Rui Hachimura Willing To Do Whatever Necessary To Help Lakers Win

Rui Hachimura and the Los Angeles Lakers’ other role players find themselves in an interesting situation. With Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves taking over the offense, others will have to fit in wherever they come from.

When Hachimura initially arrived in Los Angeles, he was more accustomed to touches in the mid to low post. Now he is used more as a spacer with the occasional dribble pull-up.

However, this change in role has been accepted as Hachimura is a 41.1% 3-point shooter during his four years with the Lakers. He has particularly flourished this season, averaging a career-high 14.8 points and shooting 48.5% from deep.

While there may be potential for a bigger role elsewhere with that type of production, Hachimura isn’t worried and is just focused on doing whatever is necessary to help the Lakers win, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

“I’m not trying to be a superstar or anything. I’m just trying to help the team win – no matter what they ask for. I like my role here. I’m not trying to get into a big three, I’m really trying to win championships with this team. I like how they’re treating me very specific with roles and everything. JJ especially has been really good at it. So, I’m happy.”

Head coach JJ Redick deserves a lot of credit for the way he bought all his players in with the vision of selflessly helping the team win. Having a team-first mentality is vital to establishing a winning and ultimately championship culture.

It’s worth noting that Hachimura is in a contract year, so he needs to prove his worth to get the deal he needs. There is no question mark over his ability to score, it is about doing other things.

The Lakers lack physicality and Hachimura is a big body. Putting more of his focus into breaking the glass and being a physical cutter can really evaluate Redick’s offense, and Hachimura has shown a willingness to do that.

Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart praise Rui Hachimura’s two-way play

After seven seasons in the NBA, most players generally don’t change the way they play. Rui Hachimura has shown that he is capable of being a solid scorer, but the issue is that he was not known as a high-volume rebounder or a busy off-ball defender. There have been flashes of improvement, but more is needed due to the amount of firepower on the roster.

To Hachimura’s credit, his mentality is a step in the right direction as it shows he wants to be a winning player. Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart have noticed Hachimura’s progress on defense, crediting his recent two-way play.

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