Utah Jazz staple Joe Ingles’ season ended prematurely on Sunday. An MRI revealed that the veteran suffered a torn ACL in the Jazz’s last contest with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jazz fans are understandably crushed. With Ingles’ contract due to expire, and his play (slightly) declining as it stands, it’s unclear whether they’ll ever see Ingles play as a Jazzman again. That would be something to mourn. In the 8 seasons Ingles has spent with the team (the entirety of his NBA career), he’s become one of its most beloved members.
Here are 3 reasons why.
The first reason Utah Jazz fans love Joe Ingles: Three-point shooting.
We’ll start from an obvious place. Joe Ingles established himself as one of the best three-point shooters in the National Basketball Association in a Utah Jazz uniform.
It wasn’t apparent that this would be the case from the onset. In his 2014-15 rookie season, Ingles shot 35.6% on 2.6 attempts per contest. Those figures would improve in his sophomore year, as he shot 38.6% on the same number of attempts. In his third year, Ingles’ three-point shooting would explode.
In 2016-17, Ingles hit 44.1% of his 3.4 long range attempts per game. He never really looked back, flirting with 40% accuracy up until his efficiency began to wain over the current season. His best shooting year came just last season, when he hit an incredible 45.1% of his 6.1 attempts per contest.
Ingles is a multifaceted player who has offered the Utah Jazz quite a lot over the years. However, had he been a 3 point specialist, he still would have earned a place in Quin Snyder’s rotation.
The second reason Utah Jazz fans love Joe Ingles: Versatility
A quick question: what position does Joe Ingles play?
If you’ve spent as much time digging through images of him as we have, you know they’re as likely to be captioned “Utah Jazz guard” as they are “Utah Jazz forward”. Per CleaningtheGlass, Ingles spent 51% of his time at Small Forward in 2021-22, and 49% of his time at Power Forward.
In 2016-17, he spent a lot less time at the latter position: 4% of his minutes to be exact. That year, the majority of his time came at Small Forward (85%) while 12% of his time came at Shooting Guard.
Throughout his career, the bulk of his time has been spread across those 3 positions. Still, Ingles can function as a de facto point guard. His passing vision certainly qualifies him for the position, as indicated by the career high 5.7 assists per game he averaged in 2018-19.
So to summarize, Ingles is a 3 who can moonlight as a 2 or a 4, and often plays like a 1.
Got it.
The reality is, Ingles has done whatever the Utah Jazz have asked of him throughout his career in Salt Lake City. That kind of versatility is a tremendous asset in a role player. Some players are dots, and some players are lines that connect them.
Hardly a player in the NBA connects dots as succinctly as Joe Ingles.
The third reason Utah Jazz fans love Joe Ingles: Teamwork
Joe Ingles has never produced like a superstar in this league. He’s never been an athletic marvel. He won’t blow past anyone, and he won’t jump over them either.
Ingles may not be a primary offensive weapon, but he’s always been the consummate teammate.
It’s part of what allowed him to post a 2.3 Defensive Box Plus Minus (DBPM) in 2016-17 in spite of those athletic limitations. That would be Ingles’ high water mark as a defender, but he never compromised his effort.
Outside of basketball, it’s always been apparent that Ingles put his teammates first. Whether it was giving them a light ribbing in a postgame interview, or a word of encouragement in the heat of battle, he’s always been there for his teammates.
Even with a torn ACL, we expect that to continue to be the case.
With any luck, we haven’t seen the last of Joe Ingles in a Utah Jazz uniform. If his injury rehab goes well, he could still be a contributor in 2022-23, his would-be age 35 season. If we have, Jazz fans surely will not take him for granted.