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

I'm not taking it personal, no worries. I just wanted to put it out there that while I was dead wrong on the Okafor thing and while I see your point, that wasn't my experience.

 

I think most fans realized Dlo was better than Okafor and still think he is, so I don't think it's about that.

We just saw a bunch of bad signs about his work ethic, and comments from staff and teammates that wasn't glowing about Dlo, and so it soured us on the prospect of him being our future.

The sense I get is a lot of Lakers fans were trying their best to like and support him, and it was a bit of a relief that we don't have to try to struggle to like him anymore. I know that's how I felt.

 

Lonzo is simply a much more natural on court leader to me. I was excited about the possibility of pairing Lonzo with DLO in the back court as I thought (and I know therealdeal did as well) that their strengths and weaknesses would balance each other out well.

That said, I think KCP was a GREAT pick up at the SG and probably an even better fit as he can cover some of Lonzo's weaknesses by covering the best opposing guard on D. KCP won't have the offensive fire power that DLO could provide, but I think he's a little more consistent three point threat (though not a guy who really gets on fire from distance like Russ) and a great finisher on the break to complement Lonzo's passing.

Considering we got Lopez, picked up KCP (who also makes us less dependent on Clarkson), and got rid of Mozgov's albatross contract, I think we really did well this offseason. Sorry to see Russell go, but given the other things mentioned, I'm ok with it.

 

It took you 11 minutes to remind lakerjones of the Kuzma Factor. Ya slippin', LT. I expect 7 minutes or less.

 

He's a lot more aggressive than this time last year. Magic wanting 20 a game is unrealistic right now. Probably 3 years away from that.

 

He's just too young and inexperienced. I don't think hes ready for the weight of this scoring load, but it's interesting that Kuzma seems to be the most ready on the team.

 

If I had to choose between them, I keep Kuzma. He makes the game look easy.

 

I need to see more... I need to know that it's not just a REALLY hot streak from Kuz and a really bad streak from Ingram

 

He became aggressive the last 2 months last year and we saw great plays. But no, I don't remember any great games.

I like Ingrams steady defense.

 

I'm extremely underwhelmed and unimpressed so far with Ingram. I'm disappointed. I was really into this kid and the strides he made in the second half of the season. I believed the hype that he was going to be much improved after that first outstanding game in summer league. He has talked quite a bit about improving and being much more aggressive but man, 3 for 9? He was talking about how this was going to be his team. Weak stuff so far. I mean, I never personally expected him to be a 20 point a game scorer. But I did expect more impact from him than I'm seeing. WAY more.