Los Angeles Lakers new head coach Luke Walton wants to bring No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram along slowly.
So slowly that Walton doesn't even plan to be starting Ingram at the start of the season.
Despite praising rookie forward Brandon Ingram for his playmaking and versatility, Walton said “we’re not going to throw him into the starting lineup right away” out of concern how he handles a grueling 82-game schedule.
“You develop the young core by rewarding them when they play well,” Walton said. “If there’s 10 games left in the season and out of the playoffs and there’s some vets that played long minutes all season, maybe you play all your young guys to finish out the season. But when you’re going through the season, you’re not doing anyone any favors just by playing young guys so they can play if they’re not out there playing the right way.”
When a player is drafted as high as Ingram at No. 2, usually fans are craving to see that player on the floor as much as possible. For the Lakers, it's not like this is a loaded roster where there is no room for him. The idea is that Ingram can be the franchise's next star.
If Ingram is coming off the bench, that might mean Walton is thinking D'Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Luol Deng, Julius Randle and Timofey Mozgov as his starters, or something similar to that.
With Walton's roots in Golden State, expect plenty of small ball from the Lakers which will mean a demand for more minutes from Ingram, whose length makes him a viable option as a small ball 3-4 type of player potentially.
This might be just a safe move at the end of the day by Walton. There's no reason to start playing Ingram 35-40 minutes a night right out of the gates. He still needs to develop physically and get accustomed to the speed of the NBA game.
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