Gonzaga Basketball: 2019 NBA Draft breakdown of each player

By Andy Patton | Jun 18, 2019

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Brandon Clarke #15 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Rui Hachimura #21 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs celebrate a play against 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 Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

2 of 5

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 11: Rui Hachimura #21 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs warms up before a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament against the Pepperdine Waves at the Orleans Arena on March 11, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs defeated the Waves 100-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Rui Hachimura, Small Forward

A household name in college basketball over the past season, uber-athletic forward Rui Hachimura is going to hear his name called during the lottery of this year’s NBA draft.

However, Hachimura remains one of the more polarizing figures in college basketball. His length, athleticism and ability to score at the rim and off the midrange are unquestioned, leading to his 19.7 points per game last season.

Questions remain about his defense and his three-point shooting however, two areas he will need to get demonstrably better at if he wants to be anything more than a bench scorer in the NBA. Hachimura has the athleticism to succeed as a defender, but his instincts are lacking and they unfortunately didn’t appear to get better as the season went on.

Related Story. NBA Draft profile of Rui Hachimura. light

He’s still very raw – despite completing three years of college – as he played very sparingly his first two seasons. It’s entirely possible that more time will sharpen his instincts and allow him to at least become an adequate NBA defender.

As for the three-point shooting, I’m firmly in the camp that he will develop a strong outside shot sooner rather than later. After all, he was a deadly mid range shooter, and a very solid free throw shooter. Players like that tend to find their range from the three-point line, and Hachimura wasn’t even a bad three-point shooter in college, he just didn’t take that many of them because the Zags didn’t need him too.

NBA Comparisons

Best case scenario for Hachimura is he becomes a versatile offensive weapon with a complete arsenal of driving moves, midrange pull-ups and outside shooting with adequate defensive ability thanks to his length. Perhaps a Tobias Harris-like offensive player is in his future.

Worst case is that his defense and his three-point shooting don’t improve, and he’s forced to be a small-ball power forward who gets overpowered on defense and struggles to get to the basket around bigger players. Think Thomas Robinson, but with two less inches to work with.