B.I.3. fans, you have my condolences.
For days, the Toronto faithful have been waiting with bated breath to see whether their franchise stars would be selected to play in this year’s All-Star game, and while Scottie Barnes was selected as an All-Star for the second time in his career, Brandon Ingram has thus far been left off the roster.
While Ingram may yet make his way onto the team as an injury reserve, it is clear that the NBA’s coaches did not feel that the former Most Improved Player merited
selection as part of the All-Star Team. Despite finishing ahead of Scottie Barnes in the fan vote, Ingram would ultimately be passed over in favour of several other players. Why was this, and was this reasonable? Here are some thoughts.
The Stats Question
Ingram leads the Raptors in points per game with 21.9, and adding Ingram to Toronto turned the team from fringe play-in contenders to a top-5 team in the Eastern Conference.
Ingram outscores three other All-Star reserves, those being Karl-Anthony Towns, Scottie Barnes, and Jalen Duren. However, both Towns and Duren are prolific rebounders, averaging double-doubles, while Towns leads the league in this category. Averaging 5.9 boards per game, Ingram is no slouch in this department, but falls short even when compared to Pascal Siakam’s 6.9, another reserve who beat out Ingram for a spot on the squad.
Norman Powell, the former Raptor on the Miami Heat, is indeed averaging far fewer rebounds, and less assists then Ingram, while being named an All-Star. However, he is more efficient from three and from the line, while averaging more point per game. From a purely statistical standpoint, Ingram is not head and shoulders above any player named an All-Star Reserve. This then leads to the next question, of the value of success.
Brandon Ingram: Winner?
The Raptors are currently fourth in the East, four games behind the third-seeded Boston Celtics and second-seeded Knicks, and have a record tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers. As aforementioned, Ingram has emerged as the Raptors’ co-leader alongside Scottie Barnes during this campaign, so some additional weight comes attached with his resume when it comes up for review by the league’s coaches.
The Raptors are a higher seed than the Cavaliers, Hawks, Heat, and Pacers, all of which have had representatives selected for the ASG. While the Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell’s place as an All-Star should be unquestioned due to his scoring proficiency and Cleveland’s relative success under his leadership, the place of Jalen Johnson, Pascal Siakam, and Norm Powell (again, sorry buddy) comes under scrutiny.
In regard to Johnson, the Hawks have underperformed this season, with Trae Young and Kristaps Porzingis missing long stretches of games, allowing him to step into the role of franchise player. It is far from Johnson’s fault that the Hawks are underperforming, nor was he given the reins of the franchise until late in the season when Trae Young was traded. Johnson has demonstrated stat-stuffing abilities, averaging a near triple-double in his breakout season. Sounds like an All-Star to me.
There is a similar story regarding Siakam: without Tyrese Haliburton, the Indiana Pacers have been hamstrung, playing terribly, while Siakam captains the Hoosier State’s sinking ship. Siakam’s solid stats have not translated to any success for the Pacers, who boast the third-worst record in the league and the worst record in the conference. The Miami Heat are struggling as well, 3 games above .500, with Norm Powell taking on major scoring responsibilities with Tyler Herro out for much of the season.
There comes an element of narrative here. Siakam and Powell both look like they’re bailing out otherwise awful teams, something that may be influencing coach decisions. Instead, Ingram is the clear-cut second-best player on a good team, and while he is a capable rebounder in the usual capacity of a forward, the man is a pure scorer. However, he is not a premier scorer, well below 25 points per game. This is not to disparage Ingram’s contributions to the Raptors, but merely to highlight the fact that Ingram’s best talent is not something performed at an elite level. These ideas coupled together suggest a resolution to the question of whether Brandon Ingram should have been named an All-Star. The answer:
Maybe? Maybe not.
With a league chock-full of talent, Ingram doesn’t do anything spectacularly and merely out-succeeds his closest competitors for reserve slots, meaning that his All-Star candidacy doesn’t quite stand out. While Raptors’ fans would have loved to see their dynamic duo take the hardwood in the All-Star game together, it is more than understandable why Ingram was left off the initial roster. But, with the injury reserve slot wide open, who’s to say that the Slenderman won’t find his way next to Scottie Barnes that way?
