After 303 days on the sidelines, Brandon Ingram’s long wait is finally over.
Ingram, the former NBA all-star whose acquisition was the last major move of the Masai Ujiri Era, was set to make his return to action and Raptors debut Monday night.
Toronto hosted the Denver Nuggets in Vancouver to kick off the exhibition season after holding training camp in Calgary. In Alberta, Ingram had been the centre of attention after such a lengthy layoff, with his movements most closely watched during the scrimmage portion of the team’s open practice.
Ingram had been out 27 games when the Raptors traded for him in early February and would miss the rest of the campaign due to his severe ankle injury.
But he has a clean bill of health and is expected to lead the team in scoring as the first option and most effortless bucket-getter.
As RJ Barrett, the top scorer each of the past two seasons put it: “You add Brandon Ingram to the mix, it changes everything.”
Here’s how:
-Ingram instantly becomes one of the smoothest scorers to ever take the court for the Raptors. There’s some DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay (mid-range mastery) to his game, a bit of Vince Carter in Ingram’s ability to fadeaway for open jumpers and a touch of Fred VanVleet in his pull-up prowess (though VanVleet took a lot more pull-up three-pointers than Ingram’s propensity to take two-point versions of those shots).
He has been the best scoring option on nearly every team he has been on since childhood (though New Orleans teammates CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson and a few Lakers might have thought otherwise), only ceding the role in the NBA when LeBron James first went to Los Angeles.
Even then and throughout his career, Ingram has been able to adapt and show that he can distribute the ball well and doesn’t mind mixing up his offence.
Ingram was taught from an early age by one of his mentors, former NBA player and one-time Raptors staffer Jerry Stackhouse, to be a team player.
-Besides the gravity he will provide for the other Raptors by drawing so much attention from defenders, Ingram also can capitalize when the ball gets swung back to him. His catch-and-shoot shooting percentage over the past two years has been nearly identical to high-octane offensive engines like Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Devin Booker, De’Aaron Fox and Jamal Murray.
-Ingram also provides a desperately needed driving threat to Toronto’s offence. He consistently ranks in the top echelon in points off drives (including 11th in 2022-23) and hits well north of 50% of his attempts on drives, something that should expand the possibilities for Darko Rajakovic’s crew.
Last year’s Raptors shot just 44.4% on drives, 29th of 30 teams (New Orleans was 28th and would have been worse than the Raptors if you take away the 18 games Ingram provided shooting 53% on drives).
Barrett drove a ton too for the Raptors, but didn’t finish at an elite level the way Ingram does. Back in 2022-23, that also was the case for Pascal Siakam. In 2021-22 the same could be said for VanVleet (though that year Siakam fared far better at driving, shooting more like Ingram traditionally does. That Raptors offence also badly needed that element).
-Scottie Barnes noted from off-season work with Ingram he has seen another possibility that will present itself from Ingram’s driving — open shots for everyone else.
“He can make any tough shot that’s possible. And he’s been more of a willing passer, where he’s able to drive to the rim or drive to his spots and be able to create for others,” Barnes said.
“He’s phenomenal. He can do so many things on the floor. He’s going to help us a lot this year. He’s going to demand so much attention.”
–Ingram also gives the team another forward option that can get out and run and conduct the offence (similar to how Siakam used to) which should help point guard Immanuel Quickley get closer to the 10 three-point attempts a game he’s aiming for by allowing Quickley to focus on scoring.
-Big picture-wise, Ingram’s the first player the Raptors have had since Kawhi Leonard that is a proven playoff first-option-level scorer. He torched the Suns in 2022, averaging 27 points, 6.2 assists and shooting 41% on three-pointers in a hard-fought series loss to a title contender.
Yes, two years later was a lot tougher, but Ingram was facing an Oklahoma City team a year away from running roughshod on the entire league that featured some of the best defenders on the planet (including primary defender Lu Dort, the menace from Montreal who stifled Ingram) to square off with Ingram.
-You might not see Ingram every night and, if that’s the case, his teammates will have to step up. We’re not saying it’s a Leonard “load management” situation in the making, but given Ingram’s lengthy injury history and the nasty ailment he just came back from, the Raptors will be considering their options.
“We’ll see how pre-season goes,” general manager Bobby Webster said of Ingram’s usage. “We’ll see how he responds to playing 32 minutes a night, 35 minutes a night, so maybe the jury’s out there (on some load management). But no, no current plans on Brandon (getting the full Kawhi treatment).”
Webster was talking about when the real games start, of course. Fans in Vancouver will happily settle for a handful of Ingram minutes and you have to think after so many months away from the game he loves, Ingram will too.
@WolstatSun