Just when it looked like Los Angeles Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram had turned the corner, the lanky forward has seemingly regressed.
Ingram has shot an awful 2-25 over the last three games and has been held scoreless in back-to-back games. Some believe that Ingram may have hit the dreaded ‘rookie wall.’ All season long Ingram has struggled with his jump shot, which was supposed to be a place where he would shine even early in his career.
Head coach Luke Walton has spoken about Ingram losing his aggression, and Ingram noted that there were a couple of possessions in Thursday night’s game against where he just wasn’t ready to shoot via Bill Oram of the OC Register:
“I had a couple open shots that I thought I wasn’t ready for or I just didn’t shoot,” Ingram said.
Despite the current shooting issues and his slump, Walton still believes that Ingram will be a great shooter in this league:
“He’s a capable 3-point shooter,” the first-year coach said. “He’s going to be a 3-point shooter in this league, so he’s got to get his reps up. If he’s open, we need him to take them and hopefully make them.”
Ingram’s shooting issues are definitely cause for concern, but many players have struggled initially when making the jump from college to the NBA. Ingram eventually figuring things out and becoming a knockdown shooter could very easily happen.
More concerning for the Lakers and Ingram is the lack of aggression. Walton has said that one of the main reasons he plays Ingram at point guard is because it forces him to be involved in the offense and stay aggressive.
Ingram is very young and was always expected to be a project. It will take years for him to reach his true potential, but for the most part the flashes have been there. Walton has to hope that Ingram will soon begin showing those flashes again.
