Los Angeles Lakers: Brandon Ingram still needs to improve jump shot

The Los Angeles Lakers have seen Brandon Ingram turn a corner recently on the court. However, he still has room to improve.

Over the last month, second-year forward Brandon Ingram has taken a big step in the right direction for the Los Angeles Lakers. After a somewhat tough rookie season, there was a lot of expectations for Ingram to improve in his second year.

In the offseason, Ingram worked very hard to gain strength and improve his game. So far, the hard work is paying off. This season, Ingram is averaging 16.2 points per game, which is a huge jump from his rookie season.

One of the reasons why Ingram has seen his point per game average rise is because of his shooting percentage. As of now, he is shooting slightly over 45 percent from the field. Compared to last season, this is a big improvement for Ingram.

Recently, Ingram sat down with Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype to discuss his improvement. Also, he talked about his continued work of trying to improve his jump shot.

"“Right now, I’m mainly focused on doing the things I do well. Of course, there are some days where I’ll just go in and work on my jumper. I think my jumper has some catching up to do, but I feel comfortable with it. Sometimes, I’ll feel good in practice and it doesn’t translate to the game, so I just need to feel more comfortable going into games and be able to shoot it.”"

When looking at Ingram’s field goal percentages from the field, there is certainly room for improvement. While Ingram is shooting 47.3 percent on two-point field goals, a bulk of that is coming from around the rim. Within 0-3 feet, Ingram’s percentage is at 64.3 percent. However, it drops dramatically away from that range.

From 3-10 feet, 10-16 feet, and 16 feet to the 3-point line, Ingram isn’t shooting 40 percent from any of those ranges. However, Ingram is playing to his strengths, as 42.9 percent of his shots are coming from the 0-3 foot range that he has a high percentage from.

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Not forcing shots from the outside shows a high level of maturity for Ingram in his offensive game. As a young player, playing to your strengths is certainly a smart thing to build your confidence. Even though Ingram isn’t shooting the ball well from the outside, he is still one of the best scorers on the team. When the jump shot does begin to drop for Ingram, he is going to be a real hassle to try and defend.