Once the Los Angeles Lakers tipped off their first game of the 2024-25 season, Rui Hachimura made his presence known by making the first shot of the season, which was a 3-pointer. From that point on, he created second-chance opportunities by crashing the offensive glass, a philosophy that has been installed by head coach JJ Redick.
A shortcoming of Hachimura’s game is his rebounding, which is surprising due to being 6’8″ and 230 pounds. Offensively, the former Gonzaga Bulldog plays physically with his post-ups and gets to his spots in the mid-range.
However, Tuesday was a breathe of fresh air, seeing him pick up three offensive rebounds. His first half scoring propelled L.A. to an early lead and he credited that to his aggressive mindset coming into the game, making it a point to go at Timberwolves forward Julius Randle.
“For me, I was just trying to be more aggressive,” Hachimura said. “I think we talked about Julius Randle, he sometimes is just standing and stuff. So we talked about, we got to kind of use that. I know I can be the screener. I can be in the corner to kind of attack the rim. I think we did that.”
There is no doubt that once Hachimura finds himself in a rhtyhm, he can be a dynamic scoring option for the Lakers to go to. Yet, he needs to take that next step in the rebounding department and he acknowledged that the coaches want him to do so.
“Me and the coaches have talked about offensively, they want me to do whatever I’ve been doing,” he said. “But defensively they want me to be more aggressive on rebounds and stuff so I think that’s the key for me because if I get rebounds, I can push the ball and all that so I think I can get in a rhythm. Crashing for offensive rebounds too, that’s gonna be my next step and I think I want to keep doing that.”
A common theme that has been thrown around in Redick’s handful of months of being a head coach is his structure and detail. Hachimura shared that he believed the team executed his game plan, which Redick urged them to follow if they wanted to win.
“Yeah, I think tonight we did what we were supposed to do,” the Lakers forward said. “I think right before the game, we talked about it. JJ told us that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re gonna win this game. So we were more focused on us. We focused on us and our basketball, our system, what we want to do and that’s why we got this win.”
Although roster-wise this Lakers team is the same, Tuesday felt like a new team due to Redick’s varying coaching style from previous head coach Darvin Ham. While it is only one game, it seems that Hachimura and his teammates have bought into what Redick is selling.
Rui Hachimura stresses importance of Lakers avoiding poor third quarters
Something that plagued the Lakers last season was second halves, particularly third quarters. Going into this season, Rui Hachimura stressed that they need to avoid that becoming an issue, and they were able to do so in their first game.
