‘I want to come here and be a sponge, shift the culture, make it a winning culture and come in here and just listen.’
Brandon Ingram is thrilled for a new start and eager to prove to those who might not remember that there was a reason he was once the second pick of the NBA draft and an all-star.
Ingram was introduced to the Toronto media fresh off his new three-year, $120 million U.S. contract becoming official and ahead of the Raptors taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ingram said he loves the city of Toronto and thinks he’ll fit in well with the team as well. “I just felt that I needed a fresh start. A fresh start somewhere where guys played hard and they listened,” Ingram said. “I heard good things about Scottie (Barnes), I heard good things about (Immanuel) Quickley and I thought it was a good fit offensively and defensively. And Darko (Rajakovic) had a part in that too,” he said.
Ingram averaged just shy of 25 points a game only two seasons ago, and was putting up 22.2 a night in 18 games before injuring his ankle back in December. He thinks Toronto will bring out the best in him and put him back on the map.
“First thing that I heard (from the Raptors) is they want to make me an all-star again and I’m going to be a big part of what they do moving forward,” Ingram said. “I want to come here and learn. I want to come here and be a sponge, shift the culture, make it a winning culture and come in here and just listen. Do whatever coach needs me to do and go out and try to be an example every single day,” he said.
“I feel like in New Orleans, the media coverage isn’t great. Most of the U.S. or global (don’t pay much attention to the Pelicans). I’ve been not talked about a lot. I’ve been injured a little bit, so you know, I’ve been forgotten a little bit,” said the soft-spoken Ingram. “I feel like coming to Toronto, like I have a good chance to sprout a little bit.”
But don’t expect to see him anytime soon. While Ingram said he’s been in the weight room and trying to ramp himself back up, it has been two months since he’s been on the court and it will take some time (plus the franchise has made it clear it will give players plenty of extra time to recover this season since attaining a high draft pick is priority one).
“I have no timetable right now,” Ingram said. “It’s going to take a little bit to get my conditioning together, but hopefully soon.”
Rajakovic, the team’s head coach, sounded more cautious.
“The most important thing with him right now is to get him healthy. We want to be very smart with that approach, we are going to take approach of two weeks and re-assess after two weeks to find out how he is progressing and what is the next stage for him,” Rajakovic said.
“We want him healthy, we want him to be in the best shape and I’m not even sure if he’s going to be able to finish this season, play some games or not but we want to do right away is get him in the best possible position to be successful going into the summer and next season.”
Next season and beyond is what the Raptors are thinking about. The final third of this season is just something to get out of the way and an opportunity to get ahead of what comes next.
And Ingram will be at the forefront of that.
“Brandon wanted to be here,” said Raptors general manager Bobby Webster. “We’ve been big fans of his for many years, dating back to high school and college days. We’re very fortunate to be able to bring him on board. It’s an important step as we rebuild this roster, continue to add talent to the core here.”
Ingram will need to be able to play a healthy amount of games (other than this season) for the trade — and the ensuing moves that will need to be made to keep the team’s salary situation in order long-term. It’s an understandable gamble, albeit one that carries risks based on Ingram’s injury history and the upside of the roster, barring lottery luck. For now though, there’s optimism around the franchise, and it’s been a while since you could say that.
@WolstatSun