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

OMG he threw him a knuckler! Why else would the pitch be so high?

 

I feel you are underrating Deng. Although he's tapered off a bit, he's still 31 and 85% of the 2-time allstar player he once was. If your definition of "living up to expectations" is for Ingram to jump to an allstar level at age 20-21, then yes, Ingram should start next year. I feel those expectations are too high for a 19-year old rookie, and I fully expect Deng to bring experience and consistency to the starting lineup for the next 2 years.

 

I dont feel Deng is as good as you're thinking, hes a 4th opt at this point, if Ingram isnt talented enough to supplant a 33yr old player with a lot of mileage in his body than Ingram did not live to the hype

 

i expect deng to start for two years if he stays healthy. ingram's body has to get used to the nba grind. it will take time. he's very young.

 

"Mon" .... I am 31 years old and have a lot of basketball left in Luke's great new system. See my interview.

 

That would be fine with me.

 

I expect Ingram to start by March. It'll certainly take some time for him to get acclimated, but his skill set immediately translates to the NBA. I still expect him to be very productive off the bench and assuming the Lakers are out of the playoff hunt by around March I can see Luke wanting to make that move to get the kids more Pt together.

 

4th option? Great. We have Russell, Randle, and Clarkson who all need to develop with touches. Dang is arguably our best team defensive player and a consummate professional. If we're judging the hype in the first 2 years for a 19 year old kid, then the judgment system is seriously flawed.

 

So if russell wasnt a starter this yr say due to us having a pg like tony parker for example, wouldnt equate to russell not living up to expectations?

 

Yes. I have a hard time saying a player has or hasn't lived up to expectations at 21 years old. If they're developing and improving, making that judgment based on being a starter seems like a moot point to me.

 

Honestly.I have no idea what crazy expectations people have of Ingram, but if he has the career of Deng, I'd consider that a pretty solid #2 pick.

Just for reference, Deng averaged 12/5/2 as a 19-year old rookie, and 14/7/2 as a sophmore. Let's see if Ingram can top those stats before crowning him as the 2nd coming of Durant.

 

I agree with your assessment, but I'd like to add a thought of my own. Most people love Steph Curry and have become Warriors fans. Many consider him to be one of the best guards in the league, if not the best. If you look at his stats, he didn't start averaging over 20 points per game until he was 24 years old, which was his fourth season in the NBA. Is he a bust? Absolutely not. While I understand this isn't the best comparison, and age wise it would be Durant, but Durant was the go-to player from his rookie year and on that level I think that is a bit unfair. I guess what I am saying is that we have to give Brandon Ingram some time to develop! I truly think we have something special with Ingram and it would be great if he could drop 14 points per game in his rookie campaign (or more), but I wouldn't be surprised if he was 23 before being a Kevin Durant type player.

 

I expect Ingram to be a great and elite player in the NBA. I love Deng and he's a very good player still and has had a heck of a career, I never considered him an elite player. To me if Ingram has the same career as Deng that will be dissapointing. No knock on Luol, but I just fully believe Brandon has the potential to be a lot better. I don't think that's crazy expectations at all when you look at everything he can do on the court.

 

Regardless of success rate for #2 pick, star like potential should still be expected out of any top 5 picks IMO