Rui Hachimura and his season with the Los Angeles Lakers has come in waves, but head coach JJ Redick believes the forward is finally trending back to the level he showed at the start of the year.
“Yeah I think our bench was awesome. All those guys impacted the game in some way. Rui and Jaxson in particular were really good tonight,” Redick said speaking to Spectrum SportsNet. “And Rui now feels like — I know he had the 4-for-13 game recently — but it really feels like he’s kind of back in his groove. He had not taken a ton of shots, and I don’t think was playing well. I told him that, I’m not trying to call him out. But he wasn’t playing well leading into his injury, and it takes a little bit of time to get into that rhythm. But it feels like in the last few games, he’s back to who he was at the start of the year. And his defensive engagement particularly the last two games, he had a great defensive game in Dallas on tape as the low man, and another good one tonight.”
Redick was also asked if the move to the second unit has helped unlock Hachimura offensively.
His answer pointed more to tactical adjustments than role alone.
“Yes and no. There are certain games that based on pick and roll coverages, for instance, that if he’s just standing in the corner he doesn’t necessarily get it,” Redick said. “And Chicago allows that pull-behind pass in the pick and roll, and he got some shots out of that. And in the last few games, we’ve been running a lot of stuff for him, whether that’s ATOs, we got a single-action for him on a sideline out of bounds, so he’s getting enough. You run an off-ball action, you don’t want a midrange shot, which he typically takes, but he’s so good at them that it’s a good play for us.”
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