Brandon Ingram has never found his perfect fit. In Los Angeles, the weight of being the "next Kevin Durant" made it impossible for him to live up to expectations. In New Orleans, his role was never clear, and consistent injuries to himself and his teammates kept him from fully blossoming into the star role that he clearly has the talent to occupy.
Thus, the Raptors have an important Brandon Ingram question they need to address early on; what exactly is his role with this team? Who do the Raptors and head coach Darko Rajakovic want Brandon Ingram to be?
He's improved his playmaking considerably in recent years (over five assists per game each of the past four seasons); do they want him to be a secondary ball-handler and facilitator next to Immanuel Quickly? Do they want Ingram to be the primary ball-handler and let Quickley and RJ Barrett be off-ball menaces? Do they want him to forget about the facilitation and be a score-first small forward who doesn't handle the ball quite as much?
I don't know what they'll decide on, and I frankly don't know which of those options would be the most beneficial to Ingram and the team at large.
Who are you, Brandon Ingram?
Coach Darko may have given us a hint at who Brandon Ingram will be to the Toronto Raptors, via Adam Laskaris:
“I want Brandon to be himself. To be comfortable in his own skin… he’s entering his prime, and I expect him to take it another level. He’s an elite scorer.”
The word "scorer" is what stands out here. If that's the role Ingram plays for the Raps — the role of a pure bucket-getter — then I'm fine with it! Again, I don't know if that's the best role for Ingram to play, but the most important thing with Brandon Ingram is to make his role clear. So if Darko tells him to go out and focus on scoring, scoring, and scoring some more, that still feels like a positive step from his NOLA days, when he oscillated between multiple roles.
Perhaps no team in the NBA has as obvious an X-Factor as the Raptors do: it's Ingram, no doubt about it. Scottie Barnes will be better than he was last year and should make it back into All-Star discussions. Gradey Dick is expected to make the third-year leap, and that will be substantial, too.
But we mostly know what Quickley, Barrett, Poeltl, and Agbaji will provide, so Ingram becomes the de facto swing factor for a team with plenty of talent but plenty of questions, too. If you know what to expect from Ingram on a nightly basis, that's a great sign. Maybe Toronto will be his perfect fit.