In his second season, small forward Brandon Ingram is emerging as ‘the man’ for the Los Angeles Lakers, but a glaring hole in his game is preventing him from becoming a real threat.
When the Los Angeles Lakers had Kobe Bryant, and the game was on the line, every team knew which player to look at to close the deal and lead them to the victory with key plays down the stretch. Missing such a leading figure has led the Lakers to lose games which looked close at hand in the final minutes.
After some struggle in the first month of the season, second-year forward Brandon Ingram has started to evolve in the kind of leader the team needs, as his stats prove. Every aspect of his production has improved from last year, particularly moving from 9.4 to 16.2 points per game.
Despite being only 20 years old, Ingram is really emerging as the go-to guy for a young Lakers team. The kid is not afraid of the moment and wants the ball in his hands when it counts most.
Defenses are so far without an answer to his ability to drive to the basket. Most of his points come thanks to his outstanding capability to attack the basket and finish around the rim absorbing the contact (often getting the foul).
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The mid-range shot as well has become an important part of his game, as his long arms make it difficult to be contested.
While his numerous penetrations are a great encouraging sign from an ability standpoint, as something which hardly can be taught but mostly an innate talent, Ingram still lacks something which has to become a major part of his game if he wants to make the next leap: The three-point shot.
Only 12.8 percent of his shots in a game come from beyond the line.
For the season, the young forward is attempting less than two 3-pointers per game, making just 0.6 of them, per Basketball-Reference. In the modern NBA that is a pretty low number for a wing who projects to become an elite scorer in the league and the leader of a successful team.
With at least two 3-pointers made, he would approach the 20-25 point range more easily, as proven by his box scores. In this past 27 games played, when he makes two or more threes, the former Blue Devil is scoring at least 18 points, but it actually happened just once, while all the other times he scored 21 or more points.
Especially in nights when he finds a strong physical opposition his numbers decrease, as it becomes more difficult for him to finish around the rim. A good stroke from downtown is what would keep his scoring and impact on the game at a high level despite increased defensive pressure.
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The Lakers are the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA, so it is more than normal that their offense revolves around their strengths. However, in the future, Ingram’s attempt number needs to increase to make him a scoring threat night in and night out and the All-Star the Lakers hope to have drafted with the No. 2 pick.