As the Los Angeles Lakers opened their first game of the 2024-25 season, Rui Hachimura made his presence known by making his first shot of the season, a three-pointer. From that point on, he earned second-chance opportunities by crashing the offensive glass, a philosophy introduced by head coach JJ Redick.

A shortcoming of Hachimura’s game is his rebounding, which is surprising considering his height of 1.80 m and his weight of 100 kg. Offensively, the former Gonzaga Bulldog plays physically with his post-ups and occupies his spots in the midfield.

However, Tuesday was a breath of fresh air as he grabbed three offensive rebounds. His first-half goal gave LA an early lead, thanks to his aggressive attitude early in the game that allowed him to get ahead of Timberwolves forward Julius Randle.

“I just tried to be more aggressive,” Hachimura said. “I think we talked about Julius Randle, he just stands there sometimes and stuff. So we talked about how we could use that somehow. I know I can be the screener. I can stand in the corner and attack the rim. I think we did that.”

There is no doubt that Hachimura can be a dynamic option for the Lakers once he finds himself in a slump. Still, he needs to take the next step in the rebounding department and he acknowledged that’s what the coaches expect of him.

“Me and the coaches talked about offense, they want me to do what I did,” he said. “But defensively they want me to be more aggressive on rebounds and stuff like that, so I think that’s the key for me because when I get rebounds I can push the ball and stuff like that so I think that I find a rhythm. Rushing for offensive rebounds as well, that’s going to be my next step and I think that’s what I want to continue to do.”

A common theme that has been brought up again and again in Redick’s few months as head coach is his structure and detail. Hachimura shared that he believes the team executed their game plan that Redick asked them to implement if they wanted to win.

“Yeah, I think we did what we were supposed to do tonight,” the Lakers forward said. “I think we talked about it shortly before the game. JJ told us that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll win this game. So we were more focused on ourselves. We focused on ourselves and our basketball, on our system, on what we want to do, and that’s why we got this win.”

Although this Lakers team is the same roster-wise, it felt like a new team on Tuesday as Redick’s coaching style differs from previous head coach Darvin Ham. Even though it’s just one game, Hachimura and his teammates seem confident in what Redick is selling.

Rui Hachimura emphasizes how important it is that the Lakers avoid a bad third quarter

Something that plagued the Lakers last season was the second halves, particularly the third quarter. At the start of this season, Rui Hachimura stressed that they need to avoid this becoming a problem and they did so in the first game.