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

my tatum snark is all media-driven, and rodg, you had to be hiding under a rock not to see it. it's part of why there's a redemption narrative for him this year--because last year they all told us he was like, second-team all-nba prior to the season. whoops!

as for his game, he reminds me a lot of young rudy gay, whom everyone shat upon every chance they got once he got paid. i didn't think that was fair, just like i don't think it's fair that his play-alike was being anointed in the press, basically because he played in boston.

 

40 pts tonight and counting

he's been absolutely balling out in NO

 

he's had a strong opening in terms of individual stats.

 

Man I wish there was a way we could have held onto him. I thought he had come a long way before the injury last year.

 

yeah he was balling out last season too before the blood clots happened

 

I'm happy the team is doing well, but I'm so frustrated we didn't keep BI.
All those years of suffering as a fan and we have nothing to show for it.
I love AD but I truly believe we could have signed him anyway next season and kept some of the youth and draft picks.

 

losing lonzo and hart is whatever but i wish they would have dealt kuzma instead of BI

 

BI was a hard worker, and growing before our eyes. Kuzma has a smoother game, but I do kind of like how BI is quiet about his business instead of talking too much. We'll see how things shake out, but if AD is inspired by Kuz, and Pop has nice things to say, then Kuz is not likely to disappoint us. But you give up a BI to get an AD all day every day. The rest was trade filler.

Nobody will miss the occasional Ball highlight play. Hart is a role player. I've already forgotten who was in the trade lol.

 

Yep, that trade was all about BI for AD, the rest were only to sweeten the pot. BI just had another monster game 40/5/5, he's going to be an all-star and maybe this year. Guess I will keep my shirt with his number on it. LOL

 

Well we knew that signing a 34 year-old Lebron meant the end of our kids. There was no way around it.

 

well, and his team is 1-6, right?

 

If Lebron were 25, even 30... you could understand why we discarded Ingram... but even though I completely agree LBJ is a top five all time player... it was short sighted to reconfigure the team based on someone who could drastically decline any year now. It drove me crazy when people would say... Ingram wasn't a good fit with him, as there is almost a thirteen year age gap. Ingram should have been viewed as the eventual replacement, not a complimentary piece.
This team should do well this year, but it has so many holes and lacks a dynamic scoring guard and a defensive wing. Ingram would have provided an iso shot creator and a defender. When LBJ finally starts to hit the wall, this team will be in serious trouble again.

 

I still (and always) take AD over BI. 100% of the time. We didn't get Bron Cp3, Wade or some other old dude but a 26y/o beast in his prime. Enjoy

 

I just think we could have signed AD anyway without trading so many pieces and clearing so much capspace. Since we didn't land Kawhi, it's almost like we got rid of 10 to 12 assets to sign him. AD is terrific but as we've seen, he can't win without anyone supporting him.
If LBJ gets hurt, if there's any bad blood on the team... AD could easily end up in Chicago or back in New Orleans with Zion.
I've never said AD isn't great... he is... and I like him as a person as well.
I just think we paid way too much and watching Ingram put up AD numbers on the offensive end is rubbing salt in this fan's wound.

 

lol. they're in last place. AD isn't going back to NO. what on earth is happening here?

no way we keep ingram in an AD trade. great chance that if we don't trade for AD, he gets traded elsewhere and re-signs there (like PG) or just signs elsewhere (like kawhi).

so happy we "wasted assets" getting a perennial mvp candidate in his athletic prime.

so glad we didn't gamble on ingram and ball as foundation pieces.

 

I've never argued that this season shouldn't be good. I've said that it's two or three years down the line that has me concerned.
IF AD signs, we should be okay, provided Rob finds another star like Giannis to pair with him quickly and we don't sign LBJ to a farewell tour contract after his expiration date. Some people don't believe in rotating crops, sustainability, etc. I prefer to view things with a long term perspective.
I've enjoyed the winning so far, but it's been far from convincing at times and largely due to a wild card Dwight who wasn't part of a front office vision but pretty much dumb luck that he fell into our laps. I wanted both Boogie and Dwight... most thought I was insane at the time I said it.
Most thought I was insane for backing Ingram last season as well.

 

funny how Bi gets discredited for his production because NOP isn't winning but AD only had 2 winning seasons with the Pelicans but he's some sort of generational talent and wasn't his fault right?

 

You know, that has NEVER been our history. We developed West, Goodrich, Kobe, Worthy, Fisher, NVE, Eddie Jones, Jim Mcmillan, AC Green, Rambis. Those are off the top of my head. We have developed a fair number of solid pros who had solid careers. Bottom line for me is that FO with Mitch, Jimbo and Walton didn't develop our youth very well. There is no evidence that our other FO's didn't!