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Brandon Ingram Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: F
Born: 09/02/97
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:196 lbs. / 88.9 kg.
Salary: $7,265,485
Born: 09/02/97
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:196 lbs. / 88.9 kg.
Salary: $7,265,485
Van Gundy’s reputation as a teacher of the game in 11-plus seasons with the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons has made him a formidable candidate for a young Pelicans roster. The Pelicans — 30-42 and 13th in the Western Conference last season — have a young core that includes Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, as well as veterans Jrue Holiday and JJ Redick. The Pelicans are expected to be a team capable of making significant progress in the standings in the next few years.
Redick wraps up the section relating to the Pelicans by talking about the limitless ceiling of Zion Williamson. He also gives props to Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball for starting to think the game — the most important area of development for players because it can lead to greatness. “It’s All-NBA, All-Star, Hall of Fame. That’s his ceiling. The thing with Zion is that he is naturally — obviously athletic — but naturally skilled. So when he sort of learns how to play the NBA game, and think the NBA game, he’s going to dominate. He does it naturally, without even really putting in the thought and the preparation that we all learned. Like I didn’t do this either when I was 19. It’s a process. Dude, this guy in year five, in year six? Like what are we looking at right now?
“I saw that this year with B.I. — Brandon. B.I., in his fourth year, and Lonzo, in his third year, and you could see that development where they’re thinking the game. They’re learning like ‘oh, this is where my advantage is. I can get away with this almost every night. Let me keep going to that.’ As much as we talk about skill development, that’s where really great players, that’s where the development happens is in thinking the game. That’s what makes one of our teammates, Chris {Paul}, so great. That’s why he can play at the level he can at 35 as an undersized point guard. It’s because he’s so smart and he thinks the game.”
Redick: “I would expect us to compete for a playoff spot next year. There’s room to grow. Even for a guy like Brandon Ingram, who won Most Improved Player and was an All-Star this year. He has such a strong desire to be great and to be one of the greats. I know he’s going to keep working and keep learning and keep getting better. I would expect Zion to be hungry and in shape. Lonzo had a three-month stretch where he was unbelievable with 15 points a game, seven or eight rebounds per game, seven or eight assists per game and shooting 40-something percent from 3. We get that consistency from him through the course of a season, he’s an All-Star level player and a huge difference maker for us.
Ball made some serious strides with his 3-point shot this past season, and it forced teams to start defending him differently. In his first season with the Pels, he made nearly as many 3s (148) as he did in his first two years with the Lakers (165), and he shot a career-best 37.5 percent from deep. It was clear the daily work he put in with Brandon Ingram and assistant coach Fred Vinson was building his confidence with his shot. The issue is it’s hard to tell which Ball was the one we should expect to see next season.
Will Guillory: Pelicans NBA 2K21 ratings: Zion – 86 Brandon Ingram – 86 Jrue Holiday – 83 JJ Redick – 78 Lonzo Ball – 77 Derrick Favors – 77 Jaxson Hayes – 76 Jahlil Okafor – 76 Josh Hart – 75 Nicolo Melli – 75 E’Twaun – 73 Darius Miller – 72 NAW – 71 Kenrich Williams – 71 Frank Jackson – 71
