Minnesota Sports Forum

I still take Ingram if he's on the board. His shooting is desperately needed and his length should help him from getting torched too much on defense even though he's skinny. I think you put 20-30 lbs on him and he becomes a very valuable guy to us. I'm not a fan of Simmons because he can't shoot and I'm tired of having guys who can't shoot. It just makes life that much harder to be able to run a good offense. Ricky, Wiggins and Simmons on the floor at the same time would be a big problem. I'd see what we could get for Simmons if we landed the top pick and hope he could land us Ingram and another piece or even an established guy like Cousins.

khans2k5 wrote:I still take Ingram if he's on the board. His shooting is desperately needed and his length should help him from getting torched too much on defense even though he's skinny. I think you put 20-30 lbs on him and he becomes a very valuable guy to us. I'm not a fan of Simmons because he can't shoot and I'm tired of having guys who can't shoot. It just makes life that much harder to be able to run a good offense. Ricky, Wiggins and Simmons on the floor at the same time would be a big problem. I'd see what we could get for Simmons if we landed the top pick and hope he could land us Ingram and another piece or even an established guy like Cousins.

I agree that at least it appears he can knock down the outside shot. He also seems to have a good handle and some craftiness to his game. The dude could eventually be a big-time scorer.

In terms of his weight, are we sure he'll put on 20-30 pounds? Some guys that come into the league skinny stay that way and others have a frame that allow them to pack on a lot more weight. That would be a big issue to me in evaluating his long-term potential defensively. He definitely has elite length and perhaps he's one of these "he's still growing!" cases.

I would go Ben Simmons and not look back. To skilled to pass up. Ingram will be good, but I will take the Simmons. He is such a good rebounder and when he gets the rebound he can push the fast break. That would just make Wiggins, LaVine, and Shabazz that much more effective. I would see him as a SF to start his career.

I hope we have a chance to choose.

It's not a perfect comparison for either, but for the sake of the argument, who would you rather have? Ingram who could be the next Durant (or Durant-lite, which is still really damn good) or Simmons who could be the next Blake Griffin. Keep in mind that you're choosing for a team that's already abysmal in shooting prowess.

Also, Q, I'm curious as to why you think Ingram's a poor defender, or rather why you think he won't be a good defender at the NBA level? You're a very big Giannis fan if I remember correctly. He uses his length to bother everyone on the court. From what I've seen, the same is true for Ingram. To support that belief, he's averaging 1.5 BPG and 1.3 SPG on the season while usually being matched up with opposing power forwards in Duke's small ball lineup.

As for weight concerns, the guy just turned 18 in early September. He's the second-youngest prospect in the class behind Dragan Bender. He also put on 23 pounds since July 1st, so, he's no where near done transforming his body. I think you have to look at the tools the kid has already and once again think of the player he'll be in two to five years. That kid is going to be a handful.

Ingram's last 10 games: 19.2 PTS, 7.0 REB, 1.9 AST, 1.7 TOV, 1.7 BLK & 1.5 STL in 36 minutes on 53.5% from 2 & 45.5% from 3 (6.6 3PAs).

Man this is looking like a solid draft and we should be able to take BPA and fit fill a need.

Camden0916 wrote:It's not a perfect comparison for either, but for the sake of the argument, who would you rather have? Ingram who could be the next Durant (or Durant-lite, which is still really damn good) or Simmons who could be the next Blake Griffin. Keep in mind that you're choosing for a team that's already abysmal in shooting prowess.

Also, Q, I'm curious as to why you think Ingram's a poor defender, or rather why you think he won't be a good defender at the NBA level? You're a very big Giannis fan if I remember correctly. He uses his length to bother everyone on the court. From what I've seen, the same is true for Ingram. To support that belief, he's averaging 1.5 BPG and 1.3 SPG on the season while usually being matched up with opposing power forwards in Duke's small ball lineup.

As for weight concerns, the guy just turned 18 in early September. He's the second-youngest prospect in the class behind Dragan Bender. He also put on 23 pounds since July 1st, so, he's no where near done transforming his body. I think you have to look at the tools the kid has already and once again think of the player he'll be in two to five years. That kid is going to be a handful.

Cam it's very difficult to do comps for these guys and yet I thought you did a good job except you seemed to not qualify Simmons compared to Blake Griffin. To be fair Simmons is a much better prospect than Blake was his freshman year and has a more rounded out game. Obviously Blake is a terrific player now (when healthy not punching people) but Simmons looks to me like a guy that can do so much more than Blake could. Ironically I heard this morning on the radio there was some likely crackpot talk of OKC and Clippers swapping Durant and Blake. Lol

Simmons is a bigger LeBron. He is a much better passer and has a way better handle.

Camden wrote:It's not a perfect comparison for either, but for the sake of the argument, who would you rather have? Ingram who could be the next Durant (or Durant-lite, which is still really damn good) or Simmons who could be the next Blake Griffin. Keep in mind that you're choosing for a team that's already abysmal in shooting prowess.

Also, Q, I'm curious as to why you think Ingram's a poor defender, or rather why you think he won't be a good defender at the NBA level? You're a very big Giannis fan if I remember correctly. He uses his length to bother everyone on the court. From what I've seen, the same is true for Ingram. To support that belief, he's averaging 1.5 BPG and 1.3 SPG on the season while usually being matched up with opposing power forwards in Duke's small ball lineup.

As for weight concerns, the guy just turned 18 in early September. He's the second-youngest prospect in the class behind Dragan Bender. He also put on 23 pounds since July 1st, so, he's no where near done transforming his body. I think you have to look at the tools the kid has already and once again think of the player he'll be in two to five years. That kid is going to be a handful.

I'd prefer to trade out the pick if it's top 2 or 3 for a young stud vet, similar to the Love for Wiggins trade, except we'd be on the other side of that coin. Now the devil is in the details, so it's all about who could we get for a top 3 pick? If it's not someone who can clearly complement Wiggins and Towns and make an immediate positive impact, than forget about it.

As for Ingram's defense, I honestly haven't watched him much. I'm basing my impressions on Duke's overall porous defense plus some of the scouting reports on him. My impression is that he is an offense-first kind of guy and his skinny frame certainly doesn't help matters. Not to mention that even great college defenders need at least a year or two of NBA seasoning before they become skilled pro defenders. I'm tired of having a bunch of "projects" defensively - he seems like yet another one, but I'm willing to have an open mind.

bleedspeed177 wrote:Simmons is a bigger LeBron. He is a much better passer and has a way better handle.

I think you're seriously downplaying the prospect LeBron was, actually... Simmons' handle and passing ability are very good, could even say great, but to say "much better" than LeBron's is a mighty stretch, in my opinion.

Here's the glaring difference between Ben and LeBron... Ben can't shoot anything outside of unguarded free throws. Bron hit 35% of his threes (1.4 - 3.9) in his second year with the Cavs and has hovered around that mark all his career. Ben is never going to be that type of guy, and to me, it brings him down a bit.

Also, I think Ben's game translates more to a Griffin/Green type power forward. Bigs that get the rebound and go. He's much, much better guarding bigs than he is wing players as well. It also gives him a bigger advantage on offense going against slower PFs. Not to mention it somewhat hides his shooting woes too.