The NBA Hasn’t Come Easy To Brandon Ingram, But It Will

Ingram pretty consistently does a good job tagging roll men—being just physical enough to deter an easy dive to the rim—but then often fails to return to his man. There are also far too many occasions where a lack of synergy with his frontcourt teammate defending ball screens yields an easy bucket. Watch as Ingram gets lost in the shuffle of the Kings’ sneaky dribble hand off that feeds right into a side pick-and-roll.

As Clarkson steps in to tag the rolling Willie Cauley-Stein, Ingram motions for Clarkson to retreat to Ty Lawson in the corner. But the defensive principles baked into the Lakers’ preferred hedging pick-and-roll defense suggest Ingram should have instead recovered to Arron Afflalo at the top of the key—relieving Thomas Robinson of his hedge and freeing Clarkson to retain responsibility of Lawson.

“It’s really different from college,” Ingram admitted. “The defensive three seconds; it’s basically about being in spots to help my teammates and being in the right positions.” He’s likely watched the play above dozens of times. “He’s a student of the game, he watches tape,” Walton said. Deng and Metta World Peace have helped in teaching Ingram as well. Long ago, Deng was a 19-year-old rookie himself. “There’s no magic. You have to put in the work,” Deng said. “In the beginning it’s hard to be consistent. But as time goes on, it just becomes second nature.”

Offensively, you can’t teach Ingram’s innate comfort with the ball in his hands. He’s adapted to NBA speed rather seamlessly. He can manipulate defenders as the ball swings around the perimeter, like ball-faking to corner shooters as the defense rotates to create an open look for the man who passed to him. Two-time NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse noticed that ability when he first coached Ingram in AAU as a 7th grader. “There was a foundation of knowing how to play and how to share the basketball,” said Stackhouse, the current head coach of the D-League Raptors 905.

Ingram’s tenure with Stackhouse’s AAU team was nearly short lived. After weeks of initial practices, he refused to play in the club’s first weekend tournament in Richmond, Va, struck by a bout of nerves. But as punishment for not taking the trash out, Donald Ingram forced his gangly son to join his teammates on the court, opening the curtain to the national stage on which he would soon blossom. “That’s why you gotta listen to your parents,” Stackhouse said.

Nearly 25 years ago—and two decades before Brandon led Kinston High to four straight state titles—it was Stackhouse who perfected the role of town prodigy, testing his game against local legends in premier pickup outings. Donald ran the Kinston gyms. Having returned to his hometown in North Carolina following a semi-professional playing career, the elder Ingram barked as loud as his bite. “Brandon can shoot the ball, he probably shoots it half as good as his dad did,” Stackhouse said. “You talk about literally step across half court and let it go. And it was all net.” The younger Ingram showed off the family trade for Duke a year ago, draining 41% of his triples as he skyrocketed up draft boards.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *