Lakers' Hachimura Shades Wolves' Julius Randle, Says He Is 'Just Standing' Sometimes

Rui Hachimura said the Los Angeles Lakers' plan heading into Tuesday's season opener against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves was to take advantage of Julius Randle's lack of defensive effort.

"We talked about Julius Randle. He sometimes is just standing and stuff," Hachimura said, per Silver Screen and Roll's Jacob Rude. "So we talked about, we got to kind of use that. I know I can be the screener. I can be in the corner to kind of attack the rim."

The plan seemed to work as Hachimura recorded 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting in the Lakers' 110-103 win.

Randle meanwhile went 5-of-10 for 16 points in his Timberwolves debut after the team acquired him and Donte DiVincenzo in the blockbuster trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.

He struggled to immediately click with Anthony Edwards on offense, while he and frontcourt partner Naz Reid combined for nine defensive rebounds. At times Randle was caught not boxing out Lakers scorers on missed rebound opportunities.

The Lakers repeatedly seized the opportunity presented by Randle defending off the ball by setting up Hachimura to drive past him to the rim, leading to his first-quarter dunk on defending Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said after the loss that the Wolves frontcourt had to improve defensively, but said the problem was not "exclusively" on Randle.

"We spent a lot of time with Julius, just trying to get him involved with the first five," Finch said on Tuesday night, per Wolves reporter Dane Moore. "Less so with the second five. I think that one was, defensively, we've got to get a little better there for sure. That's not on him, exclusively, at all."

Prior to Tuesday night's regular season opener, Randle had not played since injuring his shoulder with the Knicks in January and undergoing season-ending surgery in April. Finch will hope more time both to gel with his new teammates and get back to NBA game speed will allow Randle to find a better fit in the Wolves' defensive scheme going forward.