With time running out in the first half, Brandon Ingram formed up at the top of the floor and banged a quick-trigger triple.
It was the most decisive play the bona fide bucket-getter made in the game, going 2-of-8 otherwise on his usual array of mid-range artistry. He was passive, killing his drives early and slinking into his spots with a languidness that crossed over from his usual calm control into hesitancy.
After a transcendent start to the season, Ingram’s fallen into a rut. On the other side, the Charlotte Hornets’ uber-talented star, LaMelo Ball, has been in one all season.
Going back one year, there are plenty more parallels that could be drawn between Ingram and Ball.
Both players, unquestionably exceptional talents, had started the season strong individually. Ingram was averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists. Ball was even better, scoring 31.1 with 5.4 boards and 6.9 dimes. Both offered ample highlight-reel material, Ingram with his methodical driving and jaw-dropping contested mid-range shot making and Ball more so with flashy passing and 3-point pulls that would fit into a circus act. But the showmanship had recently been put to a stop by a pair of lower-leg injuries. And their teams were 4-18 and 6-15, respectively. We all know how the rest of 2024-25 went for the New Orleans Pelicans and the Hornets.
A lot has changed for Ingram since last December. His team, the offensive system it plays and where it stands in a new, realigning, conference. (In third place, now 15-9 after both the Ingram and the Raptors scored season-lows of 86 and 7, respectively, in a soon-to-be-flushed loss to Charlotte.)
Another change, albeit subtle, has been his offensive process. Ingram’s using more off-ball screens than he ever has before, second most in the NBA. He’s cutting twice as often as he did in his last full season.
“I think he’s doing a good job of adapting and at the same time he needs to be Brandon Ingram and bring to the table what he brings to the table,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković before the game. “You know, one thing that I really admire about him, he does not see himself as a final product. He sees himself as a player who’s still improving.
“All-Star caliber player, but who is still improving and adding to his game. And he’s doing a great job allowing coaches to coach him and to help him along (in) those areas. You know, yesterday (against the Los Angeles Lakers) as a team, we had 39 assists. We had 75 cuts in the game. We did a lot of good stuff offensively there. And it’s good to see that he’s accepting it and really thriving in that environment.”
While the cuts bear fruit – 1.3 points per possession, nothing to turn your nose up at – Ingram has been shockingly inefficient (0.87 points per possession) when running off the array of pin-downs, cross screens and Iverson actions the Raptors run for him. His effective field goal percentage is third-last amongst the league’s 15 highest-volume screen-users.
That’s because, in part, an Ingram screen almost always results in him catching, surveying, and trying to break down his defender, rather than an open catch and shoot or clear path to the basket.
In their streak-busting loss against the Hornets on Nov. 29, the Raptors were over reliant on Ingram. In this game, it was often Ingram’s inability to adjust to the Hornets’ swarming help with quicker passing reads that sank the Raptors.
Multiple times rangy, six-foot-eight wing started to get into his casual pull-up, realizing too late that he’d been enveloped by three Charlotte defenders and having to bail out with an emergency jump-pass.
Meanwhile, aside from diminished performance and swirling trade rumours, nothing’s changed for Ball. He’s averaging 19.9 points – his lowest output since his rookie year – on career-worst 38.4 percent shooting from the floor and 29.3 percent from 3. Despite their dominance of the Raptors, the (7-16) Hornets are still bad. Ball is still oft-injured. Arguing for a trade for him is a tall task.
While Ball’s assists are up to 8.9 per game, he’s also amongst the league leaders in turnovers at 3.4, a constant throughout his career. Players that pass a lot are almost always going to turn the ball over more – unless they’re Tyrese Haliburton – but less turnovers are always preferable. Toronto’s point guards have taken care of the ball exquisitely this season.
Ingram’s often been amongst the league leaders in turnovers too and has had similar issues crop up in the Raptors recent five-game slide, shooting 37.8 percent from the floor, 25 percent from 3 and making inexcusable turnovers. His league-leading percentages from the mid-range and on pull-ups have dipped considerably in a short span. Ingram was due for regression; it isn’t feasible to be hyper efficient on arguably the NBA’s hardest shot diet.
Still, his eFG% dropping from 52.9 percent through the first 19 games to 40.6 percent over the last five is an steep correction.
Alternatively, Ball hasn’t taken care of his namesake all season, handing possessions to the other team with just as many giveaways and more misses than ever.
This lackadaisical playstyle likely factored into the Hornets’ decision to sit him for the final 13 minutes of their previous overtime win against the Raptors. (Ball was a minus-10 in the game and his replacement off the bench, Collin Sexton was a plus-23.)
On Friday, it was health that sidelined Ball for most of the second half, as the ankle injury that’s held him out of seven games this season flared up and ended his night. Once again, the Hornets excelled in the minutes without him on the floor.
Yet the flashes of brilliance were there. Ball travelled through rough seas of bodies in the paint, creatively willing the ball into the basket, often either drawing an and-1 or loudly voicing his displeasure with the lack of a whistle.
“I think he’s another young player,” said Rajaković. “You know, in this league there is a lot of talent and when players come to the league, (the) first stage is like, I want to prove that I belong here and I’m a starter or very important rotational player. Figuring out how they can effect the game in different ways.
“And then it comes at some point like trying to figure out how to effect winning, you know? And I think he’s just entering that stage of developing those skills. He’s (an) amazing talent. On any given night, he can score 35, 40 points against any opponent. But he’s also improving, as I can see, with his playmaking and the way he’s connecting with his teammates.”
The flashy former All-Star’s hard left-right cross to blow by Immanuel Quickley (who was the Raptors lone bright-spot offensively, unloading the clip for 31 points) and left-handed wrong-foot finish through traffic was maybe the most impressive play of the game.
And while he made only two of them, Ingram’s twisting, probing middies over the defence were a close second. They’re essential to both his and the Raptors’ offence. But so is Ingram’s driving, his playmaking, his 3-point shooting. It all needs to come together if he’s going to get back on track and help lead this fledgling, playoff-hopeful, Raptors team away from its past fate alongside the Hornets and Pelicans and into a different and better future.
