Brandon Ingram: Number One

Mitch Kupchak definitely played it cool when he told the media he considered the Lakers' 2016 draft pick lost before actually winning it on May 17th. However, anyone paying attention knew it was obviously the plan from the beginning of the season to lose as much as possible to keep the previously mentioned pick. The Lakers were savvy enough to realize that they could cater to Kobes fanbase while losing enough to keep their traded draft picks in the lottery. The team is in desperate need of an infusion of young talent. The Lakers have glaring holes positionally that this draft could fill and its safe to say that players as a whole have cooled a bit on Los Angeles as a free agent destination. Regardless, the Lakers were perhaps blessed by the basketball gods for Byron’s firing(or his wink last year), which landed them the second pick. So what should the Lakers actually do with the pick? They need to select Brandon Ingram, the 6’9, 195 pound small forward from Duke. If I had to sum up Ingram with one word, I’d say versatile. It’s really his secret weapon, matching his placid, silent demeanor. Versatile is a word that could describe another draft prospect, the elephant in the room, Ben Simmons. It’s sadly impossible to talk about how great of a prospect Ingram is without mentioning his contemporaries in this draft just due to how top heavy this draft class is, but I’ll keep it to a minimum. LSU alum Ben Simmons is who most would consider not only the best prospect in the draft but also the most "versatile", the word I chose to describe Ingram with. Why pick should the Laker use the pick on Ingram then? What are these analysts, these scouts, these writers, missing? Why shouldn’t the Lakers simply choose Ben Simmons?

Well first of all, because the Lakers probably won't have the chance to pick Simmons anyway. Ben Simmons is probable to be taken with the first pick by the Philadelphia 76ers. This may be a blessing in disguise, giving the Lakers the better long term prospect, without any of the responsibility of a first pick. I really believe Brandon Ingram is going to be the better player. As I said previously, his versatility and room to grow is off the charts. His already established repertoire of go-to scoring ability, wingspan, 3 point stroke, youth, court vision, high basketball IQ, isolation play, facilitation of the ball, and defense can only be made better, more evolved and refined. Ingram has an established toolbox full of offensive threats, but one non-talent related gift cannot be understated and that's Ingram's god-given length.

I'm the only one, but I think the new Spiderman in Captain America: Civil War was trash. They should have cast Brandon Ingram. His arachnid wingspan of 7'3 is 5 inches longer than the average small forward that is drafted, the position he's most likely play to play for the Lakers. This length is useful everywhere on the court. You don't learn a 7'3 wingspan but you for sure gotta learn how to use it effectively, and Ingram did all year while being counted on as the go-to option in Coach K's offensive system at Duke. He averaged 17 points, almost 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and a steal, in 34.6 minutes per game. Not the flashiest of stat lines, but I love his efficiency. He did this with a field goal percentage of 44% and while shooting the three at a great rate, 41%. Ingrams stroke is silkly smooth and effortless.

His shooting form reminds me of a certain Warriors player, where even when it doesn't go in, you just felt like it should have. The form is all there. Like all college prospects, he'll have to adjust to the NBA 3 point line, but it's an adjustment that a shooter like him should be able to make, especially if a worse shooter like Anthony Davis could semi-do it. Most of the draft media says this will be Ingrams bread and butter, utilizing obvious mismatches and shooting the ball at a high rate. This is where the Kevin Durant comparisons come into play. Long body, slim frame, can shoot the three. I do see a different path for Ingram in the modern NBA, I don't think he'll be as cut and dry as most assume, but scoring the 3 ball at his height doesn't get old in the NBA, obviously.

Speaking of getting old, Ingram was born in 1997. Is anyone else weirded out about that? I'm really getting old, 23 is the new 50. Brandon Ingram won't even be the age of fellow draft prospect Buddy Hield until 2019. Just think about that. Brandon Ingram was in a weird position in relation to basketball when he was younger. He was a lot like Anthony Davis developmentally, in that he was a late bloomer. He shot up in height while attending high school but still remained the point guard of his team, handling and distributing the ball. Everything I've read and seen about him indicates that he's a player that bloomed late, but has been on the rise ever since and hasn't stopped getting better. His youth, relative to this draft and otherwise, cannot be understated here. This young fella is literally turning 19, THIS YEAR. I don't want to fully harp on this Anthony Davis comparison, but he may have half an inch still in him. At around 6'10, with his quick first step, his predisposition for throwing his skinny frame into the paint and his 3 point range, he would be a nightmare for his opposition just about everywhere on the court. Analysts have seen him more as a safe floor pick in this draft. Someone you can plug n' play for almost any team, given his skill set. It certainly helps that that is an option for your team if you select him, but I also think Ingram is on an upward shot to being a much better player. This belief in him ties into the versatility I've been preaching. Ingram is already a well rounded player with a solid foundation in most aspects of the game. His intelligence may prove to be very important in amalgamating these skills and gifts into a basketball Voltron.

Recent draft reports show that Ingram drew out a pretty crafty play for himself at a workout that impressed the coaches around him. I realize basketball players are underestimated when it comes to what they know of the game and they're understanding of it. But Ingram has to deal with a new coach, a new offensive and defensive system, a new staff and a new culture. It's critical that the players on the Lakers not only have a high basketball IQ, they also have to be able to work on an almost wholly new team. Ingram has only been praised for this intangible. Everyone from his high school coach to Jerry Stackhouse to Coach K at Duke speaks highly and freely of Ingram's command of the game, his understanding of every position and his role in relation to them.

