Brandon Ingram has been a clear top 2 pick for months now. It only took a month or so for Ingram to establish himself as someone who could go in the top of the draft. Now, some even prefer him to former consensus number one pick Ben Simmons. Some especially prefer Ingram for the Sixers because of the team need he fulfills. Ingram would add shooting and defense on the wing to a team that desperately needs those skills at that position. Still, I think these “fit” arguments may be selling Ingram short. Of course he fits well on this team, but I think his greatest asset is his ability to fit well on almost any team. Ingram’s ability to fit on almost any team in the league is the greatest example of his versatility, his biggest strength in my opinion.
So what exactly makes someone like Ingram so versatile? I think it starts with his body and athletic tools. Ingram stands at 6’10” with a 7’3” wingspan. That kind of length would be great for a power forward and passable for a center, so Ingram bringing that kind of length on the perimeter is incredibly valuable. Ingram supplements that length with really good athleticism. Ingram isn’t incredibly explosive but he’s a very fluid athlete. He moves well laterally in space. On the perimeter, that fluid lateral quickness is probably more important than pure explosiveness from a defensive perspective. I don’t think you want Ingram consistently guarding point guards but I think he can certainly hold his own against them for small stretches of time on switches. As he continues to develop, Ingram may be a player who can switch any action on defense. When you think about that combined with the length to be a lockdown defender on the wing, you can see how versatile of a defensive player Ingram can be.
On the offensive end, Ingram is also incredibly versatile. That versatility results from his various skills on that end of the floor. Ingram is known for being a knockdown shooter but he can do much more on the basketball court. I think that both Ingram’s ballhandling and passing abilities are being underrated. Ingram often displayed those abilities at Duke, where the team lacked a real point guard. There was no one to really get Duke into their offense. Grayson Allen did an okay job considering his skillset but it wasn’t enough. Duke had to run a lot of their offense through Brandon Ingram. It was good for Ingram in some respects because it allowed him to show off his dribbling and passing abilities. He really powered that Duke offense despite some of its personnel limitations. However, it did hurt Ingram in other ways. Ingram really had to always create for himself. He rarely got easy shots at the rim because of the lack of playmaking around him. Despite that, Ingram still managed to be efficient while powering the Duke offense. That’s impressive and it shows me that can fill a variety of roles on the offensive end.
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Clearly, Ingram has a very versatile skillset on both ends of the floor. It allows him to fit into almost any team right away and that is certainly valuable. Still, his ability to fit on any kind of team with a variety of different players is more valuable. Having Ingram gives a team incredible flexibility in terms of roster construction. You can slide a 3-and-D wing like him into almost any system. He can play in an incredibly up-tempo offense or he can slide into a more grind-it-out type of attack. Ingram’s skills allow him to function as a primary scorer or a secondary creator. He can run pick and rolls or space the floor without even touching the ball. Essentially, Ingram can play with a variety of different players in a variety of different systems. This is true on a macro level (season to season) or a micro level (series to series, game to game).
Having Ingram allows teams to pick from a variety of different players in the present or the future. He fits with any other player in the top 10 of this draft and that will probably be the case for future drafts. Ingram also fits with all three of the Sixers current big men. He just gives you so much flexibility in terms of roster construction and maximizing the other players on the court. This past year, we saw how having players who don’t fit hurts both players and doesn’t allow them to play to their maximum potential. That will not be a problem with a player like Ingram.
Still, there will be some problems with Ingram. There are two very large concerns surrounding his body and athleticism. The first concern is Ingram’s strength. He does not yet weigh 200 pounds despite being almost 7 feet tall. Ingram needs to add weight to survive at the small forward position. Adding weight would also be crucial to his ability to play small ball power forward, something that would only make Ingram more versatile and valuable. Now, Ingram doesn’t need to add a ton of weight. There are some players, like Kevin Durant or Giannis Antetokounmpo, who look skinny but are incredibly strong. That isn’t Ingram yet but it just shows that he can certainly get there. Adding weight and strength certainly are not definites in terms of Ingram’s development but I would classify them as probables. Secondly, Ingram just isn’t a particularly explosive athlete. Like I said earlier, Ingram is very fluid and has some explosion, but he’s not an elite athlete. That lack of explosion can certainly hinder Ingram’s offensive ability. It hurts his ability to dribble past good perimeter defenders and even some athletic bigs on switches. All of Ingram’s skills and abilities may not matter in terms of being a superstar caliber player if his explosiveness holds him back. I think that’s the main concern with Ingram. He certainly will be a very good NBA player due to his skills, frame and good athletic tools. However, it will be very difficult for him to become an elite NBA superstar without that explosiveness. Now, there are players who have improved their explosiveness once in the NBA. For someone as young and skinny as Ingram, it is certainly possible that once he adds more core and lower body strength he will be able to be more explosive. Ingram is one of the youngest players in the draft so he certainly has time to improve his body and his skills but that’s not something a team can necessarily count on.
Overall, Ingram is a great prospect and definitely deserving of being in the conversation for the number 1 pick. His skills, athletic tools, and current fit on most teams are all incredibly attractive to NBA teams. Still, I think his greatest asset comes in his ability to play with almost any combination of players in any scheme. That kind of versatility allows teams an important flexibility in roster construction. It allows the team to more easily take the best player available and develop players better by putting them in the best position. The Sixers have seen firsthand how having players that don’t fit can hurt the team so it’s quite possible that they may better understand the value of Ingram’s versatility. Still, there are serious concerns with Ingram’s lack of both strength and explosiveness. I think that he will certainly improve on the strength aspect after some time working on his body. The explosiveness, while I think improvement is also possible in this area, is far more concerning. I worry that Ingram won’t be able to be that transcendent player without the ability to get past initial defenders and turn the corners on drives. I like Ingram a lot but the Sixers need to weigh these concerns against the positives of his versatility when they make the first overall pick in a few weeks.
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