Rui Hachimura is sometimes a forgotten man for the Los Angeles Lakers. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward is a very capable and efficient scorer, as well as someone who can be an effective defender against certain matchups, but he was arguably not used well by former head coach Darvin Ham.
JJ Redick, Ham’s successor, has some definite ideas on how to best utilize the talent on this Lakers roster. During a press conference on Wednesday, he was asked about the role Hachimura will have in his offense. He responded by outlining the “big role” the Japan native will have this coming season.
Via Lakers Nation:
“In terms of his role, I think that’s something that we will define with him, and we will also be open-minded to that evolving,” Redick said. “Rob [Pelinka] brought up the corner crashing because when he’s not posting up or not playing out of closeouts or not screening, Rui is an excellent shooter. We want him shooting corner 3s, so he’s already gonna be in the spot to corner crash. So we’re trying to ramp up his offensive rebounding, we’re gonna ask a lot of him defensively, particularly with bigger wings. I think if you look at some of the advanced stuff from last season when he gets the ball in the post against a mismatch, that’s a good option for us. When he’s attacking a closeout, that’s a good option. When he’s playing out of screening action as a roller and getting into the pocket, that’s great for us. So he’ll have a big role, and we’re gonna ask him to do a lot.”
Hachimura’s rebounding has always been somewhat of a disappointment. He has a career average of just 4.8 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per game despite his size, and rebounding was a very sore spot for the Lakers last season. They had trouble limiting teams to one shot, and they ranked dead-last in the NBA in second-chance points per game.
The forward put up 13.6 points a game on 53.7% field-goal shooting and 42.2% from 3-point range last season. However, there were long stretches where he wasn’t involved in L.A.’s offense and seemed to be relegated to a spectator beyond the 3-point line.