Something thats fallen out of favor with the media in favor of stats is attitude, body language, and intangibles in general. I mentioned intelligence before, but I'm referring to a larger scope of potential pipedreams. I think Ingram has huge "Bill Simmons appeal" with the Lakers younger kids on the team. Meaning, his demeanor and attitude will take him far in this league. I'm the loser watching every one of Jordan Clarksons snaps, F5'ing D'angelos Instagram and staring at players body language during games for answers, live in Staples or on TV. I don't put too much emphasis on it but I'm very interested in social dynamics in a work or team atmosphere. A teams culture and a teams every day attitude are what's pointed to by a lot of players when they're asked about what changed them from an okay team to a good one, a good team to a great one. Especially in the current NBA, with teams like the Cavaliers and the Warriors becoming dominant once they became in-sync socially. Same with the Thunder, who suddenly looked like a 80 win team in the playoffs after the "who's the leader though?" narratives died out. I think despite being younger, Ingram's maturity will mesh VERY well with Walton's coaching style and personality. From what we've seen of him, Ingram seems to be a Kawhi Leonard type, more like Tim Duncan than Kenyon Martin or Kevin Garnett. He's a soft spoken killer, the silent assassin archetype. Fellas that aren't going to tell you the deal, they're gonna show you. They're going to learn and adjust because that's in their nature: to be coached and to make the change. Ingram is a smart kid and it shows in his work ethic and decision making. I know in LA the fans are looking for a Kobe-esque personality but Kobe obviously wasn't always the "Black Mamba" and the Lakers don't need another "me first" personality in the locker room. They need a scoring anchor for their young core, someone who's just going to do what you ask of him. I don't think D'angelo Russell is wrong for questioning Byron Scott last year, everyone did, we all did. But he could have easily handled himself much better throughout the season. Ingram won't have pitfalls in team chemistry like that.

Perhaps my belief in Ingrams improvement comes from that, his ability to adjust and his acquiescence to his team before his ego. This plays into another big knock on Ingram, his twiggy frame. He stands at 6'9 and weighs around 195 starting out this year. Your average small forward drafted is only a little bigger than that in weight, but your average small forward also isn't as tall as Ingram, so it's not a necessity for them. He'll obviously have to put on a lot of muscle mass but this is the easiest part of building your game. Any idiot can put in some reps. Ingram will be drafted and then immediately exiled and locked into a weight room for the off season. He'll put the weight on, eventually. He knows he has to, the world knows he has to. This will obviously greatly affect his game overall, but Ingrams isolation plays should see a lot of improvement. At Duke, he frequently would go right at bigger defenders, despite his thin frame. The fella looked fearless, it didn't make sense. I would see this skinny light skin Jack Skellington somehow press his way through a thick necked defender and finish. I would marvel while he danced his bag of bones around this boulder in front of him to score. Even on smaller guards, Ingram would work them and light them up with a variety of moves and great footwork. This is my favorite part of Ingram's offensive game. He grew up playing against older, tougher kids and it shows. How big you are does not phase him at all, he's coming at you. So Ingram's lack of muscle is a problem, but a very fixable one. Compare this one negative on Ingram to Ben Simmons' lack of a shot. Which will take longer to correct? Look at Kevin Durant in college. Look at Kevin Garnett out of his senior year in Chicago. Look at Tyson Chandler coming out of Compton. How long until those players bulked up to appropriately play their individual games?

Players like Tyson Chandler have cut their teeth on defense and they still looked like sticks coming into the league. I think Ingram has a ridiculous amount of defensive potential, he's a walking mismatch that creates so many problems for an offense, even a fluid, switch-heavy offense like the Golden State Warriors are running. You can switch him to multiple positions and with his safety-net length, he's going to be fine. Defense is your placement in a scheme and individual effort. Luke Walton will definitely press defense as practice as much as possible and Ingrams effort in improving cannot be questioned yet. This is a prediction not too many people are talking about, but I really think Ingram can be a lockdown defender in this league. His movements and length remind me of a Tayshaun Prince-esque player, as a ceiling. Ingram could be the ultimate 3 and D archetype. KD comparisons are inevitable here as well, if you're talking about Ingrams potential, especially with how well Durant is playing in the playoffs, defensively. I love how the media suddenly realizes it now that it's shoved in their face. ESPN writer Zack Lowe even said that if KD decided, he could turn into a top 5 defensive player next season. While I definitely won't say that in regards to Ingram, his ceiling is still skyscraper high.

The fit Ingram has on the Lakers, even the fit with the entirety of the NBA, can't be understated. The Lakers lucked into a situation where their draft pick very well could be the best fit for their current team and also the best player available. Since the dawn of man, teams have been criticized for picking a player for fit instead of the best player available, but the Lakers just have to do the no brainer layed out before them and take Ingram. The biggest hole in their young core is a dynamic wing. The Lakers have a ball handler with vision in D'Angelo Russell, they have a rebounding big man with a handle in Julius Randle, they have a scoring combo guard in Jordan Clarkson, they have a solid work-in-progess center with Ivica Zubac and even a Swiss army knife big man off the bench in Larry Nance Jr. I predict that these young fellas will mesh well with the veterans the Lakers picked up in the offseason whether starting or staggered. Ingram is an integral piece in this puzzle, providing more scoring, more distribution of the ball, solid defense due to his wingspan and more raw talent that the Lakers are in need of. It's a weirdly simple decision for a team that's been faced with so many difficult ones in the past 3 seasons. It's almost like the Lakers were given it. For certain "basketball reasons", perhaps. Ultimately, I feel the Lakers will pick Brandon Ingram for real basketball reasons, because he's their best option.