When the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Rui Hachimura in January 2023, he was a young player still looking to establish an identity. The Lakers saw him as a player they could mold into someone who would help them establish an identity and become a winning team.
He played well for the rest of the season and stepped up during the playoffs to help them reach the Western Conference finals. At the time, the scouting report on him was that he was a one-on-one player who was very consistent from the mid-range area. But as time went on, he added a new weapon: the 3-point shot.
In each of the next three seasons, he made over 41% of his 3-point shots. In this year’s postseason, he made a stunning 56.9% of his 3-point tries, which gave him the NBA’s record for the highest career playoff 3-point accuracy — at least for now — at 51.6%.
After the Lakers were swept in the Western Conference semifinals by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Hachimura was asked how he felt he had changed the most since coming to Los Angeles, and he gave former Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy credit for helping him expand his game beyond the arc.
“Shout out to coach Phil [Handy],” Hachimura said. “Phil Handy, he was the one that talked me through a lot of stuff, what I can do to stay in this league. Not only this team, but stay in this league. I can make an impact on this team, especially.
“The first thing that he talked about is (3-pointers). I think that was the biggest thing for me because, honestly, I don’t like shooting threes. That’s not my thing for me. For me, I don’t really like it. But with the team situation, how (head coach) JJ [Redick] coaches, he wants me to shoot a lot of threes. It was a different game for me, but I had to do it. That was the biggest thing that I think changed.”
Handy, who was on the Lakers’ coaching staff from 2019 to 2024, is regarded as arguably the best player development coach in the NBA. Not only did he help Hachimura become the player he is today, but so did LeBron James, who worked with and mentored Hachimura during the 2023 offseason.
The forward is about to become a free agent this summer after making $18.26 million this season. He recently said that he loves the Lakers, but keeping him may not be easy, as James, Austin Reaves and multiple other Lakers players can or will be free agents as well. Making the math work, not to mention also bringing in at least one outside free agent who can make a difference, will likely be complicated.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Rui Hachimura credits Phil Handy for helping him improve his shooting
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
