Raptors forward Brandon Ingram had some “aggravation” in his injured left ankle, which led to last week’s PRP injection, Josh Lewenberg of TSN tweets. Ingram added that “things are trending in the right way.”
Ingram, acquired from New Orleans at the trade deadline, will have to wait until next season to make his Raptors debut. He played his last game on Dec. 7, when he was injured against Oklahoma City.
We have more on the Raptors:
- When Ingram returns, coach Darko Rajakovic doesn’t want the high-scoring forward to shy away from taking mid-range shots, according to Lewenberg (Twitter links). “I told Brandon I don’t want to change him… He needs to be himself,” Rajakovic said. “People are always going to talk about, oh, mid-range… Brother, if you can make a shot from that position, go for it.”
- The head coach also considers Scottie Barnes the team’s leader at both ends of the floor. “Scottie Barnes is a unicorn. I love Scottie Barnes. I love everything he does,” Rajakovic said. “Scottie Barnes is the reason our defense was so good and improving this season because Scottie Barnes puts so much into it.”
- Members of the organization are happy with the way Barnes has embraced that leadership role, Lewenberg writes for TSN.ca. “[Leadership] is never easy but I’m really willing to learn,” Barnes said. “And then you take things that you see from other people, as well, and you find ways to [implement] it. It’s all about being comfortable and I feel comfortable talking to these guys. We’re a great team and we get along with each other really well, so it makes it easy.”
- Although Toronto only won 30 games, the core players are very optimistic about next season, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes. Barnes expects to be preparing for the postseason at this time next year. “My expectations for the team? I expect us to be really good,” he said. “For sure getting into the playoffs and make a great run. With the team that we have, there are no excuses. We should be in the playoffs and make a good run.”
Boucher is a FA. Wouldn’t mind seeing him on Knicks next year…….
Best thing that can happen to Toronto. Is drafting Maluach. If he is gone. They should go after Queen.
CB has been a good Rap and deserves to go win a championship somewhere. He’d be a good Knick for 3x$10 mill as a 6th-7th man off the bench.
Raps def need a good young backup C. If they get Khaman they should look to flip Poetl and get a solid backup C that can play 20 min a night and use that money somewhere else.
Boucher is a minimum salary guy now, but totally worth it. I’d be happy to have him back on the Raptors next year.
The team nobody wants to play next season.
Depends on how the off-season goes. If they can improve their C depth and get a stretch big then yes.
How do you not play for nearly 4 months? For your ankle? Ingram ain’t getting another contract.