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

We were going to have to trade our kids at some point anyway.... the sum of their talent wasn't going to be enough to contend for a title.

I'm just glad we traded for a Top 5 player like AD instead of a fringe allstar like Derozan, Beal, or Conley. That would have been a huge mistake. I don't even think George (overrated imo) is worth Ingram + Ball.

 

There's only 48 minutes. Who gives a baker's f*** if we gave up 10 assets? BI wasn't going to do that on a Bron Lakers team. I'm glad he's balling. BI and Hart were two kids that were very easy to cheer for.

Bron brought us AD. AD wasn't coming here without Bron. Bron wasn't coming here to waste away what years he has left for our front office to play it slow. They had to be aggressive and get him in championship contention ASAP.

 

nobody was coming here to play with ingram/ball/hart. probably ever. we had to get some names in. you have to pay for that. and again, we actually underpaid. other teams that weren't really allowed to bid could and would have offered more.

 

I have always been a fan, only player in the last few years that I have picked up shirts and hats with his number and name on. I still wear them. I like the kid and will follow him through out his career as long as he doesn't go negative on us.

The concept that we shouldn't have traded him because we will ONLY get one or two years out of Davis and would have gotten 5+ from BI is just weird. Davis is going to resign here and when Lebron is retiring or just taking on less of a role, we will find another superstar to pair with Davis. Once a team starts winning, everyone will want to come here. Davis is a generational talent, he will not have trouble finding guys to come play with him. I don't think BI will ever be that good, though he will be very good, probably an all-star, just not an MVP. You don't ever reach the top without having marquee, MVP level, talent.

We got that now and anyone who thinks we made a mistake with this is just not worth my time or effort to convince.

 

keep in mind he's up for a new deal this year. if he can't carry a team on his own, do you want to be on the hook for his max? this is the struggle that the lotto-rebuild teams have.

my reaction in this thread has to do with the subtle suggestions that moving him for AD was some sort of mistake. we weren't getting AD without moving him. quite frankly, keeping kuz was a huge victory, as AD was worth that full package + kuz. he was probably worth more than what we could possibly offer, aside from lebron.

if it's not hand-wringing about ingram's performance, then maybe i'm out of line. but it sure looks like some hand-wringing...

 

This is the Brandon Ingram thread. I don't get why people are baffled that someone wants to vent their frustration with the front office when they see Ingram maintain his 27 PPG form before the blood clots and continue it during his normal "slow start" period. If I was complaining on another thread... sure, it's inappropriate but those who consider the book closed should just ignore this one thread.
I have never said that Ingram is better than AD. If I was complaining about an AD for BI straight up trade, then sure you'd all have a point, but I simply hold the opinion that we gave up too much and that the impact might be felt in a few years if not now.
I watched almost every single game during our 6 or 7 year run where we had the worst record in the NBA. Suffered through watching players like Head of the Snake, Jordan Hill, Robert Sacre, Wesley Johnson, Swaggy, Ryan Kelly play significant roles on our team. Watched with hopefulness as we drafted Clarkson, Nance, DLO, Julius, BI, Zubac, Hart, Zo, Svi, Thomas Bryant, Mo only to see most of them improve or thrive on other teams.
I get that AD is a generational talent, I like him too. Not only as a player but as a person. I've been listening to all of his postgame interviews and what strikes me is how articulately he analyzes the game and pinpoints areas of improvement that both he and the team need to improve.
He has the BBIQ of LBJ, except he's less filtered and tells it like it is instead of being defensive like LBJ can be some nights.

I'm happy we have AD. I just don't like what we spent. Imagine if you gave up three starter companies and took out three mortgages to finance your dream home in Malibu. Then you see one of the starter companies blossom. Doesn't mean you don't love your dream home... just means you have some regrets about the expense, and some worry about it burning in a wildfire and having no insurance (if he somehow didn't re-sign)

 

again not arguing that we shouldn't do the the trade but bi iso shot killing style doesnt seem to be an issue now for him with the pellies, feel that issue should be blamed on luke as Sac fans now complaining of the same iso heavy issues

 

well unfortunately there was no AD without BI

 

First off, BI is a beast. Will he become a marketable star? Doubt it, but can dude ball and be voted to All-star?...oh for sure!

Second, new guy, if it’s “rehashing” the past, many folks just don’t want to hear it. Even tho you absolutely right in that this us the BI thread, so why not bring it up in here? But what do I know. I brought up our offseason signings during the offseason, I folks still thought I was rehashing. Wild wild stuff here haha.

Third, did AD basically force himself to LA? If you sincerely answer that, you know we over-payed.

Fourth, did we luck into them getting Zion and us getting the 4th overall pick? So all this garbage about sparing Kuz...give me a Kit Kat bar.

Fifth, did we use the 4th pick as salary to aggregate so that we could spare more parts for a dude that basically forced himself here?

Sixth, did we lose full control of our draft assets till 2025 at the very earliest?

Seventh, did we scramble away further assets to secure a max deal only for max player not to commit?

Eighth, did we unnecessarily lock up two roster spots on vet min deals thinking we already locked up a max player?

Ninth, so we bring AD over knowing he wants to play the 4 and we commit 7m in salary to the center position for a guy rehabbing two major leg injuries in the past 18 months and a career reserve center who is an asthmatic.

