Ingrams development and future

[Pythagoras]

I never bought into KD comparisons, but I'm still pretty high on him. He was thrust into a role he wasn't quite ready for this season, and people are disappointed, which was my fear, but he's progressing in pretty much all of the areas I hoped to see this year. I still expect his advanced numbers to be strong post ASB, and he'll have us loving him up again before the season ends.

[Jody Smokz]

I strongly disagree with this. It's not like the kid avg 16-17 pts last year and had a lot of high scoring games under his belt. Avg 20 for Russell would have been an expectation given the right minutes but Ingram played damn near 30mpg last year and avg 9. Even in his "improved" state post all star he only avg 13 ppg. He's never truly been a real go get an easy bucket scorer. Putting the bar that high on a guy that still needs a lot of development is ludicrous. Setting arbitrary expectations like 20ppg or 10apg are just dumb. They don't mean anything on their own.

What college player ever, pre-draft, has said, "please, don't say that my game looks like allstarX or that I have the potential to be as good as allstarY" ???

I agree 1000%. But don't go cryin' "too much being asked of me" when the expectations come.

You took the $$$ knowing you were expected to deliver. You had no problem with it then. So when management throws out 20 points a game as your bar....don't curl into a ball. (btw....20 points a game is hardly what you'd call 'wreckless expectations')[/quote]

[NBAWestFan]

I agree to be Patient there is some light at the end of the Tunnel

BI has shown that his length is a a match up problem. Even if the defender can keep up with him a bit his arms are long enough
to get his shot off. He needs to use the glass more and become a expert with the angles on the glass.

I see him progressing quite a bit from last year. Next year lets see where he is at. Give him time.

[Dloading99]

This can't be ignored. I think a lot of you need to see That the Reason Ingram looked so good at the End of the season last season was because of the Spacing on the floor DLo provided. he opened up the floor for Ingram Zubac Randle and Clarkson.

any player in the NBA when you play with a guy who has an ability to make three pointers and shoot like Russell it makes it easier for everyone. like you see with Golden State that's why KD wanted to go there because the spacing is so good. I think that really made Ingrams game a lot easier playing with Russell. When they traded him one of the things that irked me was the spacing they screwed up for Ingram not having Rusell guys would just key on Ingram what they are doing now. and sag off and Ingram isn't that type of player. he's a Kawaii Pippen make plays look for open shooters take what the defense gives him goes to the basket and can make the outside shot. so I think that trade really screwed him up. I think having Lonzo and Russell really would've made Ingram into a superstar player because you would've had Defenses not knowing who to guard and having Lonzo be that guy who can get the ball to any of them. like you saw in OKC with Harden KD and Westbrook. you have that great shooter on the perimeter you can basically do what you want against a defense. and I think that's what we saw second half of NBA season last season with Ingram he was doing that running point forward and playing on the perimeter and starting to learn how to play in the post.

[Landsberger]

If you don't think the emphasis has been put on him to be the scoring leader and finisher for this team then you haven't been listening. They expect Ball to the distributor/facilitator and Ingram to be the scorer/finisher.

Ok...but of course the emphasis is scoring, and finishing. Is that wrong? What did you think they brought Ingram in for?

I guess if you are drafting at the top of the draft you are looking for the best player you can get. Magic didn't pick him so it seems that this is moot as it relates to the current regime.

It's not what you hope for, rather it's what you get. If they are pushing for what they are hoping for when he's something else it's a problem.

I hope he can score 18ppg at a high efficiency with consistency. I think he's capable of scoring 22ppg but I doubt he can do that with any acceptable level of consistency or efficiency.

[danfantastk32]

If you don't think the emphasis has been put on him to be the scoring leader and finisher for this team then you haven't been listening. They expect Ball to the distributor/facilitator and Ingram to be the scorer/finisher.

Ok...but of course the emphasis is scoring, and finishing. Is that wrong? What did you think they brought Ingram in for?

I guess if you are drafting at the top of the draft you are looking for the best player you can get. Magic didn't pick him so it seems that this is moot as it relates to the current regime.

It's not what you hope for, rather it's what you get. If they are pushing for what they are hoping for when he's something else it's a problem.

I hope he can score 18ppg at a high efficiency with consistency. I think he's capable of scoring 22ppg but I doubt he can do that with any acceptable level of consistency or efficiency.

Ok....but I think your being purposefully coy here to my point: Ingram didn't come into the NBA with some sorta 'defensive specialist' tag....or with a rep for being a rebounding grinder....or a pass-first type guy.

Right? I mean we can also say with Lonzo, "we will get what we get" - but we all expect assists, and pushing the ball up right?

