Coming into the season, Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram had been talked up by anyone who was around him during the summer. Coaches and teammates alike raved about his progression and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson even said that Ingram should average 20 points this season.
It was a lot of pressure to put on a 20-year-old who had a less-than-stellar rookie season. After some early-season hiccups however, Ingram appears to have turned a corner with a new-found aggressiveness and is beginning to look like the franchise cornerstone the Lakers believe he could be.
That being said, Ingram still has plenty of room to grow and after Wednesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, said that he believes he can still bring more to the table, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Offensively, I think I can bring more to the table. I kind of get to re-energize a little bit. I’m just trying to bring more and more. I think this break is going to definitely help out, especially with trying to see where I can get my shots and be better defensively.”
Ingram added that he hasn’t shown everything he’s wanted to just yet:
“I think I have some more to show. I think this summer I was super confident in what I wanted to do this season and I don’t think it’s all come yet.”
It may not have all come yet, but Ingram has shown serious potential and emerged one of the Lakers’ most reliable scorers. He is much better at absorbing contact at the rim and his confidence is miles ahead of where it was just one year ago.
Ingram is averaging 14.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 45.1 percent, and the fact that he isn’t satisfied with it shows the type of mindset he has. It’s still early so Ingram has plenty of time to show everything he wanted to coming into the season.
His play will be key in the Lakers meeting the goal Kyle Kuzma set forth, which is to make the playoffs this season.
WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION? CHECK OUT THE NEW LAKERSNATION FORUM CLUB