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

Ingram is an example of why you can't just look at assist numbers and gauge if a guy can pass the ball well or not. You have to take into account if he sees the floor well, doesn't force things, is a ball mover, making extra passes, and setting up the pass that leads to an assist. Ingram does all of those things. No he's nowhere near the natural passer that Simmons is, but he's so much more well rounded and balanced offensively. Defensively it's not even a contest. I would've taken Ingram #1 without even thinking about it.

 

I loved what I saw from Ingram in this last game. Such a smooth player, no forcing of shots, let the game come to him. Silky.

 

I see a quicker Paul Pierce in some of his moves ...

I hope he's not going to break though .

He's skinnier than chicken Brewer

 

That's it?

 

Ingram looks good. He was very aggressive last night posting up and calling for the ball.

 

Looks like he won't contend for rookie of the year. Laker has a set path on developing rooks.

 

I would be content with that. Ingram is 18 years old. He turns 19 in September and body wise he's even skinnier than Kobe was when he came in at age 17 in 1996. He struggled against Summer League competition so he will definitely struggle some against NBA players. He'll have good moments and not so good moments. It's just gonna take him some time to adjust to everything that an NBA rookie has to deal with. Playing longer, the schedule, the defenses, the different offense we'll be playing at, playing off ball more, and having to play different positions. He will be fine. 13, 5, and 2 aren't bad numbers. Those are basically the same numbers D'Lo averaged and we've seen how much better he looked in Summer League.

Ingram is gonna be a superstar. He's already shown why in short bursts why he can. His defensive versatility is something we haven't had in years. His shooting once he gets adjusted to the line in the NBA. He can shoot over anyone. He'll learn how to play through physical contact. He can play isolation ball even though that's not something we wanna have a steady diet of. He's shown the ability to make the right decisions with the ball. Hasn't forced bad shots. He'll play within the system, but also with have the ability to make something out of nothing on occasion.

I bought the kid's jersey the other day and I never buy anyone's jersey who hasn't stepped on the court. That's how confident I am in Brandon's ability to become everything I think he'll become. He's humble, a hard worker, a student of the game. I watched a video the other day where he was sitting down the Duke associate coach and they were just going through film and each time he told them what he saw and they showed some footage of KD as well.

The kid is smart, has a high basketball IQ, knows what he is seeing out there, like D'Angelo has a great feel for the game, and he just knows how to score. People say the Durant comparisons aren't fair and maybe they aren't, but there are clear similarities there. They both are silky smooth jump shooters, versatile defensively, good rebounders, Ingram is a better passer, Durant isn't as frail as Ingram was when he came in and is better at going to the basket, although Ingram can get there he's just have a little trouble finishing but with more strength that won't be an issue. They both are adept at iso situations and coming off pin downs. Ingram will probably play more in the post as opposed to Durant who usually operates in the mid post, the three point line, and more of a ball handler in the screen and roll game.

Ingram is gonna be a superstar. Even when he was struggling the fact that he still was able to generate quality looks, the fact that he was pretty sound and solid defensively, the fact that he made nice reads in regards to his passes, and the fact that teams knew they had to beat him up otherwise he would torch them are all good signs of what Brandon will become in the next 2-3 seasons.

 

The fact that he hasn't been offered a conyract6 concerns me. He better not be traded for cousins or something.

 

I have a hard time believing that we will play him 30 minutes a night though.

 

Liking the stats, feel like Ingram is going to be a great glue guy that provides whatever the team on the floor needs most.

Random, but I haven't heard this discussed elsewhere. How does everyone feel about putting Randle at C (keep him close to the basket on O and he's strong enough to keep C's out of the paint on D), Nance at PF (stretch four on O with strong weakside help on D), Deng at SF (stretch the floor some more and provide solid perimeter D), Ingram at the SG (more space with his good stroke, and even better perimeter D in conjunction with Deng), and Russel (liability on D is balanced out with Deng and Ingram, and his pick and roll and playmaking on O). Bring Clarkson off the bench as a 6th man to provide additional O along with Calderon (to keep the floor spaced), along with a twin-tower combo of Mozgov and Zubac at the C and PF protecting the paint for both of Clarkson and Calderons lack of perimeter D.