Brandon Ingram’s Toronto Raptors Debut Was INSANE!

Brandon Ingram’s Toronto Raptors Debut Was INSANE!

I’m going to say it. I’m already sold on Brandon Ingram. It’s been a while since the Raptors have had a player like this and it was absolutely fun to watch. Just so smooth on offense. His ability to shot create, get you a bucket. I felt comfortable and confident watching Ingram play. like as soon as he had the ball in his hands, you knew he was going to get you a bucket or at least give you a good shot at getting you a basket. Now you see why the Raptors traded for a guy like this. You need a guy who can go out there and get you instant offense. And Brandon Ingram has a chance to just completely uplift this Raptors team. And it didn’t take long for him to make a big impact. Right out of the gate, you saw him hit the three. But Brandon Ingram, in his first game with the Toronto Raptors, making his preseason debut, in his first game in 10 months, may I add, had 19 points in 22 minutes. He had two assists, a rebound, six of 12 from the field, missed a couple of shots he usually makes. You got to think, first game in 10 months and he still put up 19 points in 22 minutes. Wait till he shakes off the rust. Wait till he gets 17 shots in a game. He had 12 in this one. There’s a world where Brandon Ingram could average 25 plus points for this team. Now, I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. I want to temper my expectations here. Clearly, I’m excited. It is the preseason, so got to temper my expectations a tad bit here. But I like what I see. I believe in what I see. I’ve said this going in that I think Ingram has been getting slept on by the national media, especially people forgetting who this guy is. Of course, the biggest narrative with Ingram is health, but I do believe and I still believe now more than ever that if Brandon Ingram stays healthy, he’s going to be the type of guy who I think he can be for this Toronto Raptors team. I said this is going to be Brandon Ingram’s basketball team, and a lot of people thought that was a wild take when I said it. I don’t think it’s going to be long until we’re going to be saying that as the season progresses because Brandon Ingram is that guy. He is that end of clock, end of game go-to guy. You need a bucket, you need somebody to go get you a basket, he’s going to be the guy who’s going to be featured in this offense. And it comes virtually easily to him. Like when you look at Brandon Ingram play, it looks like he just it comes easy, right? Like it’s just like a it’s almost like a like a shade of Kevin Durant when you watch Brandon Ingram play with how smooth he is offensively. And I love watching BI play like it’s very aesthetically pleasing and you saw that we’re going to roll you know these full highlights here. Brandon Ingram is smooth with the basketball. He is just able to self-create, get himself in a position where he’s going to score here from the start, you know, hitting a three. If he gets that three ball to fall, that’s just going to add another dimension to scoring. I mean, he is a three-level scorer. He can score from anywhere on the floor. This was a nice decision right here. Nice read. Instead of forcing something when the extra defender came, he finds R.J., who, by the way, shout out to R.J., He was the other highlight in this one. Brandon Ingram right there able to get the basket, gets to his spot, finishes and then beautiful job by Ingram. He had a a couple of nice, very nice cuts in this game. And that was one of them recognizing the situation, cutting to the basket, getting an easy score. And then Ingram, like this is just cash money. And then another nice cut. Brandon Ingram gets to the basket and one. This is Brandon Ingram hoops. And and I’m excited that we’re going to enter a Raptor season where I get to see Brandon Ingram hoops because this is the number one option for the Toronto Raptors. You see it, it’s as clear as day. There’s going to be a lot of offense running through Ingram and you know Brandon Ingram is going to get many opportunities on offense with this team and we can see what he does when he’s locked in and especially you know when he’s going to be surrounded by guys who can make shots like that right there. And then look at this just Ingram again selfcreating getting inside sticking with it and finishing the play. Again, it is very early. It is one preseason game, but you have to feel very excited about what’s to come with Brandon Ingram in this Toronto Raptors offense. A guy who is going to be the focal point. You already saw it in this one. He was tied with RJ in terms of taking the most shots. I do see a world where Ingram is going to get, you know, he should easily have 17 15 17 shots a game. I mean, when he’s hot, even more definitely. And you look at this, it was interesting because the one-two punch ended up being Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett, and it worked out well. Of course, the biggest or not the biggest talking point because that would be Brandon Ingram. The other talking point was Scotty Barnes. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say it’s over. Like, what’s going on with Barnes? What is he doing? But, I mean, he wasn’t good on offense. Let’s call it Spade a Spade. It was not good seeing Scotty Barnes muster up just one point on 0 of six shooting from the field. Defensively, Barn’s going to be as advertised. He continues to do a really good job on that end, but offensively, it was interesting to see kind of him being invisible and go away and not be impactful on offense with Ingram. So, obviously, that’s going to be a partnership that needs time to mesh over time. And hopefully those two guys can build some camaraderie and encore chemistry because in theory that’s supposed to be your one-two punch. So that’s something to monitor going forward here. But I I think seeing Ingram step into this situation after being out for so long and have the type of game that he did, it is promising. And I I think the more he gets comfortable, the more he gets back into game speed because again is a guy who hasn’t played in a very long time, we’re going to see the results. I think we are going to see the big offensive performances. We are going to see the offense go through him. We are going to see the stretches where Ingram’s going to take over. We’re going to see individual offensive play, I think, that we haven’t seen since Kawhai. a guy who can really much carry his basketball team and get the offense going in a big way and be that guy you lean on in big moments in crunch time etc etc. So it is very promising to see Ingram to get out to the start. Of course, health is the biggest thing and that I remain I won’t say skeptical, but I know Ingram is going to be a very good player with the Toronto Raptors. The one thing that holds me back from saying it definitively is the health risk because it’s a guy who hasn’t been able to stay healthy. You look at his track record, but if this is the season where he does put it together from a health standpoint, there’s good people here who can make that happen. and Alex McKnney did it once with a injury-prone Kawhi Leonard. If health is there, I really can’t see Brandon Ingram not being effective on this Toronto Raptors team. He’s a special offensive talent and you see it when you watch him play and you see the highlights and you see the, you know, him in live action. So, that is the biggest thing with Ingram. But, I mean, this is the type of start you want to see. you want to continue to see Ingram get right before the season when the games begin and count for real. Other than that, RJ I thought brought it like I mentioned. And then I want to give a shout out to Mamu. I mean, if this is what we’re going to give for Mamu, man, do the Raptors ever ace that uh signing that that could end up being a one of the best signings when looking back at it. I mean, I don’t know if he’s going to keep this up. six of eight from the field, 15 points in 22 minutes, but he’s going to get opportunities to play, right? Backing up Yaka Purtole in the depth chart. So, that’s something else to look uh for. But all in all, Brandon Ingram, his Raptors debut, it was pretty insane to see finally come to fruition. It was a moment we had all been waiting for and it happened. Let me know your thoughts, guys, down below. Drop a like on the video. Smash that subscribe button for more. That is it for me. It’s Luke signing off. Thanks for watching.

I’m already sold on Brandon Ingram.

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