When speaking on Rui Hachimura earlier this offseason, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick talked about his rebounding as an area in which he can improve and really make an impact. And so far through the preseason, that has shown itself to be the case.
Hachimura averages just 4.8 rebounds for his career, but with his physical tools the potential for much more is there. So far in the preseason, Hachimura is second on the Lakers with 7.0 rebounds per game, trailing only Anthony Davis.
The Lakers coach is happy with what he is seeing from Hachimura so far and praised the forward for his commitment and the work he has been putting in.
“Rui has been great,” Redick said after a recent practice. “I think we were still getting acclimated when we had our first preseason game, we had only practiced three times and he was not a full participant in most of September, he was in and out of the gym and he had some family stuff. So he’s been super committed to our classroom and in the mornings and we talked about today, feels like that’s been very helpful. And everything we’ve asked him to do, he’s done, so he’s been awesome.”
Hachimura is coming off his best performance on the glass, pulling down nine rebounds to go along with 15 points in the Lakers loss to the Golden State Warriors. It is that work ethic and commitment to giving the Lakers whatever they need to succeed that has Redick excited.
With his size and athleticism, Hachimura has all of the tools to be a problem on the glass and with teams paying so much attention to Davis and LeBron James, he can really thrive there which is why Redick has made that a point of emphasis.
Hachimura will be one of the keys to success for the Lakers and he is settling into his role very nicely which is great to see with the regular season around the corner.
Rui Hachimura stresses importance of Lakers fixing third quarter issues
One of the main reasons the Lakers came up short in their preseason loss to the Warriors was a rough third quarter in which they managed just 19 points. This was an issue for the team all of last season and Rui Hachimura knows it can’t afford to be once again this year.
“I think it was the third quarter, we kind of started doing whatever,” Hachimura said. “No whatever, but had a couple possessions that I didn’t know what we were doing. Even last year too, we were a pretty bad third quarter team so we kind of have to watch the film and have to tell ourselves like OK, third quarter is time for us to be more focused and get us back in the game. Especially today when we were losing, so I think there’s another level we have to get to. To get to the next level, I think we have to fix the third quarters.”
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