Brandon Ingram looked much improved after the All-Star break last season, seeing improvements in his scoring, assists, and field goal percentage. One number that didn’t rise, and actually fell for the Los Angeles Lakers second-year forward, was his three-point percentage.
Ingram went from shooting 30.4 percent from deep, to only 26.9 percent after the All-Star break as he could never really find his range from beyond the arc.
Ingram has worked hard this offseason to improve his game however, and in an interview with Lakers reporter Mike Trudell Ingram revealed why he believes he struggled so much from three-point range last season:
“I was shooting over my head. With my long arms, it was like a slingshot. Coming from college to the NBA, I was only about 180 pounds, so I was trying to push the ball to the rim from the 3-point line. I think I’ve gotten strong enough now where I feel comfortable shooting the ball from the 3-point line now. As I keep getting stronger, it’s going to be natural.”
After a summer of work, Ingram believes he has made a huge improvement and feels much more comfortable with his jumper now:
“Actually, I think I’ve made a big jump. I feel way more comfortable shooting the basketball, especially shooting the right way. We’ve worked on it and worked on it, and we started playing a little bit. We tried to see how I felt playing in games. It felt good at first but I wasn’t making a lot of shots. But I kept playing, and it’s been falling. Kept getting more comfortable, more confident. I’m feeling better from the 3-point line. Especially today, with Kyle Kuzma guarding me, I felt great (laughs).”
Ingram becoming more dangerous from three-point range will only make him that much more dangerous of a scorer as it certainly held him back last season. With expectations of him being the team’s leading scorer this season, he will need to step it up.
One of the things that has always been lauded about Ingram is his work ethic and he has put in the work to improve one of his biggest shortcomings as a rookie.
It’s also fun to see him taking a playful shot at one of his teammates. Ingram is apparently one of the team’s biggest trash talkers, and this is a little proof of that.
