NBA: Ranking all 30 starting small forwards for 2018-19
11. Joe Ingles, Utah Jazz
One of the league’s perpetually underrated wings, Jinglin’ Joe Ingles finds no such disrespect on this list, nearly cracking the top 10 despite his mundane averages of 11.5 points, 4.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Still, as any Utah Jazz fan will stand up and stop traffic to attest, Ingles’ impact extends beyond the basic stat sheet, and even beyond his en fuego 44 percent shooting from 3-point range. Ingles is not only a key part of Utah’s top-five defense, but he’s also an underrated secondary playmaker and ball-handler.
He’ll rarely post the kinds of numbers that fairly indicate his value to the Jazz, but as he quietly shoots blistering percentages from downtown, lends stellar wing defense across multiple positions and does all the little things, this on-the-rise team will continue to threaten for a top-three seed in the loaded Western Conference.