Nate’s Top Five: NBA Draft Prospect Brandon Ingram Rising

All eyes have been on LSU’s Ben Simmons as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, but eyes are quickly turning to a Duke scorer who’s had an incredible freshman campaign in Brandon Ingram.

I’m not usually torn between who I would take with the No. 1 pick in an NBA Draft.

By this point in time, my mind is generally made up about who I feel is the top prospect in the field. It would take a monster postseason to even get me to think about changing my mind.

That’s not the case this year, as there are not one but two players who are more than deserving of consideration for the top overall selection.

All eyes are currently fixated on Ben Simmons at LSU because of his incredible upside as a playmaking power forward who can rebound and dominate in the post. I’ve seen this kid exhibit virtually every skill that translates to the next level, and he’s only 19.

Simmons is no ordinary young talent. No one with this much upside has come along since LeBron James back in 2003. That’s not saying he’ll become as good as James, but he’s in that same territory in terms of skill at this age.

I know what you’re probably asking by this point: if Simmons is this good already, how is he not your overwhelming favorite to get drafted first?

Before I start talking about Ingram I’ll address my concerns with Simmons at this stage. There are two main problems that are evident with him in nearly every game outside of a few.

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The first is that he doesn’t have a jump shot at this point. He’s attempted only three shots from three-point range all year and made one of them per Hoop-Math. In today’s NBA that’s certainly frowned upon as power forwards are becoming more and more familiar with the idea of spreading the floor to center an offensive attack around the pick-and-roll.

Second he hasn’t shown a consistent killer instinct at the end of games. Time after time Simmons is left standing in a corner where he’s completely ineffective watching his teammates jack up shots to get back in the game or win it. He’s had a few games in which he’s taken over like earlier in the season against Marquette but too often he’s uninvolved in the offense.

Whether LSU coach Johnny Jones deserves complete blame for all of this is unknown, but the facts and game film are there.

Simmons is at his best when he’s calling for the ball in the post in the halfcourt or driving with the ball in transition. He’s a great playmaker off the dribble and has the vision to find his teammates off the double team in the low post. Simmons isn’t a jump shooter at this point so simply putting him in the corner or having him set screens outside the pick-and-roll isn’t how you utilize a talent like him, and quite frankly Simmons needs to speak up for himself and demand the ball in situations like that.

Will this change at the next level? It very well could. But for now those two things are what’s being held against him and I can tell you they aren’t problems that Ingram has at this stage of his development.

Ingram has the tools to score at all levels of the court. He can drive at the basket and finish, pull-up from mid-range, score with his back to the basket off the fadeaway jumper and connect from three-point range.

Provided by Sports-Reference.com/CBB: View Original Table
Generated 2/20/2016.

As you can see from his statistics above, Ingram is an efficient scorer from everywhere except for the free-throw line. In the past that’s been an indicator of limited shooting range in the NBA given that the three-point arc isn’t the same distance in the professional game, but his stroke and follow-through aren’t broken. In time he’ll work with shooting coaches for whatever team drafts him and improve in those areas immediately.

He shoots with range and wants the ball in his hands at the end of games. Wednesday night against North Carolina Ingram hit a number of key shots down the stretch to keep them in the game despite having only five players truly available given the team’s injury bug. He only shot 7-of-21 from the field overall but he pulled himself together after his struggles in the first half and put Duke on his back. That’s the kind of mentality scouts want to see out of a high draft pick. It’s performances like that in which prospects can legitimately change their draft stocks and the debate is on in major media circles.

As I said before my mind isn’t made up. This could come down to tournament play to make a final call as to who I would take No. 1 overall. Ingram arguably has as much potential as Simmons given his 6-foot-9 size and incredible length for the wing position. If he fills out his frame like Simmons already has, then Ingram could be a 20 points per game scorer within a few seasons in the league.

For those who didn’t think we’d have this kind of debate leading up to draft day, hang on because it’s only going to get better.

Here’s a quick look at my top-five rising draft prospects, starting with the likely NCAA Player of the Year.

 1. Buddy Hield, Oklahoma

Listed as a second round pick just months ago, Hield has risen all the way into the lottery on most NBA big boards and he isn’t going anywhere.

Hield is a 6-foot-4 scoring machine at the college level who’s made 48.8 percent of his three-point attempts this season. The fact that he’s flirting with a 50-50-90 season while shooting at such a high volume is astounding. We haven’t seen a scorer this efficient since Stephen Curry at Davidson.

Scouts aren’t sold that he’ll stay this productive in the NBA, but he’s certainly worth a look in the lottery with how weak this draft class supposedly is.

2. Marquese Chriss, University of Washington

In ESPN’s lastest big board, draft expert Chad Ford has Chriss in the lottery after he wasn’t even thought of as a second round pick, let alone a first round pick at the start of the season.

As Ford noted, Chriss is still a raw prospect but he has the physical tools of a primetime scorer and rotation player for an NBA team.

Standing at 6-foot-9 Chriss has the size and length to impact the game both down low and potentially on the perimeter as a stretch big. Even though he’s only shooting 27.5 percent from three-point range on the year, Chriss is only a freshman and has plenty of time to turn that around. The fact that he’s more than willing to bomb shots from deep (40 attempted threes this season) says more than enough about him wanting to showcase his versatility.

If he keeps putting up huge performances expect him to get major draft buzz by the end of the year.

3. Timothe Luwawu, France

Luwawu isn’t the top international talent according to Ford and DraftExpress at the moment, but that could change as we get closer to the draft.

He’s put up consistent numbers overseas, averaging 15.3 points per game on a slash line of .410/.381/.709 per FIBA.com.

Given his young age and 6-foot-7 size he has plenty of upside as a rotation player and potential starter down the road for an NBA squad. If he’s drafted, don’t be surprised if he earns a starting spot depending on where he’s drafted.

4. Grayson Allen, Duke

Allen wasn’t on the map as a 2016 draft selection until he bursted out of the gate and established himself as Duke’s most important scorer.

With little depth and quality at the point guard spot, Allen generally has the ball in his hands and doesn’t settle often for tough jump shots. He drives the ball to the rim and finishes surprisingly well for his size.

He’s elite athletically and can hit shots with range. The keys to Allen potentially rising into the lottery are his defensive effort and playmaking.

5. Malik Beasley, Florida State University

Beasley was another guard who wasn’t on draft radars for this year but he’s played like a senior for a Florida State team desperate for scoring.

On the year Beasley’s averaging 16.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on 49 percent shooting from the field. People forget how hard that is to do as a freshman in college. The game is different and much faster than in high school, so seeing Beasley translate so well as a versatile scorer means he’s more ready for a jump to the next level than a lot of other shooting guards in the NCAA.

He’s 6-foot-5 and if he continues to add to his frame he has the makings of a special offensive player in the NBA.