The Charlotte Hornets need dogs (dawgs?). And every team needs players off the bench that can do a little bit of everything and fill the gaps in lineups. There is a player that potentially fits that mold in the second round that played just a few hours up the road at Chapel Hill last season–Harrison Ingram.

Measurements

Height: 6’5.25″
Wingspan: 7’0.25″
Standing reach: 8’6.5″
Weight: 234 pounds
No step vertical: 29″
Max vertical: 35″

Strengths

Defense, feel for the game, motor, most things not related to scoring

Harrison Ingram is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none. He rebounds extremely well for his size and can defend wings and forwards. He’s sturdily built and plays with good focus and intensity on the defensive end of the floor. He’s not a big stocks (steals+blocks) guy, but he plays sound positional defense and is engaged as both an on ball and help defender. That will be the number one thing that gets him on the floor at the NBA level.

Ingram isn’t a scoring threat on offense, but he does other things well that allow him to help an offense go. He’s a good connector as a passer. While he doesn’t have the gravity to create open looks for others, he’s a smart player with good instincts that finds the open man. He can function as a secondary hub at the top of the key or on the elbows. He can grab and go from the defensive end and is unselfish with hit ahead passes and dishes to runners on the wings.

Question Marks

Most things related to shooting and scoring

Ingram shot a respectable percentage from three for the Tar Heels last season (38.5%), but there are lot of reasons to question the sustainability of that number. It was the first time in three seasons that he shot over 31% from three, and his free throw percentage stayed pretty stagnant in the low 60s for all three of his collegiate seasons. He converted a very poor 46.2% of his 2-point looks as well.

Off the spreadsheet for a minute, the jumper looks okay. It’s compact with a very low jump. However, Ingram is a little slow getting into that shot, and his footwork on the perimeter is labored and clunky if he’s trying to get set off any sort of movement. If he’s going to be a 3-point threat at the NBA level, it’s almost exclusively going to be as a spot up shooter with time and space.

He doesn’t have the burst to get past anyone with the ball in his hands and doesn’t have the vertical pop to attack the rim in traffic. His scoring inside the arc was largely semi-post up attempts and floaters over defenders. He’s going to struggle to score around NBA length, so the other parts of his game need to be really, really good to earn him court time.

Overall Outlook

It can be difficult for non scorers to get consistent playing time in the NBA, so Ingram needs to show that his outside shot is for real despite his struggles as a scorer elsewhere. He has the rest of the game to make him one of those players whose team plays better with him on the floor despite modest box score statistics. The Hornets need players with strong motors and defense. Ingram can be one of those guys.