Tenth, did I mention the 4th pick aggregated means BI doesn’t have to be part of the deal? I miss that guy and folks feel he wouldn’t fit on this roster. Uh hello McFly, don’t we need a defensive wing who can also playmaker? Or is the Iggy pursuit a figment of my imagination?

Eleventh, just how many assets did we give up again for a guy that forced his way here, sacrificed a trade kicker and essentially sacrificed a long term commitment in the process for? Maybe @TIME can help me with the count haha.

Anyways, love the discussion you guys, but I’ll see my way out and #KeepItMovin haha

Seriously this rehash is tongue in cheek and I’m just having a fun time with this and am happy we got AD and am happy BI is healthy and balling. Hope no one takes offense.

 

56th: we didn't overpay for AD, and we're very lucky griffin didn't act like pritchard, particularly after magic's shenanigans at the deadline, wherein he negotiated us into a corner by offering EVEN MORE than we eventually gave up.

good work attempting to derail the BI thread into the same argument you have everywhere right after reminding everyone it's the BI thread, though.

 

If we win a title or two during LBJ's window... we might not have overpaid for AD
If we sign him up long term and manage to combine him with Giannis or the next big star... we might not have overpaid for AD.
If we continuously get eliminated early in the playoffs like the Clippers... maybe we did overpay.
If he decides he's unhappy and leaves... we did overpay.
If we can't land the second star once LBJ's gone... maybe we did overpay.
You can't say definitively at this point whether the investment was worth it.

 

You make decisions with the info you have, not hindsight.

easy choice; I’d have given up more, and what happens next doesn’t matter unless you said it would beforehand.

the Monday morning quarterbacking is pretty exhausting.

 

We traded Junior Bridgeman 13.3 PPG Dave Meyers 11.2 PPG Elmore Smith 13.4 PPG 10.6 RPG Brian Winters 16.2 PPG for Kareem and Walt Wesley
We traded Jerry Chambers 8.3 PPG Archie Clark 16.3 PPG Darrall Imhoff 7.2 PPG for Wilt
We traded Shaq for Caron Butler 14.1 PPG Brian Grant 10.5 PPG Lamar Odom 13.3 and Jordan Farmar
We traded Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittendon, Marc Gasol plus two picks for Pau
We traded a broken down Bynum, Christian Eyenga, Josh McRoberts and a pick for Dwight

It's your right to say you'd pay more than BI, Zo, Hart, and three picks... but considering we gave up more assets for AD than the cost of three of the greatest big men in history... I don't think I'm out of line in saying I disagree.

 

Lakers tax. No team were gonna do us any favors to build a contender around Lebron. I’m surprised we were even able to keep Kuz at all.

 

As @abeer3 alluded to above or elsewhere and I totally concur ..... Magic as president (my bet calling that shot) and Rich Paul cluster bleeped us with their "miscalculation" at the trade deadline trying to force a trade and offering the whole team that was worth anything in their attempt to steal AD a year and a half early. Pissed off the whole NO franchise and ownership highly. Then Magic did what he did at the end of the season and trashed our FO with the backstabbing comments thrown in for good measure.

So yeah maybe in a vacuum and much better executed somehow the first attempt ...... we could have given somewhat less to NO but again my opinion is Magic really did us NO favors with regard to the second time around with the negotiations.

First we had to get them to lower their disdain for even thinking about trading with us unless it was within the same zip code of fairness to their perspective this time, and then down from as many players as already offered at the deadline which included Kuz. No one here was in those meetings or on the phone. So yeah .... I'm still bitter. Thanks Magic.

 

My post was largely tongue in cheek...

But seriously how the f*** did I derail a BI thread by expanding on the AD trade that has already been brought up by others?

We traded dude for AD, so how can’t you discuss that in this thread? Wild.

Good work trying to derail a topic by bringing up Magic again tho haha. When it comes to discussing things with me, it’s getting clear that you try to make it a Magic vs Rob thing...so f*** it, let’s do it then.

Rob was the CBA guy when Magic was here and how do you feel about the cap clearing shenanigans again? AD’s trade demand was largely Paul and even Demps shenanigans. You mistakenly brought up Pritchard, and mistakenly left out Rob’s 500k shenanigans in that particular pursuit. Stay wildly inconsistent dude.

And how the f*** did we give up less in the AD trade than we were in the proposed deal last season? Without Zion, possibly no deal. And without lucking into the 4th, definitely no deal. We spared Kuz, but lost more picks so how did we give up less again? Magic then called out Demps for not acting in good faith and it got him fired. Without that, no Griff and Rob goes back at it with Demps, who according to rumors, refused to talk to Rob.

88th: Keep showing your colors tho. You always wanna bring up Magic with me, but fact is my guy got us 5 rangs, while Rob hasn’t won us s*** yet...Kob will tell ya...

“I’m quick to tell him ‘listen, man, you’re my guy, but you didn’t get out on the court and score 40 points for me either. So I’m not going to do your job for you.’”



And Magic did all right with partial control as president and you big mad about it. You love our roster so much but are hesitant to acknowledge? without Kcp..no Bron...and without Bron...no... pay attention and do the math.

#ADd