Gonzaga Basketball: Rui Hachimura declares for 2019 NBA Draft

After a long superb collegiate journey, Rui Hachimura will leave Gonzaga Basketball to enter the 2019 NBA Draft. He is expected to be a first-round pick.

After receiving the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year award, as well as the WCC Player of the Year and many other awards, Rui Hachimura announced that he would be declaring for the NBA Draft in 2019. As a star player for Gonzaga Basketball, Hachimura put together some outstanding plays and looks poised to be a first-round pick in June.

In his three years at Gonzaga, Hachimura built an impressive resume. In 102 appearances as a Zag, he scored a total of 1,230 points, grabbed 452 rebounds, and shot 57.9% from the field. During his three years in a Zags’ uniform, Hachimura took part in three trips to the NCAA March Madness Sweet 16, two Elite Eights, and an appearance in the National Championship title game. As a team, the Zags won a nation’s best 102 games over the three seasons that Rui was part of the squad, going 50-2 in West Coast Conference play and winning three regular-season titles.

After Hachimura’s performance in the Elite Eight of the 2019 NCAA March Madness Tournament, many questioned if he was ready for the NBA. Back on March 30th, Hachimura shot just 8-for-19 from inside the arc and 0-for-3 from distance. Hachimura had one block and six rebounds. The biggest number that stands out was that he committed three turnovers. From what I saw in the Elite Eight, Hachimura looked like a deer in headlights when double-teamed. I feel that this is one key point that he needs to address if he’s going to be successful in the NBA.

https://twitter.com/ZagMBB/status/1117856783412817920

I am one who has had the opportunity to see Hachimura play over the past couple seasons and I believe that, while there are some fundamentals that he needs to work on, the NBA would be a great fit for Hachimura.