Last summer Joe Ingles got a highly endowed contract from the Utah Jazz. This was smiled at from many sides. But it is now clear that the Australian with a “farmer” look is indispensable for success. Oklahoma City Thunder is also experiencing this at the moment.
40-year-old farmer (original sound Donovan Mitchell), mathematics teacher (original sound Rudy Gobert), Slow-Mo Joe, Jinglin’ Joe or simply Average Joe – these are the usual terms and descriptions that Joe Ingles has to endure at regular intervals.
No wonder: At first glance, the 30-year-old Australian does not exactly give the impression that he could be an NBA professional. Especially not one who is in the starting five of a playoff team and is also the X-factor for the outcome of a series.
Luckily Ingles is not one of them who feels attacked by the wisecracks around him. “All I hear about myself is that I’m a boring white guy whose hair is starting to fall out,” he told ESPN a few weeks ago with a hearty laugh. “And somehow it’s true.”
But at the very latest, since the Utah Jazz are about to eliminate the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first playoff round, Ingles sporting qualities are finally discussed primarily by the general public. And there’s absolutely no reason to make nicely meant jokes. Because on the court the Small Foward understands rather less fun.
This will also be confirmed by Paul George, who often has to deal with Ingles in a direct duel – there are more pleasant tasks. You could already see that during the first OKC posession in game 4, which may be the decisive one: George was just standing around in the corner far away from the ball. And Ingles? He plucked and plucked George’s jersey, looked for physical contact where actually no one was necessary and did not leave his opponent’s side even with dead balls. Instead, he followed him up close or just grinned in his face.
Already after 4 minutes Ingles had reached one of his goals: George was so annoyed that he pushed him away at a throw-in and got a technical for it. “It’s playoff basketball. That’s where it gets hard, where it gets dirty and physical. We have to accept the fight,” PG-13 explained after the game. He preferred not to talk directly about Ingles.
When Ingles is on the field, he has a plus-minus rating of +61 in the last three games – the best score of all jazz players. This shows that he not only plays the villain on the field, but also influences the game in the “classic” way.
In defense he compensates his missing speed by length, timing and anticipation. If he doesn’t have to go into one-on-one against Westbrook, he can defend almost all positions. Certainly not in such a way that he forces a direct ball win. But just in such a way that it disrupts or even completely paralyses the rhythm of the opponent’s attack. That OKC only played 10 (!) assists in game 4 and often had no ideas outside the Hero Ball was also Ingles’ merit.
In addition, he is the most important communicator in the defense, tells Switches, assigns opponents and positions and sometimes even buttons himself a youngster if he does not make the defensive use that Ingles himself makes.
He didn’t have that status a few years ago. When Ingles was an oldie rookie on the field, the Guards tried to create a mismatch against him and then announce isolation. Cause that white old Dude would be easy to get past.
“That’s exactly what motivated me,” Ingles says today. “I will not be humiliated by anyone. That’s why I worked even harder to minimize such situations. I’ve managed to do that quite well now – and I think I’ve earned respect in the whole league.”
It certainly wasn’t easy for him. This is always the case with unusually old rookies. Ingles did not join the league until he was 27 years old, before that he had spent his professional life in Australia, Spain or Israel. In the summer of 2014 he then signed a training camp contract with the Clippers – according to his own statements only to see “what goes on”. He did not expect a real chance, instead he prepared to return to Europe for the new season.
The same thing almost happened – he didn’t make the final cut in the Clippers squad. “After that, I had lunch with my wife until I learned that Utah was interested in me. We left everything and flew off immediately,” he explains years later.
In Salt Lake City, he initially only wanted to make it beyond the January deadline in order to guarantee his minimum contract. With a total of 79 games in the 2014/15 season, 32 of them in the Starting Five, he succeeded with flying colours.
One of his biggest supporters is Head Coach Quin Snyder, who saw from the very beginning that much more was slumbering in the unusual rookie. He made sure that his protégé not only improves his physique, but also expands his offensive repertoire: “He is proof that a player can still make decisive leaps in performance in the middle of his career,” says Snyder.
Such players are exactly what a small market team like Jazz needs, as hardly established stars will make their way to the salt lake. Continuous player development and a team-oriented orientation are the path to success. And as you can see, the loss of Gordon Hayward last summer hardly plays a role anymore.
Ingles’ hard work and endurance rewarded Jazz last summer with a new contract for four years and 52 million dollars. This sum was smiled at from many sides, but General Manager Dennis Lindsey had no reservations whatsoever. “Sure, a lot of people said this contract is insane,” he explained. “But we know what we have in him.”
And that, according to Lindsey, is a Top 10 Small Forward within the entire league. That may be a bit high, but at least the figures allow such a thesis: In the Regular Season he landed in 4th place among the Small Forwards at the Real Plus minus and in 4th place of all players at the triple ratio (44 percent).
His throw (or should we say “his slingshot”?) is his biggest weapon in the offense, he makes sure that a Donovan Mitchell has room for his drives or a Ricky Rubio has room for his pick-and-rolls with Rudy Gobert with his little hand and his feeling for the right position off the ball.
In exceptional cases Ingles can also handle the ball himself: In the early stages of Game 4, for example, he almost put his opponent Paul George on the boards with a tackle breaker on a high pick and roll. This was followed by a piercing of Gobert and a dunk of the Stifle Tower. However, as ESPN reporter Zach Lowe aptly put it: “The Thunder defended this play, which the Jazz was playing all the time, like a team that had never trained together before.
In this point the Thunder will have to improve, otherwise the series should be finished after the fifth game (Thursday, 3.30 am). By then at the latest, the rest of the NBA world will have realized that Joe Ingles is much more than a 40-year-old farmer. Namely, as Gobert puts it, “a very clever basketball player with a big mouth and Australian accent.”