re: 538 Player Projections for 2021-2022

Ingram had the lowest defensive RAPTOR score on the team last season -- lower even than Bledsoe's. We all know that SVG tried to help fix BI's defense, and we all know those efforts not only didn't work, but destroyed their relationship.

Willie Green is known as a defensive coach, and I think that improving BI's defense is his single biggest opportunity to impact the team's record. Ingram has to significantly improve defensively if the Pelicans are ultimately going to evolve into a contender.

EDIT: To think about it another way, 538's computer thinks that Lonzo Ball will be a better overall player than BI this season.

EDIT 2: What's really interesting about Ingram is that his RAPTOR defensive rating went way down last season. As in, all the work that SVG put into improving BI's defense actually backfired. Or, perhaps more charitably, BI was ill-suited to play SVG's style of defense.