Brandon Ingram Discussion: He Is Who We Thought He Could Be

The juice is strong with this one...

 

Oooooh Nice get with the photo comparison.

:Headbang:

 

He does. If you compare his first playoff series against OKC in 2010 to his last one in 2012 there's a huge difference. He's over 240 now. That's what Ingram needs to do. It won't happen overnight, he'll fill out over time and get somewhere in that range hopefully.

 

so much of defense in the nba is intelligence and team-oriented now. the spurs were the best defensive team in the league last year, despite devoting heavy minutes to aldridge, old duncan, diaw, parker, ginobili, and patty mills. on paper, you'd say: no shotblocking, lots of slow feet defensively, they're going to get scored on. they didn't because they had good schemes and executed them. well, and danny green and leonard can both really defend.

long story short, ingram can be an integral part of a good defensive unit. this is why it's important that randle and clarkson get their heads in the game on that side of the ball. in theory, the lakers could improve dramatically next year simply by executing a coherent scheme. luke's supposed to bring the scheme. long term, i hope ingram can be a leonard or green-ish type individual and team defender. and this is also why i want a 3 and D sg this summer.

 

He looks great. That length really bother shooters. still tempering expectations though.

 

Guy goes up for a J on the perimeter and all those tats come flying at him at once .....it's scary and distracting.

 

Wow this kid is fantastic defensively already and he hasn't even filled out. Brandon definitely hasn't Kawhi type defensive potential. We know how long he is, but the key like Kobe said when asked about Ingram he knows how to use it.

Brandon does a good job staying square to the ball, great instincts of knowing where the ball is, when to come over in help situations, helping and recovering, in screen and rolls he doesn't even have to get all the way through the screen because of that length, even if he gets beat able to recover, does a good job switching, moving his feet against smaller players, gives just enough seperation to force them into tough jumpers and then contests.

Ingram also does a nice job anticipating getting into passing lanes, gets deflections, doesn't go for head fakes, anticipates, and then blocks the shot. I also loved how we saw Brandon front. For a kid with such a lack of strength he hold his own in the post because of his fronting, keeping his hands up, and not allowing his man to get good position.

The kid is gonna be a phenomenal two way player. The Kevin Durant comparisons are valid. He's long, he's silky smooth like KD, the shooting stroke, the long stride, the ability to be a sniper off the basketball, he can be a nightmare in screen and roll situations on both ends of the court, in motion action, mid range sort of like Dirk because nobody can block that shot, and once he adds some meat he'll be able to terrorize players down low similar to what we've seen from D'Angelo.

What a great young player we have. At worst I see Ingram as a multi time All Star. A Jimmy Butler type, but really the more I watch of him I think he can be an absolutely superstar. A top five player. Maybe even higher. An eventual MVP candidate. A bonafide franchise player.

With Ingram's incredible shooting stroke, defensive versatility, once step and he's at the basket, he has decent handles not great, but once he works on that, once he eventually gets down into the post, he can put the ball on the floor with easy, he can pull up, can be a nightmare in transition, and he should be able to get to the foul line at ease.

 

I will be the "voice of reason" with our expectations here for a 180 degree change. Dun't be goin' injecting into conversations yet, maybe ever..... comparisons to ANY physical dudes who are all NBA defensively worthy. IQ check. Length check. Footwork check. Anticipation check. Good quickness for a player with his height and length ....check. Coordinated check.

But he may never do the other 40% (pick a number) of the physically demanding part. Getting into the most physical and demanding offensive players ... and banging with them night after night.

Blechh!! I didn't like being that guy.


Signed the Homer

 

I don't see why not. You don't think Durant or Leonard were compared to certain players when they came out? They absolutely were. It's part of being a highly touted prospect which Ingram certainly is.

I do have high expectations and I should. I look at the kids makeup, his basketball IQ, his overall talent and skill level and I see no reason why he can't eventually be at least in the same sentence as some of those guys.

Is it guaranteed? Of course not. Nothing is. Doesn't mean I can't be optimistic or expect a lot from Ingram. I never said I'm expecting the kid to average 25 points out of the gate. Everyone knows it'll take time and that's fine. Time is on his side.

 

yeah, they do try to get three point shots, but in many other ways, they're the antithesis of what the media and many fans would have you believe is the formula for success: youth, athleticism, blocks, steals, dunks, threes, nothing in between.

 

Seriously, you can not understand that until Brandon Ingram fills out to enough muscle and padding on him to be able to BANG with the fiercest and most buff offensive players in the game .... like a Kawhi Leonard can game after game ... and not have his body destroyed by it, that maybe that part of future comparisons needs to be left out? I ticked off every other great potential defensive area he has going for him, but he may never be able physically to handle man to man physical pounding. That we have to wait and see. Or you're an even bigger Homer than me.