When free agency opened Thursday night one of the first moves announced for the Milwaukee Bucks was the signing of veteran forward Joe Ingles. Ingles has spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz up to this point. What are the Milwaukee Bucks getting in Ingles? Essentially a tall veteran shooter, but Ingles is capable of more. Also, while a lot of fans are concerned about his injury, his entire career before tearing his ACL in 2021 Ingles has played 67 games or more, outside of one injury, Ingles has been very durable.
Grading Joe Ingles fit with the Milwaukee Bucks: Offense
The easiest way to understand Joe Ingles fit with the Milwaukee Bucks is by looking at what he can do for the offense alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. Specifically, his 3-point percentage, for his career, Ingles has hit 40.8 percent of his 3-point attempts. Which among players that played more than 20 minutes per game would be just barely third on the Milwaukee Bucks behind Jrue Holiday (41.1 percent) and Grayson Allen (40.9 percent).
A very underrated part of Joe Ingles game is his ability to run the pick and roll as the ball handler. According to NBA.com, with Ingles as the pick and roll ball handler, the Jazz recorded 1.02 points per possession. That mark is higher than Trae Young, Luka Doncic and Ja Morant. Not that Joe Ingles is a better player than those three, but just lends some credence to Ingles as a playmaker in the pick and roll game. Plays where Giannis Antetokounmpo runs the pick and roll as the roll man plays result in 1.34 points per possession and scored 67.5 percent of the time. Imagining a pick and roll scenario with those two is an exciting prospect.
Aside from just the pick and roll, Joe Ingles is simply a good passer, on his career he averages 3.8 assists, peaking at 5.7 in the 2018-19 season. So despite fans initial reactions may be to think Ingles is just going to camp out in the corner shooting threes, but that’s not the case, while Ingles isn’t an elite athlete, he is a playmaker. Ingles will fit great on the Bucks offense.
Grading Joe Ingles fit with the Milwaukee Bucks: Defense
Joe Ingles isn’t specifically known for his defense, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because Joe Ingles is an under the radar, decent defender. As I mentioned during the offense section, Ingles is not an elite athlete, but he is a baller that knows how to play the game of basketball. Joe Ingles is a good pick and roll defender, perhaps drawing knowledge from running it on offense and knowing how the pick and roll works. According to a January article from saltcityhoops.com, Ingles held pick and rolls run against him to .67 points per possession up to that point during the season. The article goes on to list him as a strong isolation defender and a strong defender on spot up shooters.
The other thing that will aid the Milwaukee Bucks on defense is the fact that Ingles is 6’8, adding to the Bucks size and length. Ingles could play as the Bucks small forward or power forward, either way the Bucks could employ him in small ball lineups or in lineups where the Bucks want a size advantage. So defensively, Joe Ingles is also a good fit for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Grade for the Milwaukee Bucks signing of Joe Ingles: A
Stay tuned for more grades from the Milwaukee Bucks free agency doings.