Lakers Rui Hachimura & LeBron are LOCKED IN Entering Training Camp! | Hachimura/Bron 25-26 Outlook!

Lakers Rui Hachimura & LeBron are LOCKED IN Entering Training Camp! | Hachimura/Bron 25-26 Outlook!

[Music] We are less than one week away from training camp and the entire Laker team is getting back in the gym. Everybody from Jared Vanderbilt posting much of his own workout footage on his social media pages, Luca Donuch obviously playing in the Euro basket competition and undergoing a complete body transformation. And now we’re seeing a whole lot of Rui Hachimura and LeBron James. the often workout duo that’s been working out together for a few years now after LeBron has quote unquote taken Ruie under his wing back in 2022 23. Ruy’s definitely benefit from it. I mean since that point he’s had his career years with the Lakers last season averaging 13 points per game, five rebounds per game, shooting a team high 41.3% from the field and now becoming a very efficient and kind of a dead three-point shooter. I think working with LeBron has benefit him. So once again, they’re back in the gym together, preparing in the week prior to training camp, getting some reps in, and maybe LeBron teaching him a thing or two. I’d imagine, and probably willing to bet that he has been. I’d love to see it, and they definitely have been putting in the work. And well, with that in mind here, what are kind of the expectations and the outlook for both of them? You know, we’ve talked plenty about the entire team, but haven’t really talked that much about LeBron, at least not about the onc court stuff. have talked more about the offc court stuff and you know kind of the various signals that he’s given the team that Rich Paul has given the team but how about LeBron actually on the court obviously he’s going to play with the team you know there are rumors and speculation that he might want to be traded at one point might leave their team though obviously none of that happened and he will be a Los Angeles Laker once again this season so what’s the expectation outlook for LeBron entering year number 23 40 going on 41 at this point what’s the outlook for him. Can he still be as effective? Can he be a top 10 to top 15 player again somehow? Or will this finally be the year that he falls off a bit? We’ll talk about that and Ru had outlook during today’s video. And well, beginning with LeBron as we do have plenty to talk about with him. I mean, last season coming off a year of averaging 24.4 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game, 8.2 2 assists per game, one steal per game, shooting a very efficient 51.3% for the field and nearly 38% from three. And it really didn’t change that much after they made the trade for Luca Donuch. After that point, LeBron averaged 24.4 points per game, shooting 50.4% for the field. A little bit underwhelming as he did drop down his three-point shooting, going from nearly 38% actually prior to the trade deadline roughly 40% down to only 34.6%. Then to go along with it, his playmaking and assists per game went down too from over eight per game down to under seven of them per game. But his turnovers stayed relatively the same. And his impact on defense, I definitely will say, went up after that point. You know, as we often see with LeBron post straight deadline and during the latter part of the regular season and especially during the postseason, his defensive impact and defensive effort goes way up. And I think we can kind of expect the same from him. a little bit of coasting on defense throughout the early portion of the regular season, you know, to conserve energy and not get hurt. That’s another big thing for LeBron. Having a very durable season last year, playing 70 games again somehow, even at 40 years old, playing 70 for two years in a row now. But prior to the past 2 years, it had been quite some time for him, not hitting the 70 game mark since the 2017 2018 NBA season, that being his final one with the Cleveland Cavaliers. So, LeBron’s got to stay healthy if they have any hope. and really any chance of making a championship type run, then they need a healthy LeBron, which is obviously plenty to ask for a 40-year-old going on 41, but they need it from him. So, that’s number one with LeBron has to play at least above 55 games in my opinion. If he doesn’t, I think it would be very tough for them to be a top five or top six seed. At that point, they would then have to be in the playing tournament, and you obviously don’t want to go that route. Anything can happen, and they don’t want to be in that situation. again like they often happen prior to this season or rather last season now they don’t want to go back to that. So got to have a healthy LeBron got to have a guy that can play on the ball obviously but also off the ball as well. And well post trade deadline he definitely did show the ability to do it. I mean, his three-point shooting may have went down overall again from roughly 39% pre-trade deadline down to roughly 34% post trade deadline, but his catch and shoot numbers went way up. And that’s obviously a great outlook to play with Luca Donuch, a guy that’s very ball dominant himself, a guy that’s going to get you open, and LeBron can benefit from that if he remains reliable in that role. And well, like I said, he definitely was reliable post straight deadline, shooting 44.2% 2% on catch and chew threes post trade deadline. That’s even better than pre-trade deadline. And taking roughly 3.3 of them per game. That’s simply being catch and shoot threes. So yes, he can play off the ball, can play with Luconic. He showed it. Can make some timely back door cuts when LeBron wants to. He’s very good at doing that. Obviously has elite vision. Knows how to read a defense than probably any other active player in the NBA today. That’s something he can do and will continue to do alongside Luca Donuch, which will be a big benefit to their offense. So, I’m really not worried about too much here with LeBron. Yes, he might be 40 going on 41, but he still remains a top 15 player at the bare minimum in my opinion. He’s going to be great offensively for their team. I have no doubt about it. Only kind of minor concerns and minor worries and things to watch out for is durability number one. Can he maintain that 70k mark? Can he do it again? at least play above 65 games to not only be available for their team but then be actual available for awards too. I imagine that’s a good incentive for him. So hopefully he can again. Then number two, I guess being defense. No, it’s not a gigantic problem that he does occasionally coast out there, but with their current starting