3 Burning questions about the Washington Wizards’ recent play

3. The Rui Hachimura Question

Hachimura has missed the last five games due to an ankle injury and is overall having a forgetful year. The eye test tells me the bench misses his ability to score, but the numbers offer a narrative that is more open to interpretation.

For instance, Hachimura is a -18.5 per 100 possessions, which includes a -15.7 on the offensive end and a +2.8 on defense (Cleaning the Glass). That’s just bad. And the splits, like Corey Kispert, seem to be an inverse of our expectations coming into the season.

But could it be his extensive time with other bench players is hurting his splits, much like Morris’s time with the starters helps his?

The lineup in which Hachimura has been used the most is as the small forward with the above-mentioned group of Goodwin, Barton, Kuzma, and Gafford. And as noted above, the same lineup with Delon Wright instead of Jordan Goodwin would be one of the Wizards’ best if the sample size was larger.

I wanted to see if a version of the starting lineup that substituted Hachimura in for Kuzma had shared the floor together and what I found was that the five-man unit has played a grand total of five possessions together this season. Maybe there’s no natural way to make that rotation without making Kuzma your first sub of the game (which has not been Coach Unseld’s move this season).

However, a rotation that includes Beal, Deni, Hachimura, Kuzma, and Porzingis together has shared the floor for 21 possessions for a positive effect and could be a natural second unit if the coach chooses to sit Monte first so he can run point with the bench.

It’s troubling to see Hachimura perform this poorly in what will be a contract year. —though maybe that will make it cost-effective to keep him.

With luck, the Wizards’ hot start might just be sustainable after all

The Washington Wizards have once again gotten off to a hot start, but the data suggests they might not collapse as much as they did last season.

When Hachimura returns, I’d like to see some more playing time with the starters, at least until Delon Wright is healthy, and then we’ll have a better idea of what he brings to the table.