After a subpar season from a shooting standpoint, Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram is reportedly working on his shot and the improvements are already before our eyes.
Less than a month ago, Spectrum SportsNet‘s reporter Mike Trudell revealed with a tweet that forward Brandon Ingram was working on his shooting with L.A.’s coaching staff.
Brandon Ingram’s been spending a lot of time working on/fine-tuning his shot w/LAL’s staff. Focus on the release, really breaking it down.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 22, 2017
A few days later, in an interview with Lakers Nation‘s Serena Winters during a donation event, he confirmed the report talking about his summer workouts.
"Q: We saw you out at the facility earlier, so we know you’ve been getting those workouts in. How have the summer workouts been for you?Ingram: They’ve been good, focusing on a lot of little things, a lot of mechanics, of course getting stronger. I think everything has been going great, been working a lot with Brian Keefe (the Lakers assistant coach), with the strength coach, and the progress that I’ve made over the last week has been pretty good.Q: You said you’ve been working on mechanics, does that mean footwork, your shot, tell me a little bit about that specifically…Ingram: Footwork, of course, but really details on my shot. I think this year, my percentage isn’t where I wanted it to be. I think a big factor was because of how long I am and because of my shot, so I think the big things are mechanics on my form, and I think the percentage will be better."
In his lone season at Duke Ingram shot an excellent 41 percent from three, proving himself the perfect candidate for Walton’s offense. But, as often happens, it did not translate in his first season as a pro. He shot 29.4 percent from three and an overall 40.2 percent from the field.
This is more than normal for a rookie in the NBA, struggling to adjust to a different game, different role, different lifestyle, and schedule. L.A.’s organization has no doubt about his upside and the fact that he can become the reliable shooter he promised to be in college, with Magic Johnson citing him as the only untouchable of the young nucleus.
In a more recent video released by Lakers Nation, we saw the Lakers’ young core at work in the summertime and we had the chance to take a look at the progress he is been making.
We can compare how his shot has changed with the help of the video below from his last summer workouts.
As we can see, the most evident tweak they addressed is the set point. Ingram used to load his shot off his shoulder, bringing the ball laterally, directly on it, and very close to his right eye. Now the point has been moved to a more central and natural position, allowing the ball to make a straight course from his forehead to the basket and giving him a clearer view of the basket.
Moving from the side to the center increased the set point’s height dramatically and affected in part the release point as well. Such a modification is not of little impact, as, combined with his 7’3″ wingspan, it makes his shot virtually unstoppable and even less susceptible to disturbance from defenders contesting.
Furthermore, the set point adjustment made the angle between his bicep and forearm closer to the ideal 90°, while previously he used to flex his elbow a little too much.
Though it is not so clear from the camera angle, it seems that this modification brought to a consequent change in body position. His feet and whole body are now more aligned to the basket compared to when he tended to shift his feet to the left and rotate his right hip toward the basket.
This better body position should result in an improvement in shooting time in off the screen and off the dribble situations since it will take him less time to set his feet for the jumper.
Finally, he widened his base, matching his feet with the shoulder width, giving him stability, balance and a more solid position in case of contact.
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So far it looks like the coaching staff has been doing an excellent job breaking down Ingram’s shot and fixing all the small issues which could impact his field-goal percentage. And if we are not so convinced, we are soon going to have a taste in Summer League games.