Rookie Review: Strong start has Rui Hachimura among top rookies

As the calendar has turned to November, it is time to see how the Washington Wizards first-round pick, Rui Hachimura, is doing compared to the rest of his talented draft class.

After the first NBA game of the season, I compared Rui Hachimura’s performance to the rest of his draft class.  Now at the beginning of every month, I will continue this trend and explore how Hachimura is doing alongside his draft class. Generally, this group seems to be off to a hot start.

So far Rui Hachimura has lived up to his draft billing and more. Through six games the 22-year-old is averaging 14.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. He is shooting 47.6 percent from the field, but only a disappointing 26.7 percent from deep.

His midrange game has looked excellent. Hachimura could live on elbow and foul line jumpers. But he’s also been fearless attacking the basket. His long-range shot was a concern coming into the NBA and it’s proven to be shaky at best. Hachimura will continue to work on his three so he can stretch the floor and add an extra dimension to his game.

On October 30th against the Rockets, when all eyes were on Bradley Beal, James Harden, and Russel Westbrook, Hachimira showcased what he’s capable of. He scored a career-high 23 points on sixty percent shooting and went 3-3 from behind the arc. He also recorded five rebounds and went 2-2 from the charity stripe.

Despite the Wizards losing the shootout 159-158, (and no this game didn’t go into overtime) Wizard fans can take solace in the rookie not standing down in the face of top NBA talent. Instead, Hachimura had the best game of his young career and allowed Wizards fans to feel confident with their pick moving forward.

Against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hachimura he had his first bad game of the season. He was held to only four points and two rebounds, as he shot 18.2 percent from the field. The Wizards rookie will experience some growing pains but has already shown glimpses of his offensive potential.

He bounced back impressively in the team’s win over the Detroit Pistons, though, putting up 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists in just 16 minutes.

While Hachimura’s been hooping with the Wizards, here’s how some other rookies have looked.