The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and if you want to choose the group of showdowns with the biggest disparity in strength, the Suns and Pelicans will not give up. The Suns have 64 wins and 18 losses in the regular season and the Pelicans have only 36 wins and 46 losses in the regular season, which is as many as 28 wins behind the Suns, and placed in the East, which is the gap between the first Heat in the East and the third-to-last Pacers! Of course, no one was optimistic that the Pelicans could enter the playoffs, and in the eyes of many people, they snatched the position that originally belonged to the Clippers, but the Pelicans showed strong tenacity and impact after the start of the playoffs, and these young people, under the leadership of Willie Green, have begun to impress the outside world. 27 points + 30 points + 37 points, the league's first and the defeated! You were originally the successor to the Lakers.
Ingram was plagued by injuries in the first half of the season, coupled with Zion's long absence from playing, the Pelicans were a rotten team in the first half of the season. But after All-Star Weekend, when Ingram was on the floor, the Pelicans had a 10-3 record! During this period, including a big win over the Suns on the road, a 28-point win over the Lakers, and a 34-point crush on the Jazz, the Pelicans showed terrible offensive power, McClem and Ingram complemented each other inside and out, although McClam sometimes played selfishly, but Ingram was very efficient. Taking the last 4 games as an example, the Pelicans have won 3 of them. Playoffs played the Spurs, Ingram played 30 minutes, 11 of 19 with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists; and in the Clippers game, Ingram insisted on 43 minutes, contributing 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists on 14 of 21; the latest game against the Suns, Ingram played 39 minutes, 13 of 21, bombed 37 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists, and at the critical moment, Ingram led the team to kill the game! I can't imagine that the Lakers did not qualify for the playoffs, and Ingram led the team to cut through the thorns!
He's not yet 25 years old! From the current point of view, if the Lakers are willing to take out thick eyebrows, can they change to the original 7 chips? Hart + Ball + Ingram + 3 first-round picks + 1 first-round swap! If I were to stand in my point of view, now this glassy thick eyebrow can be exchanged for a stable Ingram, thank goodness. Things started at the beginning of 19 years, when thick eyebrows were in the Pelicans, coupled with rich Paul's encouragement, the Lakers were also actively approaching thick eyebrows, causing the Lakers' young players to panic. Initially, the Lakers were reluctant to use Ingram as one of the chips to participate in the thick eyebrow trade, but the Pelicans insisted on Ingram, not Kuzma. In this case, thick eyebrows and Lakers eyebrows have been going around for a long time. In the offseason, Kuzma helped the Lakers draw the No. 4 pick, the Lakers' first-round pick suddenly became very attractive, and finally the Pelicans agreed to the deal, and now the time has passed, and the only one who remains with the Pelicans is Ingram!
To be honest, looking back at the original deal, it can only be said that the Lakers' purpose was achieved, because they got thick eyebrows and successfully won the 19-20 championship. But the young talented players that the Lakers have accumulated in the post-Kobe era have all been squandered. From the initial Randall, Russell, Thomas Bryant, to the back of Ingram, Ball, Hart, and then to the last two years to leave Kuzma, Caruso and other people, if they were left at the beginning, maybe the Lakers could not win the championship in the past 3 years, but the Lakers can be said to be one of the most competitive teams in the next 5-10 years. Among them, Ingram's talent is the highest, as a 16-year list, Ingram's advantage is very obvious, the arm span reaches 2 meters 21, it is difficult for ordinary people to limit, there is projection, delicate technology, there is a stable finishing ability, relatively speaking, his figure is a little thin, when he was in the Lakers, he was not less ridiculed by the media to play soft, and was considered not suitable for partner James, holding the ball too much, delaying the rhythm of the game. But is he really so bad?
Not necessarily. In the Pelicans' first season, Ingram averaged 23.8 points per game to reach the All-Star, and in the offseason, the Pelicans immediately sent a five-year, $158 million cap. Last season, the Pelicans had a bad record, but Ingram was able to maintain an average of 23.8 points per game, his assists were increasing, his shooting efficiency was improving, but he didn't get enough tactical attention, and the Pelicans had already reached the knee for Zion. This season, Zion has been on a long sideline and has become a fat man of nearly 300 pounds, and although Ingram was plagued by injuries in the first half of the season, after the All-Star Weekend, the Pelicans' winning rate has exceeded 80%! Ingram dared to stand up at key moments, playing the Clippers, from Little Morris to Covington to Mann, no less against Ingram, but it could not limit Ingram's misalignment advantage, quite Durant's taste; playing the Suns, Bridges, as the top defender on the league flank, could not limit Ingram, and now who said that Ingram played soft? Moreover, he is still young, and there is still a lot of room for improvement!
Leaving the Lakers is a good thing for Ingram, in the past 3 years, Ingram has been fully trained and improved in the Pelicans, whether it is the ability to lead the team, or the efficiency of the attack, including his vision and overall view, Ingram has slowly moved from an All-Star to a superstar, and he needs the key battle experience of this level in the playoffs. No matter how far the Pelicans can go this season, it is enough to satisfy the fans, and Ingram can already carry the team forward. For the Lakers, all that is left now is the old, weak, sick and disabled, and their first-round signing will not be used until 27 years, and it is not ruled out that they will continue to increase high-quality chips to send away Wei Shao, which can be described as a mess. The Lakers left early, but Ingram, Russell, Caruso, Andowe continued to work hard, and Ingram should have been the successor of this Lakers.