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

We're not sniffing the playoffs with George. The Pacers' roster is better than our's and they barely made it in the East. With Julius and JC gone? No chance in hell in the West.

 

You brought up injuries, not me.

And the odds of 1 player getting injuried is far greater than 3 players (Julius, JC, Top3) getting injured simultaneously.

 

as rodg said, no way a george move is made in isolation.

i CAN tell you who's not sniffing the playoffs: the current roster. not next year, and probably not even the following. no FAs are interested in joining the current squad, either, and we will NOT have a draft pick either this year or next.

if you can get a star without giving up EVERYTHING, you have to do it. if you can get two, you might have to clean the cupboard.

 

I guess the losing has really taken a toll or people have becone really allergic to winning basketball.

26 win seasons, watching D-League talent, and keeping an eye on the Tank Standings are not what I would prefer to keep doing for the next 3 seasons.

You know who agrees with that? Magic and Pelinka. They will do what it takes to put multiple stars together on this roster and we can get back to what we used to do: winning basketball games and competing for championships.

 

That is why current Management is out of here, right?

I believe in Pelinka wholeheartedly. I believe he puts us in a better position next year.

He was one of the sharper agents out there and according to many: a beast to negotiate with.

He's not constructing anything hasitly; nor am I intending that we should; but winning is the first priority here in Los Angeles.

Whatever path we decide to take, I'll trust management to put is in the best possible position to win games and compete.

Again, I don't like the season ending in April.

 

Griffin is an Unrestricted Free Agent.

 

well, what is "hastily constructed"? boston's last title team was hastily constructed, as was miami, really. gs wasn't. i don't know what you call cleveland.

but teams without veteran talent don't win much; that's for sure. minnesota has maybe the very best young player in the league, and they won what, 31 games? because they have no veteran talent. but at least in their case, towns (and probably wiggins) will be good enough to constitute "veteran talent" in the long run.

people on these forums are already ready to run russell out of town for the next big draft pick, and we're pinning our hopes on ingram based on feats that, quite frankly, aren't all that impressive. i mean, he definitely improved as the season went on, but i'm under no delusions that he's going to be a towns-level player at any point in the future. if we're lucky, he's a george-level player in the future.

so if he's the centerpiece in a deal for george, i think you take it.

 

i don't think a single person has said "trade all young players for paul george". but i feel like some are saying "trade no young players for paul george", with which i disagree.

i'm also not super crazy about griffin, but my hypothetical just involved him because i could see him moving. but the basic premise was: if you give me the option of fielding a team that has two bona fide allstars under 30 on it next year (and only scraps of the current group left) or to roll out the current group plus low level FA signings (which is likely if no stars come), i'm going with the former.

it's less about being impatient than it is about understanding the likelihood of home-growing a contender from our current position.

 

right. and they have towns and wiggins to our russell and ingram.

 

Towns is terrific, but not sold on Wiggins.

He's a really good scorer, but what else does he bring to the table?

At least Russell/Ingram have shown to be more than just scorers.

 

I don't think they trade BI for anyone. He's the best bet we've got for a homegrown star and force in the league. Zu maybe down the road. But more of a sure thing than any of them. And I doubt they would clean the cupboard of all the talented youngins so my guess is BI is untouchable.

 

from what i've seen, he defends. his floor is harrison barnes, imo. so, that's...pretty good.