Pelicans: Predicting stats for Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram

Pelicans: How Brandon Ingram will improve next season

Brandon Ingram has been the model of consistency the last two seasons for the New Orleans Pelicans.

In both of the previous two seasons, Ingram averaged exactly 23.8 points, so you can’t get much more consistent than that.

His rebounds dipped slightly from 6.1 in 2019-20 to 4.9 in the 2020-21 season. His assists rose from 4.2 to 4.9 in that time, so Ingram has put up two very similar seasons in a row.

I think he will improve in a couple of areas this season because of the loss of Lonzo Ball. Ball may not have been the point guard, but he had the ball in his hands a lot.

In fact, Lonzo Ball led the team in touches, something his fans always fail to mention when they are blaming everyone else for Lonzo’s lack of production last season.

I think Willie Green will change up the offense from being so iso-dependent and that everyone is going to touch the ball more this season.

This should lead to increased assists for Ingram, who is an underrated playmaker.

I also think Ingram will benefit from the increased space the Pels’ offense will have this year, which should lead to more open looks from long range. I expect his 3-point percentage to improve and predict he will hit more than 40 percent of them for the first time in his career.

All of this will lead to a stat line of 25 points per game, 6.1 assists and 6.5 rebounds for Brandon Ingram, which should get him back to the All-Star game in the West.