NBA News: LeBron’s teammate Hachimura makes something clear about the Lakers’ goals for this season

The Los Angeles Lakers trainer JJ Redick played his starters early 2024-25 NBA Preseasonto optimize the team’s performance and prepare them for a highly competitive season. Next to LeBron James And Anthony Daviswas one of the Lakers’ key players to play on the court Rui HachimuraWHO gave insights into the team’s priorities for the coming season.

“Yes, I think we talked about it before the season started. This year it will be about the details. We’re going to focus on every possession, whether it’s preseason or whatever. For us it is a practice. So we haven’t had many practices yet Things like that help us find a good rhythm at the start of the seasonsaid the Japanese Lakers Daily Posted on X

He also reflected on last season’s preparation and suggested a more consistent approach was needed this year. “Even last season we kind of messed up the first 30-40 games and then we came back and made the playoffs. But I don’t think we can do that again this year, so we have to kind of set the tone and just play like we did at the beginning of the season“, he explained.

Some fans may have interpreted Hachimura’s comments as Criticism of former Lakers head coach Darvin Ham. However, he too praised JJ Redick’s work ethicand acknowledged the coach’s great influence in his first job as head coach.

In the Lakers’ third preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night Rui Hachimura was one of the highlights of the team. The striker recorded 24 minutes on the pitch 14 points, 1 assist, 5 reboundsAnd 2 thefts.

JJ Redick’s plans for Hachimura

Last season, Hachimura averaged 13.6 points and 4.3 rebounds and shot a 53.7% field goal percentage, the highest of his career. JJ Redick made that clear in the preseason he wants to maximize Hachimura’s impactespecially on the boards.

Redick used Hachimura in a more aggressive rolewhich pushes him to improve his rebounding numbers. This strategy has already paid off –Hachimura grabbed 8 rebounds against the Phoenix Suns, 6 against Minnesota Timberwolves and 5 against the Bucks. These numbers are above his career average of 4.8 rebounds per game.

Hamichura’s words for JJ Redick

But leading the Lakers as a first-time NBA head coach is no easy task Hachimura expressed confidence in Redick’s ability to lead the team to success. “He was just in the league. He knows exactly what is happening in the league. It’s easy for us to understand… Whatever he says just makes senseHachimura said when asked about Redick.