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

If he can't gain weight, he needs to eat more. Then eat even more. Supplement with shakes if he can't swallow that much food. Man, every time he collides with someone he bounces off them... even if it's a 6-4 guard. He has no torzo to speak of.

 

I think his performance yesterday is what he should model more and more. He said he hadn't been playing well lately - trying too hard to get his own points and not thinking of others. I believe he's got the right idea now, play more team ball and don't stress the individual scoring aspect. Like he said there are other scorers on the team like Kuzma and even Josh Hart and it's better for everyone when the ball moves.

That had been my source of frustration with him since the season started, actually.

 

I agree. Pass more, let the game come to you - meaning, you don't have to force anything. Use your versatility. If you have a good shot, take it. Otherwise, set your teammates up, especially Kuzma and Hart. Or KCP when he's open for 3. The problem is, of course, when Bron comes back... Brandon will feel like he needs to go into dribble & score mode more often. And I'm not sure it's exactly his fault. They have to figure it out somehow.

If Bron is your primary scorer - but is also a facilitator - and Kuzma is your secondary scorer most of the time, then Ingram has to go into Odom mode; contribute in various ways. It might not look very attractive, but it is what's needed to win games. Rebound. Pass. Score in the post some. That kind of stuff. He is not as good as prime Odom, I mean... that's not knock on him. Odom thrived in that role naturally, and on top of everything else was simply stronger than Brandon. Do what you can.

 

This is probably true. Fix the free throw shooting, Brandon.

 

Ingram and KCP for Beal. Do it now while he's stringing together some good games before Bron comes back. Having Beal and Lebron will make Kuzma that much more effective as he will get even more open looks and the floor will be spread even more for him. Kuzma will look so good we will be able to use him ball and Hart to get AD in the summer. Then...we get ringz.

 

I think his career high is 32. I wouldn't know how many 20+ point games he had. But since he is capable of scoring, and 20 is not that high these days... 15-20 games in his career? More?

I would not be surprised that Kuz has more 20+ point games in 1 season less. He scored almost 40 as his career high, right?

 

You know... that sounds about right. Brandon is a versatile 2-3 who does many things, but he is not a scorer. I would never describe him as such. He does not have a long range shot, his free throw shooting is bad and he is not strong enough to score a ton in the post. His quality is that he can adapt to many situations and he can defend too.

Kuzma, on the other hand, is a scorer, period. He's unselfish, but you would never describe him as a playmaker. He is stronger, his mentality is to go out there and score. His FT% is significantly better than BI's. It's not brilliant but it's almost 80%, and I'll take that over Ingram's 62. On the other hand, Kuzma has absolutely no defensive instincts. He has improved, but he will never be a real defender.

The two of them are very different players, only their height is the same (but Kuzma has 30 lbs on Brandon; which tells you more about how skinny Ingram really is).