NBA Draft 2019: Top 3 options for Miami Heat to select with 13th pick

Rui Hachimura – Gonzaga

One thing we know about Miami? They like to reload, not rebuild. Miami could look at this draft and draft more of a need player, rather than an upside pick.

Lets look at Miami’s potential starting lineup next season:

PG: Goran Gragic

SG: Josh Richardson

SF: Justice Winslow

PF: James Johnson

C: Bam Adebayo

Miami could potentially ignore Langford at 13, considering they have Josh Richardson and Dion Waiters. Where are they thin at? The Power Forward position. James Johnson and Ryan Anderson (If they even keep him) isn’t exactly the best options. Coach Spolestra gets creative, and we’ll see guys like Kelly Olynyk and Derrick Jones Jr. (or him at the 3 and Winslow at the 4) get some minutes at the PF spot, but none could get the job done like Rui Hachimura potentially can.

Hachimura was fantastic at Gonzaga last season, as he put up numbers of 19.7 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game, 1.5 assists per game, along with 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks per contest on his way to earning West Coast Conference player of the year honors.

Hachimura has an NBA ready body, as he stands at 6’8 234 pounds with a 7’1.5 wingspan. He’s easily versatile enough to play both forward positions on offense. His surprising quickness allows him to be able to score on small forwards and get to his spots, and it also allows him to blow by slower power forwards. He can push the pace in transition and showed us he can score from the wing in isolation backing people down, or using spin moves, step backs, and crossovers to score the ball. He has the ability to post you up down low, but also is very comfortable facing up or working in isolation. He also is very reliable in the pick and roll game as he scored a vast amount of points rolling to the basket, and popping as he would rise and shoot the ball over defenders.

Leave him open from three-point land and he can make you pay, as he shot .417% last season. He only shot 36 total shots from three, but his high shooting percentage from there proves he can and will knock down shots if you leave him open.

Where can he improve?

There’s not much to complain about his offensive game, but Hachimura could go from a good offensive player to a great offensive player if he could improve his passing. He only had 1.5 a game at college, with some NBA talent around him. I’m not expecting much since he’s more of a power forward, but if Hachimura could look for teammates more often after he drives, or be more willing to pass out of the post and become a 3-4 assist a night type of guy in the NBA, he could affect the game in all three main areas in scoring, rebounding, AND assisting.

On defense Hachimura relies too much on his athleticism, and is often positioned wrong or late on his rotations on defense. If Hachimura can improve his defensive IQ, and pair it with his athleticism and intangibles he can be a very serviceable defender.

NBA Comparison: Marcus Morris

Rui Hachimura reminds me of Marcis Morris, or really both of the Morris twins. Might as well call him Rui Hachimorris. Rui, like the Morris twins can score from and defend both forward positions. He’s plenty athletic to bang around inside, can drive and score off the dribble by getting to the basket or pulling up for a jumper, and can knock down the occasional three pointer.

In Marcus Morris’s last season in college he put up solid numbers of 17.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.8 spg, and 0.6 bpg on a 57% field goal percentage while also shooting .342% from three.

Those numbers are very strikingly similar, and I project Rui Hachimura to be able to produce similarly in the NBA. If Miami is looking for more of a need, then Hachimura makes sense here if he falls to them.