The Way Brandon Ingram Gets Officiated Is Nauseating

Before I dive into Brandon Ingram I wanted to be positive and share how I feel about this team.

Is It frustrating as hell to keep losing? Absolutely. Is it frustrating to not have #1 in the line up? Absolutely. But, this frustration is different from years past. I feel like finally this team has a future; it has a vision, it has players to be excited about. It has rookies to be excited about in Herb Jones. It has All-Star caliber players in Brandon Ingram and Jonas Valanciunas. It has dirt dogs and competitors like Devonte’ Graham and Josh Hart. It even has guys that you are disappointed in but can see the potential in like Jaxson Hayes and Nickiel Alexander Walker. Most of these players want to win and they want to win for this city. They just don’t know how to yet. Most of the time, they just run out of talent. BUT, they are always in the game, they battle their asses off and they always seem to have a chance to win the game at the end and that’s what makes this team exciting to watch.

They play so hard, but it’s really tough to win against the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and the referees.

I am sick and tired of referees swallowing their whistles on Brandon Ingram. The guy is an All-Star, he is a top 20 scorer in this league. Can he please be officiated like one? BI is different than the rest. He doesn’t bitch and complain like Luka. He doesn’t flail his arms and flop on the floor like Chris Paul or James Harden. You never see him show up an official, you actually just see him politely go up to an official and talk about the previous play in a calming manner.

Maybe he needs to show up the officials like other All-Stars do in order to get a call. Those guys get rewarded for acting, Brandon Ingram is not an actor. Night in and night out he tries to fight through the molestation that happens to him for 35 minutes a night, and rarely complains. Well, these last two nights both Willie Green and Brandon Ingram have had enough and I don’t blame them one bit.

After watching this video you may think “well that’s not a lot of contact.” You are probably right, but ask yourself this, do you think Harden gets this call? How about Lebron? What about CP3? Name any other all star or top 20 scorer in this league. The answer is yes. Why? Because they will flail their arms up and scream “OH” and make a scene like they are in Hollywood. Not Brandon.

These are just the two plays in the previous nights that led to Technical fouls. If I really sat down and watched the game in its entirety I guarantee you I could find 5-7 more plays that are way worse than this. It’s embarrassing for the league to award guys for acting, showing up officials etc.. and not award guys that play the right way, like Brandon Ingram.

By the way… this has been going on for years of BI getting smashed and the refs swallowing their whistles.

All in all, the referees are not losing the game for the Pelicans. The Pelicans are losing the game for the Pelicans. They need to find out a way to not dig themselves into double digit holes in the first half and find ways to finish out games. They will get better with time.

I will end it with this, there is finally a vision. There is finally hope. The record may not show it, but I can promise you that Willie Green and his coaching staff have changed the culture in New Orleans.