Lakers' Hachimura throws shade at Wolves' Julius Randle, says he sometimes just stands there | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Rui Hachimura said the Los Angeles Lakers' plan ahead of Tuesday's season opener against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves is to take advantage of Julius Randle's lack of defensive performance.

“We talked about Julius Randle. Sometimes he just stands there and stuff,” Hachimura said, according to Jacob Rude of Silver Screen and Roll. “So we talked about how we could use that somehow. I know I can be the screener. I can be in the corner attacking the rim.”

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

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

He found it difficult to immediately keep up with Anthony Edwards on offense, while he and frontcourt partner Naz Reid combined for nine defensive rebounds. At times, Randle was caught not outboxing the Lakers' scorers because of missed rebound opportunities.

The Lakers repeatedly took advantage of the opportunity presented to Randle when he fended off the ball, setting up Hachimura to drive past him to the rim, leading to his first-quarter dunk against reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said after the loss that the Wolves' frontcourt needs to improve defensively, but said the problem wasn't “solely” with Randle.

“We spent a lot of time with Julius, just trying to get him in the top five,” Finch said on Tuesday night, according to Wolves reporter Dane Moore. “This is less the case with the second five. I think we definitely need to get a little better defensively. That’s not entirely his fault at all.”

Before 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 hopes that Randle will have more time to get used to his new teammates and get back to NBA game speed so he can better fit into the Wolves' defensive system in the future.