LOS ANGELES_After Tuesday's game against the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers Coach Luke Walton said he thinks Brandon Ingram is almost to the point where he's a lock-down defender. That's not a phrase Ingram ever thought would fit him.
"I guess that's something I didn't focus on coming through high school and college," Ingram said. "I've seen it's very important."
Walton began driving home Ingram's defensive potential as early as during Ingram's pre-draft workout with the Lakers. That was really all Ingram needed to start to buy into wanting to improve his defense. Since the Lakers drafted him second overall this summer, he has worked constantly to become the kind of defender Walton envisions.
His wingspan was a big part of what made his potential as a defender so bright. Ingram's wingspan was measured at 7 feet 3 during a pre-draft workout. He's learning how to use that to his advantage.
"A lot of this league is about angles," Walton said. "The block he had in that last game in Brooklyn at the end of the game. He took the body contact, but he wasn't trying to fight it to where it knocked him off balance. He let the guy make his move, was able to use his wingspan to still be there to block his shot."
Walton added that the best defenders use their wingspan to force opponents into bad shots. Sometimes players make bad shots, but defenders can live with that.
"Once he fully understands it and fully commits to it, he'll be great at it," Walton said. "To play defense anyway at this level at his age is near impossible to me. These are grown men you're playing against. It normally physically just beats you down. He's been pretty good with it."
