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

have to agree here, maybe he's slowly getting it but for the most part he and zo look like they just go through the motions from game to game, no consistency whatsoever. I know both of them have that sort of personality but feels like they dont have any passion or sense of urgency, they just take whatever is given to them rather than impose their will onto their opponents.

 

Very few kids could lead grown men at the age of 20 or 21.

BI he’s progressing nicely and playing awesome for his age. Unfortunately, the expectations of the development timeline have been drastically accelerated because we signed LeBron.

We had a ridiculous game last night with fantastic efficiency, and he’s only going to get stronger and better. He will be one we regret losing. I wish all of our young players had one more year before decisions had to be made.

Damn you LeBron!

 

Is Ingram ever going to be a top 10 or top 20 player?

Nope.

I'm good with losing him and won't lose any sleep over it either....

 

I think the question for me is would I rather have a max free-agent this off-season and not give up anything,

or would I rather lose all of the young guys and have AD.

(Insert Max FA) + Ball, Kuzma, BI, Hart, Zubac

Might be >>>>>>>>

Than only AD

If we get turned down, that might be a blessing in disguise.

 

that is why I was fine with the "starting" pt with Kuz, Zo,Zu, 1st rumor....I'll throw in another 1st or two to get it done. Leaves us with Hart/BI to build off of in terms of depth. I think we can make it work with BI at 3 if Klay will come as per rumor if we land AD. I think thats a great big "3.5" lol, BI being the half

 

One thing that has been very apparent, and I don't think it's a coincidence...is Brandon Ingram suddenly became extremely efficient when Rondo returned to the lineup.

He's the beneficiary of Rondo's playmaking for easy shots and doesn't have as much of a responsibility of creating his own shot or creating shots for others.

The strange thing is I have no idea why he can't play like this with Lebron in the lineup.... it should also be plug and play too for easy baskets.

Having said all that, I still think Brandon Ingram will be a very good player. If it appears true that the Pelicans want a package of Lonzo, Kuz, Zubac + KCP (salary matching)....and Brandon somehow gets kept by the Lakers, that's great news for the Lakers.

Brandon might actually end up being the Lamar Odom of this team, where he will actually play better with less pressure/attention towards him (like when the Lakers got Pau and Kobe, Odom was suddenly the 3rd best player on the team and putting up 22ppg/15rpg on a nightly basis).

 

Tough crowd. I'm still a big fan of Ingram and would love to keep him. Guess that makes me one of very few around here.

As much as I would love to get Davis, the prospect of losing all the young guns terrifies me. Don't even get me started on a team "constructed" around 3 max-players.

 

Who is better now? Ingram or Tatum?

Who has the higher upside? Tatum cause of that killer instinct, IQ, and shooting? Or BI cause of his length, ball handling, and versatility?

I would struggle making that decision if I were a GM right now.

That said, I would take BI and Zo over Tatum and Rozier. Jaylen Brown over Kuz. But that will be interesting going forward too.

If that draft were today - Mitchell, Tatum, Zo, and Kuz??

Point being, we may overrate our kids, but they are far from junk. Their wins against GS, Hou, OKC, Spurs, etc. have been impressive these past 2 years (ignoring horrible losses to Cavs, Kings, etc., lol).

 

It's something I've brought up in the past... Ingram rarely plays sf with a true pg. He's mostly at sg when on the floor with lebron. I'm not sure if "position less basketball" means sg and sf are completely interchangeable or not. He sure seems to do better at sf.

 

Mixed feelings about BI. He has good games and bad ones. Sometimes I think he's not used in a right way by Luke. Between him, Kuz and Lonzo, I would still keep Kuz, but maybe try to keep this whole young core for another year?

 

look at what the kids have done without lebron. this team would be almost as bad as the suns if it weren't for him

kuzma is the only one i'd really be bummed to see go. lonzo kind of as well. but you really can't justify not dealing any of these guys for someone like AD

 

I get what you're trying to say but the "math" isn't that simple.

In AD's 6 year tenure in New Orleans, their record is 214-247.
A team with 5 above average starters will have a record of above .500.
A team without any superstar (2004 Pistons) can win the championship.
When everyone was healthy, we were a top 3-4 team in the western conference.

So if were up to me, no, I wouldn't ship the entire farm for AD alone.
Depth matters, and if a trade were to go down, I would try to keep as many assets as possible.
My choice would be either Lonzo or Ingram.
Both have a net positive +/- already at 21, and 2-way PG's or wings aren't easily replaceable.

 

I can agree to a lot of what you're saying, but I think we need to pump the brakes a bit.

First off, AD has never been a winner and that genuinely concerns me a bit. Other superstars of his caliber (Kawhi, Durant, Lebron, Harden) can find ways to win even with average talent around them. I'm not saying he's a Boogie or Carmelo type of a player, but his impact may not be as profound as we see on paper.

Chandler hardly adds depth. Other than some random games, he's been a borderline scrub. Beasley or Stephenson doesn't count either. Championship teams need above-average starters like Ariza, Livingston or Iguodola. Those players are hard to come by and we can ill-afford to throw them in like a bag of chips to acquire AD.

One superstar can still get it done. The Mavs with just Dirk as their lone superstar beat the original superteam led by Lebron. A combination of a superstar and multiple allstars (2nd tier) can get it done, as the Spurs has shown for over a decade.

We are one of the best teams in the league (albeit not contenders yet) when healthy. I'm not sure why folks continue to undervalue our youth, but with their continued growth, we're legitimately one piece away from competing.

As you've pointed out, a bit more patience and our kids may develop into 3 D'Angelo Russell's. Are we going to make the same mistake of giving up on them too early again? I'll trade 2 of them for AD. 3 including Hart or 4 including Zu. But I'm not giving up Lonzo, Ingram and Kuzma. I feel that trade makes us a worse team now and moving forward. I'd rather take our chances in FA at that point.

 

AD can't create for himself like the guys you mentioned. Other than that, beast.
Nothing will happen though, so see you in the summer with all that cap space...