Gonzaga Basketball: 2019 NBA Draft profile of forward Rui Hachimura

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Rui Hachimura #21 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs dunks the ball against Mfiondu Kabengele #25 of the Florida State Seminoles during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 28, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

2 of 5

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 30: Rui Hachimura #21 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs is introduced ahead of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West Regional game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Honda Center on March 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Strengths

Rui Hachimura is one of the most NBA-ready prospects in this years’ draft class. With a 6’8 – 230 frame he’ll be able to match up, physicality-wise, wise plenty of frontcourt players in the league. His size gives him plenty of versatility to play both on both wings and be productive inside and outside of the paint.

He’s obviously shown, this past season, that he’s a scorer. And he’s proven that he should be able to take on a scoring role in the league right from the off – which is something a lot of teams are looking after. His ability to score in the post, and from mid-range gives him an outstanding foundation as an NBA talent. He shot 59.1% for the 2018-19 season on 12.6 FGA, supporting the fact that he’s a natural scorer.

The only scoring department in which he’s not known for, really, is from beyond the arc. Hachimura only attempted 1.0 three-pointer a game, over the course of the season just gone by, however, he did make slow strides with his long game and he ended up averaging 41.7% from three-land over the year, which was 28.6% in his freshman year, and 19.2% in his sophomore year.

With so many NBA big men developing into productive three-point shooters, in today’s game, there’ll be plenty of opportunity for Hachimura to potentially develop this shot further and become a dead-eye from anywhere on the floor.