And man someone please sign Yuki Kawamura he's only 23 years old and better than Isaiah Thomas who is trying to get in NBA for a few years,since C Bags actually killed his career
Rui highlights He was in his bag. Moves and points look good. Ejection was bull s***. Rebounding is terrifyingly bad.
a few things: the movement threes referenced are long twos in the nba, and i wonder if that's why (as someone else mentioned a few posts back). also, yes, it's defense and rebounding that keep rui from being a really good nba player, and his progress in both areas has been slow to nil. all that said, you can't watch this guy and tell me that the line that "nobody wants the lakers players" stuff isn't just bs posturing (like when it was going to take 2 1sts just to get off westbrook's contract). teams are trying to bend us over on the trade market this summer just like then. but the difference is that "being stuck" with rui and dlo is nowhere near as bad as being stuck with westbrook was, and there's a good chance a lot of teams wish they'd have been more reasonable now. like, tell me rui couldn't put up pretty big numbers on a losing portland team and really make it look like they did great in a grant trade? but they want two 1sts on top of it. gtfo.
And so it begins! https://basketballking.jp/news/world/olympic/20240802/499852.html After the match against France (ranked 9th) on July 31, Hachimura felt discomfort in his left calf, and after undergoing an MRI scan on-site, he was diagnosed with an injury to his left gastrocnemius muscle. Hachimura and Technical Director Tomoya Higashino commented on the official website as follows: "As my injury required early treatment, and in accordance with NBA/FIBA rules, unfortunately I will not be able to accompany the team. I would like to thank all the spectators who supported us at the venue, basketball fans around the world, and our fans in Japan. Together with my teammates, I think we played a very good game for Japanese basketball. I am proud to have had the opportunity to play as a part of AKATSUKI JAPAN. The Japanese national team will continue to fight to win the match against Brazil, so please continue to support AKATSUKI JAPAN." (Hachimura) "After the match against France, Hachimura complained of discomfort in his leg and underwent an MRI scan. The results confirmed damage that would interfere with his play, and unfortunately it was decided that he would be unable to play in the next match. After that, with the understanding of the JOC and the Japanese delegation, it was decided that he would withdraw early. Hachimura conveyed his feelings to each of the Japan Team players before leaving the Paris Olympics . We believe that he will continue to work hard as a good teammate. The Paris Olympics are still ongoing. We ask for your continued enthusiastic support for the Japanese men's basketball team's victory. Japan, united!" (Technical Committee Chairman Higashino)
Been seeing some practice clips of crashing the glass and getting some putback dunks. Keep it up! I'm sure he's glad to know his role before pre-season starts instead of the yo-yo nonsense from Ham.
he's the guy i'm really hoping having a better coach will help. he has some limitations, but you can work to his strengths on both ends better than we did last year.
He's so big: needs someone to teach him and make him practice throwing his body around the glass. Yes a lot of that is instinct and motor but you can definitely get better at boxing out and positioning with practice Feel Rui works way too much on the one on one aspects to his game which he is already probably maxed out to a certain extent
this. even if he fully maxes here, he's some sort of maggette/speights hybrid (very poor man's kawhi)--that's not good enough to part of a winning team. when folks were going nuts about handy making him a midrange threat, i was kind of like...great...does anyone need that? i mean, you can score 40 in china that way. what i need is for you to get a defensive rebound or deflect a pass.
For me, defending and rebounding is about instinct. Yes, Rui can be taught to become a better defender and rebounder to a certain extent, but he’s never going to be great at this things. If he were, he would already be labeled a poor man’s Karl Malone. That being said, we can expect him to improve in both areas.
he can get better on defense, for sure. rebounding is harder, as it seems even more "instinctual". but both are to some degree. rui's definitely put in a ton of work on his individual offensive skills, though--so he's shown he has the motivation to improve. can it be directed towards team success?
My asks for him in regards to rebounding and D: be good enough. Just be good enough. Where they don't target you. Where they can't play you off the court. Where you can take on the 3rd or 4th best defensive matchup and hold up. Where you can give me a guaranteed 6.5 boards as your season average. He was at 6.1 his rookie year... what happened? He only has twelve double digit rebounding games IN HIS CAREER. At his size with a smaller ask offensively, that is unacceptable. I don't expect him to be great at either, otherwise he'd have a Grant sized contract (not saying Grant is great at rebounding because he's s*** at it too, but just that's just the price bracket he'd be in) . Just give me passable.
yep rebounding timing and motor are hard to learn and are instinctual/natural gifts but not boxing out. You can learn to box out man
some dudes just love to mix it up in the paint, and some don't Not sure you can change who you are in that regard. You are who you are. Kobe liked the physicality. AD, not as much.
