Brandon Ingram showed once again on Wednesday why the Raptors were willing to give him a three-year, $120MM extension after trading for him in February, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. In a grind-it-out game against Indiana, Ingram hit a game-winning pull-up jump shot over Pascal Siakam, securing Toronto’s ninth straight win and 13th in the past 14 games.
“That’s why I’m here,” Ingram said after a 26-point, eight-rebound night when asked what he was shouting on the court after making that last shot. “That’s the cleanest I can say it.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic:
- Of the Nets‘ five first-round picks, Drake Powell has looked the most ready to contribute as a rookie, says Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The former North Carolina wing finished with 15 points and four assists in 24 minutes during Monday’s loss vs. New York. “As we go, he’s gonna continue to understand the league [and] the schemes, especially defensively,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “I consider him a very, very good defender with a really high ceiling defensively and I’m gonna keep challenging him to be better.”
- With injuries mounting, the Sixers are starting to look more like last year’s version of the team, contends Tony Jones of The Athletic. Philadelphia suffered its worst defeat of the season on Tuesday against Orlando, having been blown out by 41 points. “We got spanked,” star guard Tyrese Maxey said. “That’s all there is to it. There are two or three games every year where everything kind of goes wrong for you. That’s what tonight was for us. Everything went wrong for us, and everything went right for them. Jett Howard had one that went off the top of the backboard and fell through the net. That’s when you just have to realize that it isn’t your night.”
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic takes a look at how Bill Chisholm went from relative obscurity as a wealthy head of a private equity firm to the new majority of the Celtics, the team he grew up rooting for as a child. While Chisholm’s group set a then-record for purchasing the Celtics for $6.1 billion, they outbid the second-place finisher — believed to be Philadelphia Phillies minority owner Stan Middleman — by less than $100MM, sources tell Vorkunov. “Anyone who’s had their boyhood team or girlhood team and have this happen — I want to say it’s like a dream come true but… I didn’t even know to dream this,” Chisholm said. “What does it mean to be the owner of the Boston Celtics? I don’t know.”
No one else was going to give Ingram 40m/yr. It was an overpay. 30m would’ve been max imo.
RAPTORS are a good team, dunno why many in the media easily dismissed them in the offseason rankings.
My issue with this team, BI, Barnes, Barrett (even IQ), they’re all paid like superstars, yet all seems to have reached whatever ceiling they have ……. Barnes is a reluctant no.1 with middling stats, BI isn’t a winning player as seen from his previous stops, both Barrett and IQ are good, not great.
“My issue with this team, BI, Barnes, Barrett (even IQ), they’re all paid like superstars”
Are they? None of them is making more money than OG Anunoby. Who is not a superstar. 2 years from now, Quickley will be making half of what Booker will.
I have absolutely no problem with Barnes being a 25% max guy.
Ingram was overpaid, yes. Not massively, but overpaid.
Barrett’s contract is fine for a starter with his impact.
They were not the ones who gave Quickley that contract. He’s likely overpaid, but lead guards get paid in this league. And his deal is flat, so with each year it’ll take up less of the cap %.
Barnes’, Barrett’s and Ingram’s stats don’t jump out, but all of them have been playing better this season.
1. None of their players are 30 or 35% max guys.
2. They don’t have any bad big long-term contracts like PG in Philly.
3. Apart from their starting 5, every single player on that team is on a vet minimum, or on a rookie-scale deal.
Those 3 factors allow them to be in a decent place financially. And they have a surprisingly young team. Poeltl is the oldest, and he’s only 30. Others are 28 or younger.
It’s more on the ceiling relative to the salaries, is my point ……. I don’t see Barnes nor BI taking any more significant leaps in quality of play, numbers.
BI may take more threes now, but that’s about it. Barnes/RJ will have the occasional stat-stiffer game but will be middling in most. IQ is probably the only one with a chance of taking a leap, like Garland did his All Star years.
They are playing great right now, but this is still a very depleted East now.
I happen to have a job that allows me to watch a lot of basketball. I’ve been watching Toronto. They are the type of team that if you check the stats of their starters and compare them to previous years, it would seem that they are the same players.
But if you watch their full games, all of them look better.
Barnes is playing the best basketball of his career, and is a much better player than Mobley so far this season, for example.
Barett is playing the best basketball of his life, too. The stats don’t show it, but the eye sees it.
Ingram and Quickley have been solid and are contributing to wins. They are not excellent, I wouldn’t say that, but good, solid starters.
Quickley’s, Barrett’s, Ingram’s and Barnes’ usage is down, but they are making more of their opportunities.
Poeltl has actually not looked good compared to last year. It’s a reason to worry for them. But if he returns to his last year’s form, they might even find another gear.
I agree that ideally, they’d want Ingram’s, Quickley’s and Barrett’s salaries to be lower. That would give them more room under the 1st apron.
But I guess their logic as an organization was “We will have this starting 5 that will make contender-like money. And we expect them to perform like a good competitive team in the East”. And to be fair, they are doing that at the moment. Their starters are getting paid more than Miami’s or Orlando’s (Banchero’s extension has not kicked in yet), but less than NYK’s or Cleveland’s.
As long as they are competitive, it doesn’t look bad. If they start to slide and become play-in struggles with that kind of payroll, that will be a different story.
I always find it really obvious the people who watch the Raptors and those who watch pundits from the US talk about the Raptors
I hope Brandon Ingram is finally showing his best. I was surprised the Lakers moved him.
LAKERS got a prime, albeit oft injured AD for BI, Lonzo etc …. got a bubble championship as well.
…as you dismiss them.
Another raptors post for people to hate. Raps do good folks dismiss em, if they couldn’t figure it out people would still bring them up. Mind boggling. Thought more adults have things going on but to hate on a team not even in your jurisdiction is alarming….
I get it, same things happen over on the Warriors articles even 10 years ago when they were winning. People generally love to disparage a team doing well because their own team is not quite meeting expectations.
It’s tough at the top when people are climbing and grabbing trying to pull you down. Go Raptors !!!