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Joe Ingles played numerous sports growing up in South Australia. He was multidimensional enough to have had cracks at Australian Rules football, cricket, swimming and … yes, basketball. He had a pool and a hoop in his backyard. But he played basketball mostly because that's the game his friends played. Not for one minute, back then, did he think about playing in the NBA.

Now, he thinks about it every day. Thinks about it and does it, better than anyone thought he would or could, including himself.

On his weekly radio show on 97.5/1280 The Zone, Ingles confessed Thursday morning that if you had told him, even as recently as this preseason, he'd be playing the comprehensive role he's been playing for the Jazz, "I would have told you, 'You're crazy.' "

You're not.

The other night against the Cleveland Cavs, it was Ingles getting 26 minutes, hitting a three at one end, locking down on LeBron James at the other, about as well as any human could.

For a good portion of this season, Ingles led the league in field-goal percentage from beyond the arc, although he's cooled a bit in recent days. But either way … Slo-Mo Joe's defense?

Yeah, that's him being called upon to stop guards who get hot, using his hands, bodying up, being a nuisance, causing mayhem, not every night, but often enough to surprise.

"Joe figured out that the way for him to get shots is to stay on the court, and the way for him to stay on the court is for him to defend," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder. "He's playing to his strengths — he has length and height. When he's guarding, if someone shoots from the perimeter, he tries to make those shots hard. If a bigger player takes him down in the post, he can handle that. There's a versatility that Joe has defensively and offensively. He understands that and embraces it."

Having taken a circuitous route to the world's best league, Ingles toured that world — from Down Under, playing initially for the Melbourne South Dragons, and his country's national team, for whom he played at Olympics in Beijing and London, to the Spanish League's teams in Granada and Barcelona. Along that path, the Memphis Grizzlies saw enough in him to offer him a guaranteed contract, but Ingles declined, choosing instead to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he won a Euroleague title.

After that, what he called "a long and difficult journey," he at last took his talents to the NBA, where he was cut by the L.A. Clippers. That was in the run-up to the 2014-15 season. Within 48 hours, the Jazz invited Ingles to Salt Lake City, and that's where he's played and stayed since.

The Jazz suspected he might be able to help, but, as Dennis Lindsey said it, "We didn't know to this extent."

Ingles was one of those players on the margin, needed by a young Jazz team, a developing team that could use an affable veteran who'd gained perspective and a sense of humor, learning the game in its far-flung bushes, having cans of beer and cigarette lighters thrown at him. He was happy to be with the Jazz, laidback in the locker room and useful in a limited sort of way on the court.

But then … that funny, strange, glorious thing happened. Ingles, who had been a 27-year-old rookie, developed alongside the kids. He made his way through that first season, stuck last year, and this time around, especially, Ingles transformed himself into a valuable contributor on an emerging team.

In some ways, he's the embodiment of that emergence — nobody's star, unlike, say, Gordon Hayward or Rudy Gobert, but lifting his game in measured amounts enough to add to the mix.

"He got in better shape," Lindsey said.

Ingles has regularly shown a feel for the game, a feel for keeping the team, as Snyder put it, "connected on the floor," and loose and giggly off it.

He's not exactly a stopper, but, Ingles said: "I like the responsibility of having to guard whoever it is on whatever night."

As the Jazz work all their players back into the rotation, Ingles' role might undulate, depending on circumstances and matchups, and that's OK with him. "It depends on how everyone plays and how I play," he said. "The good thing about this group is, everyone is happy for everyone no matter what the situation is."

Ingles said he likes playing in Utah, at one point in his time here calling the endeavor "one of the best I've ever had in basketball. The guys are unselfish and fun and I've had a great time. I love Utah."

He added: "It's been great."

Better than anybody, himself included, would or could have imagined.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.