Rui Hachimura says the Lakers were ‘messing around’ to start last season, have to focus this year

The Lakers earned their first preseason win, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 107-102 on Thursday.

While winning, even in games that don’t count, is nice, what’s even better is that the team played organized and focused basketball regardless of who was on the floor.

What was supposed to be garbage time versus Milwaukee ended up being a fourth-quarter comeback by the end-of-bench players.

In the final quarter, the Lakers went on a 20-0 run to give JJ Redick his first victory as a coach.

Rui Hachimura was sitting on the bench with the rest of the starters when the tides turned in this game, but afterward, he spoke about having a higher level of focus this year compared to last season.

“We talked about, before the season started, this year, our key is going to be in the details,” Hachimura said. “We’re going to focus on every possession. It doesn’t matter if it’s the preseason or whatever. For us, it’s a practice. We haven’t had many practices yet. This kind of stuff helps us get in a good rhythm going into the season.

Last season, we were kind of messing around the first 30, 40 games and then we came back and we made the playoffs. I think we can’t do that this year again. We have to set the tone and play like we’ve been doing it when the season starts.”

This isn’t the first time this preseason that a Lakers player has mentioned last year’s team in a negative light. D’Angelo Russell has thrown shade at Darvin Ham and said this team is prioritizing structure this season, which seems to be something that wasn’t happening last year.

It’ll be interesting to monitor if this new focus results in more wins at the start of the season.

Last year, after 40 games, the Lakers were 19-21. While a good process does not necessarily mean positive results, if the Lakers improve their record with essentially the same personnel, we’ll have to commend the players and Redick for getting this team back on track.

Listening to players say that structure and focus are in stark contrast to last year might make Lakers fans shake their heads. However, let’s look at the glass as half full.

Nothing can be done about last year, but a new season is starting.

Against the Bucks, the young guys took charge and played well, resulting in a win. Last year, when the get-ready crew stepped on the floor, it was often a disaster class. Players were just chucking up shots, trying to get theirs, resulting in sloppy play, many turnovers and leads evaporating.

The best example of this was a game versus the Wizards, where the reserves couldn’t hold a 14-point lead with 1:44 left and Darvin Ham had to bring his starters back to secure the result.

With this new emphasis on the details, everyone from starters like Hachimura to Exhibit-10 guys like Quincy Olivari seem to be on the same page, giving their best at all times and improving always in all ways.

Fans can be demanding, but ultimately, what they want is for everyone to give their best and care. Based on their words and current actions, this iteration of the Lakers is doing just that.