Season stats: 10.1 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.0 SPG in 29.8 MPG; .439/.397/.810
Last 3 weeks: 14.8 PPG, 5.7 APG, 4.8 RPG, 1.3 SPG in 33.4 MPG; .534/.536/.824
Joe Ingles shot up the Sixth Man of the Year Ladder with a strong showing over the last three weeks, but the irony is that 10 of his 12 appearances over that period were as a starter, with Mike Conley battling a hamstring injury, which forced Donovan Mitchell back to point guard, which opened a spot at the 2 for Ingles.
But at this point, Ingles has 20 relief appearances and 11 starts, so he’s still Sixth Man of the Year eligible at this point. And he caught fire over the last three weeks, averaging nearly 15 points per game and shooting a ridiculous 53.6 percent from 3-point range — fourth-best in the NBA over that span.
But there do have to be some concerns for the Utah Jazz over how Ingles played in his 20 reserve appearances, when he averaged 7.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 27.5 minutes per game, but shot just 36.2 percent overall and hit 31.2 percent on 4.7 deep tries per game.
Conley will eventually return to the lineup and when that happens, coach Quin Snyder will have to decide whether to slide Ingles to the 3 and put Royce O’Neale on the second unit or roll the dice that Ingles has broken out of his early funk and will be the productive sixth man the Jazz were envisioning when they moved him into the role for this season.