Los Angeles Lakers: Each starters’ Mamba Mentality challenge

Brandon Ingram: Take over the team, play with more confidence

Although Lonzo Ball may be the leader on the court when it comes to developing the plays, Brandon Ingram needs to develop more confidence in his sophomore year and take over this team as his own. Ingram is regarded by many to be the center of the franchise and the foundation to build upon. His rookie season was good, yes, but he should take his game to an entire new level.

There is no reason to expect that Ingram can’t take over on the court and become the leading scorer for the Los Angeles Lakers. Although he will be fighting with Brook Lopez and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for those honors, if Ingram shoots the ball with more confidence the results will be evident. A big reason why Ingram only averaged 9.4 points per game last year was his low shot attempts.

Ingram only attempted 8.7 shots per game last season. While it is a trend for rookies to shoot the ball less, when Ingram did shoot the ball more frequently he thrived; he did not suffer a hit to his shooting percentage. Ingram shot the ball 15 or more times only six times last season.

In those six games, Ingram scored in the double digits five times. The only real sore spot was a November 25 game against the Warriors. Ingram shot the ball a season high 18 times, only scoring eight points in the process.

For the most part, though, Ingram maintains his high shooting percentage even when the shots attempted increases. With the distributing play of Ball now in the fold, Ingram will get more open looks and should take those open looks with confidence.