Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram beefs up his stats with improved play
Brandon Ingram is 19, and he still needs to add muscle to his wiry 6-foot-9, 190-pound frame, but the rookie forward and second overall pick in last year’s draft is beginning to show he belongs in what Lakers Coach Luke Walton commonly calls “a grown man’s league.”
After averaging 7.3 points and shooting 34.7% from the field in his first 38 games, Ingram has bumped his average to 12.7 points in his last nine games, shooting 47.5% (38 for 80) from the field and 48.3% (14 for 29) from three-point range.
“He’s further ahead than I thought he’d be right now,” Walton said Saturday after practice.
Ingram scored 15 points and made three of six three-point attempts in Friday night’s 108-96 win over Indiana, but his biggest impact came on defense, where he held Pacers star Paul George to four points in the third quarter, a period in which the Lakers took control of the game. George, who finished with 21, dropped 30 points on the Lakers on Nov. 1.
“Watching the tape when I got home last night he was even better than I thought when I left the gym,” Walton said of Ingram. “He made a lot of really winning-style plays for us. I’m talking about the way he was on the ground for loose balls, the way he was getting deflections. . . . I think that was his best game he’s played since being here.”
Ingram has impressed the Lakers with his work ethic, often visiting the team’s practice facility for late-night shooting sessions, and his efforts are paying off.
“Something has clicked for Brandon,” Walton said. “He wants to be great, and there’s been a change of his mind-set. I don’t know if somebody has got to him or he’s figured out stuff on his own, but it’s really impressive for someone his age living in L.A., with some new money, to that quickly turn basketball into the priority he has and attack practice every day the way he is.”
Walton has challenged Ingram throughout the season — assigning him to the explosive George on Friday night was his latest test — and as Ingram meets those challenges, he accelerates his learning curve.
“It takes young players a long time to figure out the physicality of the league, to figure out the speed of the game,” Walton said. “When I first got to the NBA, I remember watching players run up and down the court and thinking these were the fastest, strongest people I’ve ever seen in my life.
“That’s what it’s like coming out as a college kid. The game looks like it’s slowing down for him. To me, it normally takes rookies and young kids much longer than half a season for that to happen.”
Russell out at least a week
D’Angelo Russell is expected to be out one to two weeks after an MRI test on Saturday confirmed his original diagnosis of a mild medial collateral ligament sprain in his right knee and a right calf strain. The MRI also showed a bone bruise.
Russell suffered the injury in the first two minutes of Friday’s victory over the Indiana Pacers.
He did not travel with them to Dallas, where they face the Mavericks on Sunday afternoon.
Russell was sidelined for 15 games in November and December after he suffered a left knee injury. Walton said the second-year guard handled that situation well, but worried that he could get down if he was sidelined again.
“I’ve had that experience before and it can weigh heavy on you,” Walton said. “We’ll do what we can as a team and as a staff to make sure we keep his spirits as high as possible.”
Nance returns
Larry Nance Jr. was cleared by team doctors to play restricted minutes against the Mavericks.
Nance suffered a bone bruise in his left knee on Dec. 20 in Charlotte and has been sidelined since.
“I feel really good,” Nance said. “Just excited to get back out there.”
Lance’s minutes against the Mavericks have yet to be determined, but Walton said he did not expect the second-year forward to play more than four to six minutes at a time.
Nance, who has averaged 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, said he was sometimes frustrated while sidelined, but that he focused on improving his shot.
“When I come back and they leave me open I am going to start taking them,” Nance said.
Shoot first
Lou Williams has the right mentality for a scorer: Don’t think, shoot. After pouring in a team-high 27 points and making four of eight three-point shots Friday night, Williams, a reserve guard who leads the team with an 18.0-point average, was asked how he focused his attack against the Pacers.
“I don’t think about that stuff, I just hoop,” he said. “Whatever happens at that split moment, that’s what I’m gonna do. I don’t even see the person in front of me; it doesn’t matter to me. The only thing I think about is if a team is gonna push me right, I take what’s given, and sometimes I jab left. Other than that, I don’t know, it’s not that difficult for me.”
Etc.
Forward Luol Deng was a full participant in practice, Walton said, after missing two games because of a sprained right wrist.
UP NEXT
AT DALLAS
When: 12:30 p.m. PST, Sunday.
Where: American Airlines Center.
On the air: TV: Spectrum SportsNet, Spectrum Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330.
Records: Lakers 16-31; Mavericks 14-29.
Record vs. Dallas: 0-2.
Update: The Lakers have yet to defeat the Mavericks this season and both teams are in the bottom three of the Western Conference standings. The Mavericks have only 14 wins this season and two of them were against the Lakers at Staples Center. The Mavericks lost to the Utah Jazz, 112-107, in overtime on Friday.
Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna
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