lineup and current iteration of it if they don’t change it, it does put a bit more on him, especially post Luca Donuch. After that point, their starting lineup then became Luca Donuch, Austin Reeves, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Jackson Hayes, which will now become DeAndre Aton. And that’s obviously not a whole lot of great reliable perimeter defense. So, if Hatchima once again has to take on the difficult matchup, is that ever going to switch to LeBron as he even now is a bit more capable? Or is it going to stay the same and LeBron kind of takes on the corner three-point shooter that doesn’t move much? Are they going to have LeBron do more because Hashimra wasn’t great in that role? or are they going to switch things up a bit? That’s the only kind of minor concern with it. If LeBron can do a bit more for their defense as they kind of need it again, if they don’t change their current starting lineup, that’s the only other minor concern with him that I will be looking out for as he did have some regression on defense last season, becoming a negative defender per defense BPM for really the first time in his career, at least per advanced stats anyway, and overall kind of slacking on defense here and there. If they can get a bit more from him, that would be ideal. But it also is a lot to ask for for inhal 40-year-old. But speaking of Rui Hachimura, what are the expectations for him and what’s the current outlook with him? Well, there have been some trade rumors here and there, per usual. But I think he’s actually a pretty safe bet to remain with their team even post this year and maybe to get a new contract from their team. But to earn that contract and get another relatively long-term contract from them, he does have to show some improvement while maintaining what he’s already done pretty well. The good part here being his scoring ability, you know, for a fourth and even fifth option at times, averaging between 12 to 14 points per game like he has during the past couple of years now, is a great benefit for their team and really everything they need from him. Then to go along with that, the efficient three-point shooting. You know, if I’m going to be picky, I’d like for him to take a few more per game. go from 4.2 per game and roughly 32 minutes per game up to maybe five to six of them per game while remaining at that 40% mark. You know, ideally that would be the jump I’d like for him to take, but I’m not going to complain about 41.3% from the three-point line last year or 42.2% during the 23 24 NBA season. So, offensively, really no complaints here with me with Ru Himera. I mean, if I want to be nitpicky again, maybe higher volume three-point shooting, but that’s about the only thing I’d point to. Though, if we’re not talking about offense and talking about defense and or rebounding, I would like to see some improvement here. The rebounding was a slight improvement last season, going from roughly four rebounds per game, which he had averaged during the past few years now, up to five of them per game. Though, it really didn’t improve that much if we translate it to per 36 minutes. In fact, it really didn’t change at all. Even going down a slight amount from 5.8 per 36 during the 23 24 NBA season down to 5.7 last season. So, rebounding definitely not his strong suit. I mean, it doesn’t help when he’s playing with guys like LeBron, Luca Donuch, even Austin Reeves who is a pretty good rebounder himself. Now, getting DeAndre Ethan in there, it might be tough for Aimara to get more rebounds, but I’d like for him to be a bit more committed to it. I mean, if Reic is going to let him crash again on offense, which he definitely did allow him to do, and that actually was shown with his rebounding, going from 1.3 offensive rebounds per game, which was a careerhigh for himself, or rather a Laker careerhigh for himself. So maybe slight improvement in that regard. Maybe from five to maybe 5 and a half per game. I’d love to see that. But even more so than that, I’d love to see more defensive improvement here with Rui Himurra. Though the unfortunate part here with him is that I really don’t expect it. Unfortunately, I think he’s kind of capped defensively. I mean, he’s very athletic north to south and is a good vertical athlete, especially for his size, but he’s simply not a great side to side athlete. If you’re making him guard ones, twos, and even threes, he’s not going to do very well very often. Is a very poor screen navigator, isn’t very good side to side, and obviously you need that to guard the three-point line to keep up with your opponent and simply defend the perimeter. That’s not Ruachimura’s strong suit, and simply not something he does well. again unfortunately and the numbers definitely will agree with that whether you’re talking about a statike defensive BPM Himra posting a negative6 defensive BPM last season and that’s compared to a guy like Jake the Rabia for example posting a plus 1.1 defensive BPM or overall box plus minus him having a plus.2 2 while Honchi Moratti.7 again great offensively but his defense really drags him down and that’s the thing that holds him back from not only being more impactful on the court for any team but really for their team and what they need from him especially if their starting lineup does remain the same. Now I won’t harp on that too much as I did make an entire video about it but that’s definitely the thing that holds Hachimura back holds their rotation back a little bit to my opinion and Rui Hachimura’s current place within it. So, in my opinion, would love to see improvement from him defensively. Would love to see some more improvement offensively in regard to three-point shooting volume and rebounding a little bit, but I think it’s more about the role they put him in rather than the player he actually is. And well, I think that pretty much covers it for both Himra and LeBron for their outlook and expectations with the team next season. So, what do you guys think? How do you feel about LeBron and Ru Hatchima working out together once again for the third time in a row now? third year in a row. And how do you feel about their outlook and or expectations entering this season? Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below. But I think that’ll pretty much do it for this one. And if you enjoyed the video, then I’ll greatly appreciate it if you dropped a like, subscribe to the channel if you have not already, and hit that notification bell to never miss out when I upload a video. But as always, thank you for watching and have a great day or night. [Music]

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