Lakers Should Go For Brandon Ingram

With a chance to redirect their future, the Lakers may choose to go with Brandon Ingram.

The Los Angeles Lakers are having a dreadful year up to this point but if that top 3 protected pick holds up, they will have another golden opportunity to draft Duke freshman standout Brandon Ingram instead of Ben Simmons.

Don’t get me wrong, Simmons is a great young player, but he just doesn’t fit with this Lakers team. Simmons is anemic outside of the paint and can’t shoot the ball.

The thought of having Simmons and Julius Randle on the court at the same time makes me cringe already.

Also, Simmons shows no effort at times on the defensive end and we all know Byron Scott isn’t going for that.

Simmons is tremendously gifted physically on both ends of the court but at times the effort isn’t there.

However, Duke’s freshman forward Brandon Ingram is a really good all around player that fits this Laker team like Cinderella’s missing slipper.

Ingram has so much skill offensively — he shoots 39 percent from three and once he gets hot, water doesn’t cool him off.

Ingram is often compared to Kevin Durant by his style of play and it’s a fair comparison.

Additionally, Ingram can also take opponents off the dribble when needed but more importantly spreading the floor is a fab in today’s NBA.

And with the how the Lakers are set up with pass first point guard D’Angelo Russell, the pick and pop style of offense would work perfectly with Ingram and Russell.

Defensively, Ingram has the potential to be a star on both ends of the court. Earlier in the season, he recorded a career high 6 blocks and on the season he averages 1.7 blocks per game and 1.6 steals per game.

Also, he has quick feet defensively and shows the potential to be a really good on ball defender going forward.

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Unfortunately, right now Ingram has a very frail and delicate body that he will need to fill in at the next level. And if you haven’t seen him play I will compare his body type to Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But even with all the criticism about Durant’s weight, it hasn’t stopped him from becoming league MVP.

With that being said, I don’t think Ingram’s weight will be an issue; it goes well with his style of play.

Ingram will fit well playing with Julius Randle. Randle needs the spacing to operate in the paint and with Ingram being a legit threat on the perimeter, it gives Randle much more one on one opportunities.

Next: 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend Predictions

I’m not going to sit here and say Ingram will be a better player than Simmons, I’m just stating Ingram will be a better fit for this particular Lakers team going forward due to his offensive abilities.