Joe Ingles
Minnesota Timberwolves

Player Facts

Height: 6'7"
Weight: 220lbs.

Wingspan: 6'10.25"

Date of Birth:
Oct. 2, 1987
College Experience: N/A

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 5
Physical Strength: 6
Positional Size: 8
Positional Wingspan: 7
Paint Scoring: 6
Midrange Scoring: 6
Three-Point Scoring: 9
Dribbling: 7
Passing: 8
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 4
Rebounding: 5

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Running Some Offense

> The French Connection

> Attacking Angles

> Lethal Sniping

> Maneuvering on Defense

> Off-Ball Defensive Work

> Modest Scoring Threat

> Interior Infrequencies

> Defensive Holes

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of Smart Highlights (YouTube)

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Joe Ingles is a skilled forward with dependable playmaking capabilities. He joined the Utah Jazz at the age of 27 following multiple seasons playing ball overseas. At 6'7", 220lbs., he has good size on the wing and is capable of playing multiple positions offensively. The fiery Ingles rounds out his value with scrappy defense and knockdown shooting.

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Running Some Offense

He has been asked to orchestrate the second unit plenty of times during his career, and he's been up to the task. Nearly all pass types are within his scope of ability, with the size to see over most perimeter players. Conversely, Ingles dovetails with high usage starters by not letting the ball stick in his hands and by alleviating some of their playmaking duties.

In each season from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020, Ingles was in the top five among forwards in both total assists and total assist points created. He will typically keep his turnovers in check as well. Moreover, exactly 57.1% of his 2021-2022 drives ended in a pass. Fellow Aussie Ben Simmons, a drive-and-kick specialist, accrues similar marks here.

The French Connection

Ingles had a symbiotic on-court relationship with Rudy Gobert. The point forward ran numerous pick-and-rolls with the 7'1" Frenchman. Joe had tremendous touch and timing on both pocket passes and alley-oops up to Rudy. He's at his best when going left, able to float up lobs from his left hand across the lane and up to Gobert back when he was diving to his right.

Joe delivered 96 assists to Rudy alone in both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. He does a great job of using his passing ability to fake out the opposing man in the middle. Ingles' patented scoring move here is to pass fake to the dive man before extending out to finish with his left. Ingles has also employed this maneuver with Derrick Favors as the roll man back in Utah.

Attacking Angles

The versatile forward is capable enough as a pull-up jump shooter for players to respect him. This means they'll consistently go over on screens against angles. Joe feasts on these chances to then attack two-on-one, making good decision after good decision in these situations.

Ingles is a pretty dangerous driver when he can get to that left. One of his better on-ball scoring paths is through dribble handoffs. As the handoff recipient, he curls tightly around the big body of his teammate. Joe was in the 65th percentile scoring on handoffs in 2018-2019 and the 75th and 2019-2020.

He is also a fan of the driving banker when attacking the rim. It serves as a deviation from his more common lefty layup, throwing defenders off by rising earlier. Additionally, Joe will utilize backboard-free runners in the middle of the paint with the same release as if he's lobbing it over to his roll man.

Lethal Sniping

While not the speediest shot release, Ingles lets his lefty stroke fly over closeouts at 6'7". Joe does his part as a floor spacer, often situated on one of the wings when he is not involved in the primary action. He put up 269 above-the-break triples in 2019-2020, knocking down 41.3% of them.

Joe's catch-and-shoot ability has helped him carve out, and subsequently maintained, his niche in the NBA. He compiled more catch-and-shoot points than Donovan Mitchell, Zach LaVine, and Kyle Lowry in 2019-2020. An absolute deadeye shooter, he hit 46.4% on spot-up threes in 2017-2018, 40.1% in 2018-2019, and 44.8% in 2019-2020. Looking past just his jumper, Ingles attacks closeouts and makes good decisions in these spots.

Maneuvering on Defense

He works to stay attached to his men around ball screens and dribble handoffs. With mediocre foot speed, Joe has cultivated his footwork and subtle techniques necessity. In 2019-2020, he allowed a commendable 0.86 points per possession on a high volume of pick-and-roll ball-handler possessions defended.

Out of the five players with over 85 handoffs defended in 2019-2020, Joe was the stingiest at 0.90 points per possession against. Moving on, his isolation defense that year was also solid. Ingles' sound positional defense earned him a spot in the league's 66th percentile.

Off-Ball Defensive Work

Joe gets his hands into passing lanes nicely to disrupt the play. As intelligent off-ball defenders do, Ingles will bait players into making a certain pass before launching to intercept it. His 212 deflections in 2018-2019 surpassed active-handed guards De'Aaron Fox, Eric Bledsoe, and Josh Richardson. Ingles' premium passing plays in the open court as well.

Ingles navigates well as an off-ball defender and almost always keeps his arms out to disrupt. When chasing shooters, he'll intuitively shoot the gap to provide a quality shot contest. With a wingspan nearing seven-feet, Joe occasionally gets a piece of these threes.

WEAKNESSES

Modest Scoring Threat

He's not a prolific scorer by any stretch within the screen-and-roll. Joe is very much a below-the-rim player despite being 6'7" with length. When opponents don't fall for his ball fakes as he attacks the rim, he doesn't have the athleticism to finish through or over the defense.

While being a talented facilitator within the pick-and-roll, Joe's scoring numbers here aren't as pretty. His 0.76 points per possession in 2018-2019 here put him in the 35th percentile leaguewide. He up that 0.85 his next season but that mark was still bested by similarly sized swingmen Andrew Wiggins, Evan Fournier, and Brandon Ingram.

Interior Infrequencies

Joe has an abysmal free throw rate. While respectable with his accuracy at the stripe, he has yet to average a season of even two free throw attempts per game period his subpar athleticism mitigates any hopes of being a high-flying, contact-seeking slasher. After all, he had only two dunks over the 2019-2020 regular season.

Defensive Holes

He moves his feet well but lacks the athletic tools demanded of a premier wing stopper. The Australian forward maximizes his physical traits on the defensive end of the hardwood. However, Joe's defensive elements like positional versatility and rim protection are hampered by his middling athleticism.

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Players Appearing in This Analysis – Check Out Their Profiles
bacon
Beacon Bacon

Between 2014-2015 and 2019-2020, Ingles missed a grand total of 3 regular season games