NBA Saturday: Brandon Ingram Showing Flashes of Star Potential

The 2016 NBA Draft class has been disappointing this season, to say the least. Joel Embiid, drafted third overall in 2014, is running away with the Rookie of the Year award despite playing with a minutes restriction and resting in the second game of back-to-backs. Ben Simmons, the first overall pick in the 2016 Draft, hurt his foot during the offseason and has yet to make his NBA debut.

With Simmons sidelined and the rest of the 2016 Draft class struggling through the first half of the season, there hasn’t been much excitement around this Rookie class. However, over the last few weeks, Brandon Ingram, picked second overall in 2016 by the Los Angeles Lakers, has started to show signs of steady improvement, development and star potential.

Ingram, age 19, played one season at Duke. In his lone college season, Ingram established himself as a top-level three-point threat, shooting 41 percent from distance on the season. Ingram also showed the ability to take the ball off the dribble, create separation for his own shot, or find an open teammate on the perimeter or around the basket.

Throughout the first 38 games of the season, we only saw flashes of Ingram’s diverse offensive skill set. However, over his last five games, Ingram has displayed a newfound confidence and aggression in his game.

In the Lakers’ game against the Miami HEAT on January 6, Ingram contributed 17 points, six rebounds and four assists while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. More important than his nice box score numbers, Ingram showed off the repertoire that made him so highly coveted as a prospect in college. Throughout the game, Ingram looked more aggressive with the ball in his hands and was more willing to attack the basket off the dribble.

In these clips below, we see Ingram in half court sets going straight into his defender, maintaining his balance and getting up relatively good looks for baskets.

Earlier in the season, Ingram looked hesitant to attack bigger, or at least stronger defenders at the rim. However, Ingram seems to finally trust his ability to use stutter steps, misdirection and the Euro step to get his defenders off balance, absorb contact and finish at the rim using his length and coordination.

This skill is particularly important for Ingram considering his ability to grab a defensive rebound and take the ball coast-to-coast in transition. Like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ingram has incredible length and solid ball handling skills, which makes his a major threat in the open court. Antetokounmpo is much more explosive than Ingram at this point and his stride is longer, but Ingram can do a pretty good imitation of Antetokounmpo when the opportunity presents itself.

Like Antetokounmpo early in his career, Ingram will need to add some muscle to his thin frame in order to shed defenders more effectively and finish through contract at the rim more consistently. But at this point, it’s just nice to know that Ingram still has the ability and confidence to at least occasionally unleash these unique and potentially devastating skills.

What is also encouraging is how coordinated Ingram is for someone who had a recent and massive growth spurt. Remember, Ingram is still just 19 years old, but already has the balance and coordination to finish impressive plays like the one in the clip below.

Ingram still runs into specific problems each game. He relies on his length a little too much, which leads him to take difficult and, oftentimes, impossible shots in traffic. However, as Ingram ages and gains more experience, he will refine his shot selection, which should increase his efficiency. He also will likely get more foul calls as he gains more experience and learns how to draw contact a bit more strategically.

Beyond Ingram’s scoring ability, he is already showing exciting potential as a playmaker. Ingram has a good handle, is a willing passer and has the timing and moves to create enough space to generate effective passing opportunities. We have seen this quite a bit in pick-and-roll situations over the last few weeks.

In both of these plays, Ingram doesn’t get a great screen, but uses a series of hesitation dribbles and timely body shifts to create some space from his defender. In doing so, Ingram draws over both defenders just enough to clear a passing lane to his teammate for an open shot at the rim. This isn’t the sort of play you see from many forwards, especially ones as tall as Ingram, but it’s a unique and potentially powerful tool for the Lakers to exploit. Often times players around Ingram’s age go full speed all the time, but it’s clear from these plays and many more that Ingram already has an advanced understanding of timing and keeping defenders off balance.

Defensively, Ingram has a ton of potential. He competes hard, plays relatively solid one-on-one defense, but isn’t great in pick-and-roll coverage, rotations or overall team execution. He also isn’t an exceptionally explosive athlete, but he knows how to leverage his length and time shots to contest them effectively.

This block may not have been as impressive as LeBron James chasing down an opponent in the open court and pinning his shot against the backboard, but it shows what kind of a defensive presence Ingram can be as a secondary shot blocker and rim protector. Stemming from last season’s playoffs, we have seen Kevin Durant being used more frequently as a strategic second line of defense at the rim when the center is drawn away from the basket. Ingram has the length and defensive competence to learn how to fill that sort of role as well, but that is something that will take time and experience to execute consistently.

Additionally, Ingram has shown a relatively consistent effort to stay close to his assigned opponent and to try and make the right rotations when necessary. However, things don’t always work out according to plan, but Ingram is, at times, able to make up for miscues with his length. We often see Ingram jumping out to contest a shooter who was left wide open and he often times is able to actually block the opponent’s jump shot, which is something only a handful of players in the league can do with any sort of frequency.

Notably, Ingram hasn’t secured a single steal over this recent hot streak, which is likely a symptom of him trying to stay within head coach Luke Walton’s defensive schemes. Jumping passing lanes recklessly to rack up steals generally isn’t helpful since it leaves the team’s defense vulnerable, but the occasional gamble would likely be beneficial for Ingram and the Lakers.

The thing to remember about Ingram is how young and inexperienced he is. It’s not realistic to expect him to play effectively and efficiently on both ends of the court each night. But, it’s encouraging to see in this recent streak that he has a diverse offensive skill set, great potential on defense and the work ethic and desire to refine those skills and make them a consistent part of his repertoire.

Ingram likely isn’t going to win Rookie of the Year, or significantly outshine his fellow rookies. But he has shown flashes of the star player he may one day become, which should be enough to excite Lakers fans.