Brandon Ingram Discussion: He Is Who We Thought He Could Be

His voice is different than he was in LA...lol

Seems like he might be finally juicing

 

I'll dig into the numbers on Simmons, but like everyone else here apparently, that's my take on Simmons, too. NBA ready from day 1 - and a good NBA player. He's still that, and I don't know of an area where he's obviously improved.

I think Ingram showed a huge growth from year 1 to year 2, and he's showing it again. I can't imagine him taking another huge leap like this, but as he continues to gain strength, we might see him stay on the court more, fill out into a Leonard-light sort of player. And that's really good.

 

A) I think you're right. He won't be the defender I thought he'd be, but he's probably gotten closer to his ceiling offensively way faster than I thought he would, especially after the slow start.

Here's some Ingram vs. Simmons stuff

Scoring Punch
Year 1
Ingram 5.5 / Simmons DNP
-5.5 is really low

Year 2
Ingram 9.3 / Simmons 9.4
-No significant differenc here, but note how Simmons's 9.4 is in his first real year playing. These numbers are totally adequate for an NBA player.

Year 3
Ingram 10.8 / Simmons 10.4
-Ingram has the lead, largely because he's keeping the gap in TS% low. His .474 in year 1 is now a distant memory, as he has posted .536 in year 2 and .555 in year 3. Simmons is still more efficient, at .582, but it's not a massive gap.

Year 4
Ingram 16.2 / Simmons 9.0
Ingram's .602 TS% now is the best either of them have ever posted. It's three years in a row of improvement for Ingram. It's also two years in a row of improvement for Simmons, but .557 to .582 and .583 is small compared to .474 to .536 to .555 to .602.

Scoring Punch
Simmons isn't regarded as a scorer. It's his all-around game and effectiveness at scoring in one or two ways that makes him work. But in order to be a scorer with this sort of game, you have to be relentless in the attack, like Giannis. That's not Ben Simmons.

 

Oops - this is just Simmons. I'll do Ingram's numbers next to keep it relevant.

Scoring Efficiency
Simmons started off high - with a 5.86 as a rookie. He turned that into a 6.04 by pumping up his Points Per Shot (to 1.39!) and his Points Per Minute. This year, he's down to 5.71, but the big decrease is in his PPM. His PPS are actually 1.38, a full 0.1 points per shot above his rookie year. So, he's more efficient in these last two years, but he's not taking as many possessions to get his offense going.

Passing Efficiency
Simmons entered with elite passing for a big. His 4.24 as a rookie was Point Guard-level. He followed that up with a 4.18 and 4.20. His AST/TO rate has been pretty darn consistent - between 70% of ast or to being assists to 78% of them being so. And he's at .708 vs. .704 as a rookie. No real change. His assists per minute haven't changed much either: .242, .226, .235.

Hustle Efficiency
Simmons's hustle efficiency is okay for a big, but it's not great. It was 3.15 as a rookie, 3.22 in year two, and 3.15 this year. His "Good Hustle per Minute" has gone .130 to .128 to .131. It's stunning consistency.

His positional efficiency has also been consistent: 94 as a rookie, 98 last year, and 92 this year. He's a very good all-around player, but none of these stats reveal progress.

 

Ingram is 331st in DRPM this year. He has the 8th worst D-PIPM among PFs.

 

Ingram

Scoring Efficiency
5.00
5.89
6.18
6.96
That's awesome improvement. It bears out the Scoring Punch numbers - he's now scoring at a pretty elite level. Above 7 is ridiculously good. His improvment is driven by a huge upswing in PPS.

Passing Efficiency
2.55
3.13
2.75
3.19
His most efficient season as a passer, and he's clearly better than he was as a rookie. Ingram has nearly doubled his assists per minute since his rookie season.

Hustle Efficiency
2.33
2.44
2.16
2.49
This is a stat a lot of players don't improve at. You can improve by lowering fouls and turnovers, and that's a common year 1 to year 2 move. Ingram's been fairly static in his career.

Positional Efficiency
Wing/Big
51/55
70/72
69/68
89/88
-Ingram's growth has been impressive. It's fueled by his scoring, but his playmaking has also clearly improved. He's also consuming more possessions, and this can bump the numbers. But his efficiency hasn't faltered as his volume increases.

 

On the season?
LeBron for DRPM. Davis is 155th.
Brook Lopez for D-PIPM. AD is sixth in D-PIPM, and only Gobert has more minutes and is ranked above him. James is 43 in D-PIPM.

I post both of these because defensive metrics are a bit messy. Players can widely diverge on them.

 

That’s the point, SM. His DRTG is poor, too. How hard will you sweep to get that under the rug? It’s okay to admit player weaknesses. Even if you’re a fan.

 

He doesn’t play against Gobert.