NBA Free Agency 2017: One signing every team should make

New Orleans Pelicans: Joe Ingles

Unless you happen to be parked in front of every Utah Jazz game, Joe Ingles might not be a player fans are wholly familiar with. He’s only been in the league for three years since coming over from Australia, spending all three of those season with Utah. However, he’s been a reliable role player for them, able to both produce and stay on the floor. For a team like the New Orleans Pelicans that’s thinking about how to spend wisely to progress as an entity, Ingles is the type of player they need.

In terms of his durability, Ingles has been quite impressive to this point. The fewest games that he’s played in a season came as a rookie in the 2014-15 campaign when he still managed 79 games. He’s played over 80 games in the past two seasons. What’s more, though, Ingles has also gotten better every year that he’s been in the league, improving in terms of his proficiency and efficiency as a player. He was a weapon for the Jazz this past season on offense, hitting 45.2 percent of his shots and an impressive 44.1 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Clearly the Pelicans are a team that are trying to build around their frontcourt of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. However, those two players also tie the team’s hands a bit in terms of moves they can make. So when they have a player like Ingles that is capable of providing them outside shooting and reliability they need to succeed on a budget as a possibility, the Pelicans have to make it happen.