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

I understand many saying to be patient, he's only 20, he's a hard worker etc. I haven't seen anything last year or this to believe anything special is coming from Ingram.Not saying he won't be good, but He won't be a superstar. When Kobe came he was young and had bad stretches, didn't start for a few seasons, but he would have flashes of greatness. I think any superstar, when they first start out have those flashes.
Been watching Laker games for 35 years and you can get a feel for players when they first start out. I get a good vibe from Kuzma. Ingrams best game ever, summer league or preseason or last year, still doesn't measure up to Kuzma's much shorter pro career.

 

I knew as soon as Mag and the gang started talking about break out year, he was in trouble. As far as him wanting the keys, I think deep down he knows he wasnt ready. This will be Lonzo's team once the season starts and he will own LA basketball in a few years. One thing Lonzo does when he is struggling is pick something to balance it out. That's what great players do. Kuzma is just a baller. If he stays healthy, he will be an all star.

 

I'm evoking my inner LTLakersfan....please see Kobe asap. You won't regret it.....and neither will we.

 

I will say this...I like his drive dives to the bucket. He's not converting right now, but as long as he gets the whistle I'll take it. The more he develops his upper body strength, the more successful he'll turn those attempts into And1s.

Kobe took 4 airballs in Utah to become who he became. Now in no way am I saying BI is the 2nd coming, but you need some type of adversity to build from. If this is any early indications of Sophomore blues, then it'll tell me a whole lot more about how he continues to prepare and carry himself as opposed to if the jumper hits or not. Keep at it young fella. But while the J comes back to you, you HAVE to make an impact in other facets of the game (got his involved in some steals and had a net positive while he was in the game). Neglecting that till your jumper returns is unacceptable.

 

he NEEDS to add some muscle or else he's just going to keep getting pushed around

i know he's been compared to KD with the whole "skinny scorer" thing but he's not KD, at least not at this point. he's going to have to bulk up if he wants to be successful in this league. not all of a sudden, but gradually. and compared to last season, i don't think he'd added any muscle at all

if this were the old regime (mitch and jim) i'd be worried that his development was maybe being hampered because he was in the wrong hands. but i don't feel that way with the current regime. hopefully i'm right about that

 

Im a bit concerned with BI but he does have the skillset to to overcome these struggles. Not sure it was smart of Magic to put a number ( 20pts) on his season PPG.
I do think we will see BI settle in and be solid. I don't see him as a number one guy in the future. But I think he has potential to be part of a core that can
be very successful for years to come.

 

He's bigger. Surprised you're not seeing it. Now, not a LOT bigger but he is.

 

Too bad his market value is zero right now...

 

It's clearer than ever.

Julius >>> Nance
Kuzma >>> Ingram
chemistry of Kuzma/Julius >>> chemistry of Ingram/Julius or Ingram/Kuzma

The starters should be Ball, KCP, Kuzma, Randle and Lopez if we want to win games.

 

untouchable

don't even call us and mention his name

 

This will never happen.

If, at any point and barring injury, Ingram is benched during the season, I will have a newfound respect for Magic/Luke.

 

I agree but I'm just stating the obvious.

 

i did like that he mixed up his attack a bit last night. first two games, he wouldn't put the ball in his left hand. he got a block call (make up call, it was a charge) because a guy was so heavily overplaying the drive to his right immediately upon the catch.

i thought he got hacked on a couple drives with no call, but that happens.

his defense has been the more troubling thing. just flat-footed, getting torched by ballhandlers in isolation, falling asleep, step slow on all reactions. looks like a rook.

 

Magic is extremely stupid for ingraining this 20ppg, it's my team attitude with Ingram. One, it seems he's focused on just getting said number of points every night which overall is hurting his game and making it difficult to run any semblance of an offense with him on the court. Two, if we are really trying to emulate GS, why are we assigning alpha dog roles? Did KD come into GS and say I'm getting 30 every night this my team, my offense? Total opposite. Why are we doing that with Ingram? Makes no sense.

I said it in another thread, Ball/Kuz/Randle/Lopez are the 4 guys I see with talent + mindset of I don't need to shoot every time to make an impact. It would be nice if Ingram could transition into the 5th spot because he does have the talent, but his whole view/outlook on his role the game is just not right.

20ppg, I'd be surprised if he got 20 assists on the season. Not good Magic.

 

Ideally ANY 20 year old comes off the bench and learns from vets better than him in front of him on the depth chart, but we don't have that type of situation.

 

Well he can still score close to 20 ppg off the bench.