After a hard-fought battle against the Oklahoma City Thunder that ended in a close loss, the LA Clippers are 1-2. Given the number of injuries to key players, this is hardly surprising. The Clippers have been without Brandon Ingram, Max Strus, Bradley Beal, Jordan Miller, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser to start the season.
Understandably, this has negative trickle-down effects on the rest of the roster. The amount of shot creation and playmaking lost forces players lower on the pecking order to take on a bigger offensive burden.
Rui Hachimura has been one of these players in three games. Unfortunately, he has been struggling immensely in his expanded role.
Clippers Are Asking Too Much of Rui Hachimura
Hachimura is shooting 26.3% from the field and 31.6% from downtown. He is averaging 1 assist and 2.7 turnovers per game. Despite an increase in his playing time and usage rate from last season, Hachimura's scoring average has gone down from 11.5 points to 10.3 points per game.
This is a result of Hachimura having to do a lot more with the ball. The 28-year-old forward is more of a play-finisher than a playmaker. He is elite at knocking down shots created by his teammates, but isn't particularly good at generating shots for himself or others.
Throughout his Lakers tenure, over 85% of Hachimura's made field goals were assisted. In three games as a Clipper, this has gone down to 67%, per Cleaning the Glass. This highlights how much more shot creation the Japanese forward has to do on this team.
As a result, Hachimura's usage rate has shot up to a career-high 21.6%, according to Cleaning the Glass. As a Laker, this number has never been higher than 16%.
Given that Hachimura is also playing the most minutes he has in six seasons and also has a large defensive role, it's understandable that he may be struggling. Going from being the fifth in the pecking order with the Lakers to being the No. 2 option for the Clippers can't be easy and will require an adjustment period.
Hachimura will start playing better. He is too good a shooter to continue to struggle this badly.
That alone isn't going to solve the Clippers' problems. They simply need more offensive juice. The return of Ingram will put Hachimura in a better-suited role offensively. When Strus comes back and if Beal ever appears in a Clippers uniform again, the Clippers will have the necessary shot creation and playmaking. This will not only help Hachimura find his perfect role, but will also help the Clippers be a much better offensive team.
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