When every guy on the team and the coaching staff is telling you, ‘shoot it, shoot it,’ obviously I’ve always known I could shoot it, but it was more of a trying to get the guys involved and being that middle man. – Joe Ingles
SALT LAKE CITY — During the Utah Jazz’s 108-73 win over Brooklyn Saturday night, Joe Ingles swung a pass to Gordon Hayward, who was standing ready for a straight away 3-pointer. Before the shot had even left Hayward’s hand, Ingles was on his way back down the court, signaling a made three with his fingers.
It proved to be prophetic as Hayward’s 3-ball hit the bottom of the net.
Ingles, my friend, you are easy to love.
In December, Grantland.com’s Zach Lowe named Ingles a “Luke Walton All-Star” given to “journeymen thriving in unexpectedly large roles.”
Lowe doesn’t do the Walton All-Stars as a form of mocking; on the contrary, he does it as a form of celebration. It’s also more than likely the only All-Star nod a Jazz member will receive this season, so following his career-high night against the Nets, it’s time to celebrate Mr. Ingles.
At the time of the Lowe’s article Ingles’ usage rate — the percentage of team’s offensive possessions a player uses while on the court — had dropped below 10 percent, a pretty eye-popping number for someone so regularly in the rotation. Lowe wrote that, “He’s shooting only 25 percent from deep, and he needs to be Grand Canyon levels of wide open to even think about shooting.”
With the injuries to Alec Burks and Rodney Hood, Ingles has become the Jazz’s starting shooting guard, and Utah may just need him to do a little more scoring.
He did so Saturday night.
Ingles hit 4-of-8 shots — with all four makes coming from deep — to score a career-high 16 points. That performance was something for which the Jazz players and coaches were waiting. Ingles said following Saturday’s win that he hears from teammates and coaches every day to shoot it more often.
“When every guy on the team and the coaching staff is telling you, ‘shoot it, shoot it,’ obviously I’ve always known I could shoot it, but it was more of a trying to get the guys involved and being that middle man,” Ingles said. “I don’t mind doing it, and I’m not out there to get my own stats or anything like that.”
Ingles does so many things well, and that’s how the 27-year old rookie has been able to carve out a role in coach Quin Snyder’s rotation.
He executes the offense with well-timed, mostly unspectacular passes. He has an effective back cut (especially with fellow Aussie Dante Exum on the court), he sets solid screens and has good court vision. Snyder has preached unselfishness ever since he got to Utah, and Ingles exemplifies that, but almost to a fault.
For instance, the pass he sent Hayward’s way for the 3-pointer that sent him into a preshot celebration, he probably could have taken himself; he was open. But mostly on Saturday he shot when there were shots for him to take.
Ingles has struggled at times from the 3-point line this season, but Snyder said that’s mostly because of his tentative nature.
“I don’t usually pride myself on coaching shooting. I usually try to stay ways from it at least during the season,” Snyder said following Saturday’s contest. “But he needs to not consider whether he should shoot; he’s kind of like pensively waiting; he just needs to catch and shoot.”
Snyder said that’s exactly what occurred against the Nets. Ingles had read the play before the ball got to his hands, and he knew what do with it once he received it. The Jazz coach also mentioned that Exum has had the same problem with being passive to shoot, and that both are better shooters when they just catch and shoot.
In the last two games Exum, who has also started both contests, has hit 8-of-15 from three-point range, after going five games without making a triple: “It must be something from down under,” Snyder said.
In January, Ingles' usage rate has jumped to 13.2 percent, still really low for a starting guard, but he is starting to be more assertive on the offensive end. His coach though, doesn’t want him to start going to crazy.
“I don’t want him to get carried away,” Snyder said “He still needs to take good shots. I thought he was confident, and the shots he took were good shots.”
Snyder said when Ingles doesn’t take the shots that are open that he sometimes gets the ball back at the end of the shot clock and is forced to put up a much more difficult one.
“It’s better when we take those when they’re open, and he made them tonight,” Snyder said.
The whole arena also knew when Ingles or Exum made a bucket.
On Saturday the Jazz debuted a new ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ chant recording each time one of the native Australians made a basket.
Ingles, though, said he did not hear the new chant: “I was pretty focused on the game plan,” he said with a smile.