Los Angeles Lakers: Brandon Ingram Is The Perfect Fit
It seems like a formality that the Philadelphia 76ers will select Ben Simmons with the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. That leaves Brandon Ingram as one hell of a consolation prize for the Los Angeles Lakers.
If everything goes as expected, former Duke forward Brandon Ingram will be a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in one week.
Assuming that this expectation becomes a reality, it will be a huge step in the right direction in rebuilding the Lakers in a post-Kobe Bryant world.
This season, many had talked about how promising the Lakers were with the young and talented trio of D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson. For the most part, that talk was a little overdone.
Jordan Clarkson is unlikely to ever be anything more than a middle-of-the-road starting point guard in this league.
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Julius Randle is a fine young power forward who averaged a double-double in what was basically his rookie season (after breaking his tibia in his first game in what was technically his rookie season).
A modern power forward is expected to either help protect the rim defensively or space the floor offensively. While he may improve to doing either of these things, right now he does neither. Randle is likely to be a starting power forward for a long time, but he doesn’t appear destined to make an All-Star team.
D’Angelo Russell has the highest potential of anyone currently on the Lakers roster despite an up-and-down rookie campaign.
Russell has the ball-handling ability to get his own shot, a smooth shooting stroke, and passing vision that is truly special. He showed flashes of these abilities in an otherwise unremarkable game against the Brooklyn Nets, where he scored 39 points and hit eight three-pointers in a rare Lakers victory.
The trio of young players is a solid start, but it’s not like the current Lakers have the promising youth of the Minnesota Timberwolves, where it’s not so much a question of if their young players will lead them to the playoffs and more of a question on when will they do it.
Enter Brandon Ingram.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u15OOjLowj8
In almost every way, Ingram is exactly the player that the Lakers need to solidify their young talent into the a real force of young talent to be reckoned with.
The easy comparison for Ingram is Thunder star Kevin Durant and it’s easy to see why. Listed at 6’9″ with a 7’3″ wingspan and 196 lbs, Ingram has the long and slender body type that Durant has.
The comparison doesn’t end with the similar frame though as they both are professional scorers, as Durant would put it. Ingram didn’t light the college basketball game up like Durant did in his only season of college basketball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXYw80N0QEQ
Ingram projects as a slightly poorer version of Durant and there’s nothing wrong with that. He probably will never be as good as Durant, but Durant’s a historically great player. Players like Durant don’t come too often.
As for Ingram, his offensive game projects extremely well to the NBA. Ingram’s size, athleticism, and skill makes him a nightmare for opposing defenses. He has the height and length of a power forward or center, the athleticism of a wing, and the game of a guard.
There aren’t many teams in the league with a defender to throw against Ingram that won’t be a mismatch in Ingram’s favor.
With his size, length, and shooting ability, Ingram can get a shot off whenever he likes. There is great value in having a player who can create offense out of nowhere and that’s where Ingram will have his biggest impact.
Ingram had a few stretches throughout the season where his massive potential was shown.
Brandon Ingram's last 3 gms: 24.3 PTS, 9.3 REBS, 2.0 BLK, 1.3 STL, 8-of-14 from 3, 19-of-29 from 2 in 33.6 min while making big time plays.
— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) December 16, 2015
A great sign for Ingram is that he got better as the season progressed. Ingram was held to single-digit scoring outputs in four of his first seven games at Duke. After that stretch, he had just one game of single-digit scoring.
In Ingram’s final five games of the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, Ingram averaged 21.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 46.6 percent on three-pointers.
Ingram’s progression throughout the season is even more impressive when you see that Ingram is 18 years old and won’t turn 19 until September. For comparison, likely top pick Ben Simmons is 19 years old and will turn 20 in July. By the time Ingram is Simmons’ age, his rookie season will be over.
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It’s not difficult to imagine that in the next year Ingram’s game will continue to improve, his frame will add some muscle, and he could start to look more like the actual Durant and not the slightly poor man’s version of Durant that’s expected.