Magic never said "he better get 20points"....he was just proppin the guy up. There was no timeline. I myself totally think Ingram should be 20ppg guy. If he ends his career at 17ppg...thats fine. But 20 is far from unreasonable. I think the talent is there. Easily.

I had hoped it would go faster....and I didn't expect him to struggle quite as bad as he did the first season....but oh well...I'm still in his corner. But saying that.....I don;t think this team has done anything but give him every available opportunity to succeed. Magic telling the world they think this kid can lead the team offensively is not the reason he's struggling. And if it is....then that's a him-problem as well.

[Landsberger]

Ok...but of course the emphasis is scoring, and finishing. Is that wrong? What did you think they brought Ingram in for?

I guess if you are drafting at the top of the draft you are looking for the best player you can get. Magic didn't pick him so it seems that this is moot as it relates to the current regime.

It's not what you hope for, rather it's what you get. If they are pushing for what they are hoping for when he's something else it's a problem.

I hope he can score 18ppg at a high efficiency with consistency. I think he's capable of scoring 22ppg but I doubt he can do that with any acceptable level of consistency or efficiency.

Ok....but I think your being purposefully coy here to my point: Ingram didn't come into the NBA with some sorta 'defensive specialist' tag....or with a rep for being a rebounding grinder....or a pass-first type guy.

Right? I mean we can also say with Lonzo, "we will get what we get" - but we all expect assists, and pushing the ball up right?

Magic never said "he better get 20points"....he was just proppin the guy up. There was no timeline. I myself totally think Ingram should be 20ppg guy. If he ends his career at 17ppg...thats fine. But 20 is far from unreasonable. I think the talent is there. Easily.

I had hoped it would go faster....and I didn't expect him to struggle quite as bad as he did the first season....but oh well...I'm still in his corner. But saying that.....I don;t think this team has done anything but give him every available opportunity to succeed. Magic telling the world they think this kid can lead the team offensively is not the reason he's struggling. And if it is....then that's a him-problem as well.

You do realize that he's played about 90 games in the pro's right? While playing what?.... 25 in college? I think the college reference are complete bunk at this point. Comparing college, where he was on a top 2 team to the pros where he's the focus is just a little different. If that's coy then I'll take the tag.

[dub81]

Would love for the offense to run thru Kyle Kuzma and see how he does.

[thankyouKOBE]

Ingram's making me worry about his "great defense" nowadays. He needed a beer after that Dame drop. Giving ice cold Lillard single coverage and not hounding him. That was just embarrassing. I get that he's still a young buck, but ouch.

[LALifer49]

Ingram's making me worry about his "great defense" nowadays. He needed a beer after that Dame drop. Giving ice cold Lillard single coverage and not hounding him. That was just embarrassing. I get that he's still a young buck, but ouch.

The guy is playing pretty damn well...

[Penberthy]

I strongly disagree with this. It's not like the kid avg 16-17 pts last year and had a lot of high scoring games under his belt. Avg 20 for Russell would have been an expectation given the right minutes but Ingram played damn near 30mpg last year and avg 9. Even in his "improved" state post all star he only avg 13 ppg. He's never truly been a real go get an easy bucket scorer. Putting the bar that high on a guy that still needs a lot of development is ludicrous. Setting arbitrary expectations like 20ppg or 10apg are just dumb. They don't mean anything on their own.

What college player ever, pre-draft, has said, "please, don't say that my game looks like allstarX or that I have the potential to be as good as allstarY" ???

I agree 1000%. But don't go cryin' "too much being asked of me" when the expectations come.

You took the $$$ knowing you were expected to deliver. You had no problem with it then. So when management throws out 20 points a game as your bar....don't curl into a ball. (btw....20 points a game is hardly what you'd call 'wreckless expectations')[/quote]

I admittedly haven't followed the press too much this year. Did he actually say there was too much being asked of him or curl into a ball? Or was that all fans on here saying it? From the games I've seen, it looks like he's just been letting it fly.

[RingsDontLie]

Ingram's making me worry about his "great defense" nowadays. He needed a beer after that Dame drop. Giving ice cold Lillard single coverage and not hounding him. That was just embarrassing. I get that he's still a young buck, but ouch.

Dude it was Lillard. No one is stopping Lillard from getting that shot off and the guy is known to be clutch. It would be embarassing if he was guarding Wesley Johnson maybe.

[danfantastk32]

I had hoped it would go faster....and I didn't expect him to struggle quite as bad as he did the first season....but oh well...I'm still in his corner. But saying that.....I don;t think this team has done anything but give him every available opportunity to succeed. Magic telling the world they think this kid can lead the team offensively is not the reason he's struggling. And if it is....then that's a him-problem as well.

