At long last, Hachimura plays like a rookie
Wizards unfazed by bad game: ‘That guy’s a winner’
WASHINGTON — It took over a week and five games but Washington Wizards power forward Rui Hachimura finally played like a rookie.
Hachimura became only the fifth rookie in franchise history to start his career with a doubledouble and ranked among the best first-year players in scoring in his first week. Through the f i rst f our games, Hachimura, who played three years in college, looked unaffected by the bigger stage, as though he belonged in the NBA. Still, a night like Saturday was bound to happen — something his head coach had predicted.
During the Wizards’ 131-109 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hachimura made only 2 of 11 shots through 22 minutes and recorded season lows in points (four) and rebounds (two) while his matchup, seven-year veteran Robert Covington, scored 20 points.
That Hachimura had what any professional could consider a “bad game” should not come as a surprise.
Nights like this happen during the grind of an 82-game season. After Friday’s practice during the coach’s daily address on all things Hachimura, Scott Brooks stated the obvious:
“He’s going to have some bad games and we all understand that but he’s going to have a lot of good games just because of the effort that he puts in.”
Still, the way Hachimura responds Monday night against the Detroit Pistons could be more telling than any other feat so far in his young career.
“We’re going to have to help him that you have one bad game, let’s not make it two. If it goes two, let’s not make it three,” said Brooks, then referenced his Friday comments. “Maybe I jinxed it but it wasn’t because he didn’t want to play well. He just didn’t have a good game tonight and he’ll bounce back. That guy’s a winner and he’ll bounce back.”
Following Saturday’s loss, Hachimura addressed reporters — first, in English before facing a throng of Japanese reporters — he would not blame his first rocky performance on his 2-of-11 shooting. Instead, he responded to questions about his offensive struggles by pointing to his defense.
“I mean, I don’t think it was the shooting stuff but the defense,” Hachimura said. “I didn’t do a good job and the rebounding, too. Nothing wrong with the shooting.”
Still, Hachimura’s offensive performance begs for closer inspection. He received the fewest touches of all starters (27), including small forward Isaac Bonga who played just 18 minutes. Four of his nine missed shots came within striking distance of the rim. At the 4:53 mark of the second quarter, Hachimura had position under the rim but instead of dunking the ball, he went up for a layup and got blocked by Timberwolves center Gorgui Dieng.
“He’s a rookie. It’s not surprising,” Isaiah Thomas said about Hachimura’s overall night.
“One thing I know, the greatest players, the best players out there, they have the shortest memory whether good or bad. When we wake up tomorrow, hopefully, he forgets about it, gets to work in practice and we go from there.”
This year, Beal will have a balancing act in knowing when to encourage a young player after a bad game and letting him be a pro and work through it without a lecture. For the first time, with Hachimura’s Saturday night struggles, Beal had to figure out which direction to take.
“You still want to hold everyone accountable, don’t want to develop bad habits or get into a mind-set that it’s okay to miss assignments or slack off,” Beal said. “Even if you’re having a bad game, you can still impact the game in other ways than scoring. I’ve learned that from my rookie year until now. [Hachimura] will learn that as well. There’s that fine line of knowing that we are young, we may have games like this. But at the same time we don’t want it to be okay. We’re not just accepting it.”