakers?" We got a big, physically imposing wing who can score and hit his free throws. Sign me up. Is he a 3-pt shooter? No, but honestly I'll take this right now. He immediately improves the team, as long as Ham actually plays him. Fits well with Bron/AD lineup, or can play well with Bryant. Creates for himself. Yeah man. It is a greater position of need for the Lakers.
He can hit the 3, he's just very average. He even shoots decent volume from 3. But he's a strange case, very much like Pope was for us: he either shoots 0% or 66% from 3.
I don’t see how this is anything less than a solid B for us, those sites are hating big time at a good deal. I read that one of these 2nd rounders came to us in the Russ deal, so we’re just giving it back to Washington, and one is a swap, so I mean, it’s really not giving up much at all. If he doesn’t work out, that’s one thing, but it’s a great gamble as of right now, we needed someone this size with some scoring ability, he can grab some boards too, he’s 24, it’s extremely low risk.
not being able to see consistent minutes on a bad squad is not a great sign: Kuzma took a lot of minutes away pretty quickly. Hope the "fit" is better with LA where he is asked to only feed on scraps and concentrate on defense/hustle plays will bring out the talent