Ingram’s size, length, and athleticism bodes well defensively too. It’s so much easier for someone with a 7’3″ wingspan and his length to be an impact player defensively.
One of the most important parts of defense in today’s game is versatility. The Golden State Warriors are the at the centerpoint of this recent development on both sides. Draymond Green is the most versatile defender in the league, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Klay Thompson can all defend multiple positions. It allows the Warriors to switch on screens without being faced with a disadvantage on mismatches.
On the other end, the Warriors are perhaps the greatest team at exploiting those mismatches when teams switch on them. Almost all of their wings have post games that they can use against smaller defenders while also having shooter who can handle the ball to get a shot against bigger, slower defenders.
Just as Ingram’s size and athleticism makes him a mismatch when he has the ball, it works to his advantage on defense. Ingram put this defensive versatility on display against NC State when he ended up on point guard Anthony Barber, who finished the season seventh in points per game with 23.5.
Barber had the ball for the final 14 seconds of the possession where he seemed indecisive on what to do against a switch that, for most teams, would present a favorable matchup. You can almost see Barber’s thought process. “Do I step back, wait for him to sag off on me and shoot over him when he gives me space because he knows I can blow past him? Nope. Do I just go for the drive? Can’t.”
It’s a wonderful attribute that will become even more important in the NBA game.
His extraordinary length lends itself towards easily getting steals and blocks. Ingram averaged over a steal (1.1) and block (1.4) per game at Duke, something that should translate to the NBA. Ingram’s insane length should cause him to wreak havoc in the passing lanes.
How does this fit for the Lakers?
Perfectly, because Ingram would fit anywhere in the league.
With a player like Ben Simmons, the roster has to be constructed around him a little more than a guy like Ingram. Simmons will likely be best-suited as someone who dominates the ball, needs shooters around him to space the floor, a rim protector behind him, and a point guard who can play off-the-ball.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and his tremendous strengths will likely have the Sixers glad to build a roster around him.
For the Lakers, it’s a strength in and of itself that they don’t need to target specific players to surround Ingram with and they can instead chase the best players available. Ingram’s versatility on both sides allows for more options for the team in roster construction.
The Lakers enter the offseason with only six players under contract, with two of those players being Nick Young and Anthony Brown, who don’t appear to be important in the future of the Lakers.
The other Lakers who are signed for next season are D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Lou Williams, and Larry Nance Jr.
Russell and Williams are guards with Randle and Nance Jr. being bigs. Their obvious hole is on the wing and Ingram would be the ideal person to fill that hole.
Russell is the biggest piece of the Lakers’ future that is currently on the roster and the team will have to be built largely around Russell and Ingram if Ingram does indeed land on the Lakers in the draft.
They’d appear to mesh well together from the outset. Russell is a ball-dominant guard who is a very willing and able passer. Both are good shooters who can spread the floor and create their own shot. Having two players with that offensive skill would be an ideal starting point for the Lakers to build around.
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Armed with potentially the most cap space in the league going into free agency, the young duo of Russell and Ingram under new coach Luke Walton could make for a great start to post-Kobe life in Staples Center.
The Lakers can bring back restricted free agent Jordan Clarkson and go after a max-level free agent like Hassan Whiteside to protect the rim, DeMar DeRozan as an extra scoring option, or go after Warriors’ forward Harrison Barnes, keeping him under Walton in hopes of replicating the style of play that has worked so well for the Warriors over the last two seasons.
Even if the Lakers decide against perhaps overpaying one of those players and fill out a roster around Russell and Ingram, allowing their young potential stars to develop as featured players on the team could be beneficial down the road. Allowing that duo, along with Randle, to have bigger roles could speed the development a bit.
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No matter what else the Lakers do in this offseason, there will be much more hope in Los Angeles if Ingram is a part of the team.