You do realize that he's played about 90 games in the pro's right? While playing what?.... 25 in college? I think the college reference are complete bunk at this point. Comparing college, where he was on a top 2 team to the pros where he's the focus is just a little different. If that's coy then I'll take the tag.

Agree with those points completely. I am(was) a little worried by his horrific PER his first season, but we all saw him start to improve towards the end. I thought he came out a little shaky this season too....but again, he seems to be figuring it out. Now we sit back and see where his ceiling is. I am not worried about him being at least a 'good' nba player.

[danfantastk32]

I admittedly haven't followed the press too much this year. Did he actually say there was too much being asked of him or curl into a ball? Or was that all fans on here saying it? From the games I've seen, it looks like he's just been letting it fly.

Not that I know of. And I agree with your eyes on this one: I think he's doing fine.

He came out of the gate clanking shots left right and center.....and I think he was a little in his head. I'm sure he was frustrated with himself, and prob punched some lockers after games (hopefully not....good way to break a hand). But I think that was all internal stuff. I don't think Magics comments had anything to do with it.

The 'curl into a ball' comment is part of a longer conversation Landsberger and I have. My point to it was: you took the money...of course there are gonna be expectations with a #2 pick. If Magic's gonna tell this guy he wants him to be a leader on this team, and be our scoring machine....and that ruins him...then maybe we aughta know that sooner than later.

I'm not at all worried about that happening though. I already see Ingram's game improving this year....his shots are falling better, and he's got that look off his face. He's gonna be fine. I think he will be a 20-ppg scorer (or damn close)

[danfantastk32]

Dude it was Lillard. No one is stopping Lillard from getting that shot off and the guy is known to be clutch. It would be embarassing if he was guarding Wesley Johnson maybe.

Very true. There's a reason 3-blocks a game is considered really good.

The NBA is offensively-driven. The rules favor high scores (something I don't have a huge problem with, btw) and while Durant, Lebron, Harden, and so on might get occasionally blocked.....there's no shame in those guys lighting anyone up. I'd put Lillard on that list too.

Few guys focused on defense as much as Battier...and while he had that ONE game where Kobe struggled (4-20 with like 14 points...something like that) the truth is that Kobe did whatever he wanted in the many other games they played.

[thankyouKOBE]

Ingram's making me worry about his "great defense" nowadays. He needed a beer after that Dame drop. Giving ice cold Lillard single coverage and not hounding him. That was just embarrassing. I get that he's still a young buck, but ouch.

Dude it was Lillard. No one is stopping Lillard from getting that shot off and the guy is known to be clutch. It would be embarassing if he was guarding Wesley Johnson maybe.

Brandon Ingram has 6 legit inches on Lillard. I guess that's why he stayed like 6 feet away from Lillard on that play. Gotta give the lil' guy a chance.

http://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/cle/cleveland-cavaliers



Nevermind that Lillard was completely telegraphing the shot.

[RingsDontLie]

Ingram's making me worry about his "great defense" nowadays. He needed a beer after that Dame drop. Giving ice cold Lillard single coverage and not hounding him. That was just embarrassing. I get that he's still a young buck, but ouch.

Dude it was Lillard. No one is stopping Lillard from getting that shot off and the guy is known to be clutch. It would be embarassing if he was guarding Wesley Johnson maybe.

Brandon Ingram has 6 legit inches on Lillard. I guess that's why he stayed like 6 feet away from Lillard on that play. Gotta give the lil' guy a chance.

http://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/cle/cleveland-cavaliers



Nevermind that Lillard was completely telegraphing the shot.

And height can be a disadvantage when guarding a smaller quick player of course. But Ingram got a hand in Lillard's face, and Lillard made a tough shot, case closed.

Lol, telegraphing, seriously? With his quickness I don't think you can telegraph his moves. Probably why he's all star level. But I bet if you were guarding him, you could of got a hand on that

[LAKESHOW]

I remember a few years back, we went up to Portland. And freakin Kobe hit this game buzzer beater, and the Portland defender was literally in Kobe's Jersey. You could not play any better defense. Kobe arched this ball so high, and dropped a dime on the hometown blazer fans. We ran off the court winner. Meaning, hey man, sometimes dudes hit a shot, and you gotta give credit. Give Lillard props.

[Nightwing]

so far, he's an all around kind of guy which is more impressive to me than scoring. he will get better and better just stop with your "EXPECTATIONS" magic, you're ruining his development