When I was good at basketball way back in middle school I remember my opponent charging down the lane. I was ready for the contact and when he reached me, I flopped. He stopped in time, but the trailing ref gave me the call.
You know the feeling when you tease your little sibling and they retaliate, but they get in trouble, not you?
— Or for the less fortunate, remember the feeling your older sibling got when it was vice-versa?
I felt I deserved the reward because I outsmarted the referee.
Starting this season, the NBA is looking to issue fines or other penalties for “flopping.” In layman’s terms, if I force you to fall over, okay, but don’t pretend the Hulk threw you from the three-point line to the elbow.
I get it, but I’m not a fan of these penalties. Flopping is part of the game.
(Here’s my favorite flop of all time. Skip to :20)
If 5-5, 135 lb. Earl Boykins is charging into the lane, and there’s 6-11, 240 lb. Dwight Howard ready to take the charge, is it flopping if Howard falls over to get the call? Boykins could hit Howard at 10 miles an hour and he may not budge.
**I was curious about this, so my inner nerd did the math: Essentially, if an equal-weight human barreled into Howard at just under six mph, he would probably fall, but you get the point.
Where’s the line drawn?
Howard will want to “flop” to convey the contact denotes a foul, but when should he get fined for doing so?
I think the league is going to have a lot on their plate if this rule is added to the game. Professional players who have sold fouls their whole life now need to change a deeply embedded basketball mindset, forcing them to think, not react.
I would be mad if I’m Dwyane Wade. Flopping is an art, and he’s good at it.
I feel this should be Wade’s stance on flopping: “I’m going to flop. If I get the call, great, if not, then my defender has extra room to work with.”
Why not tell the refs to swallow their whistle more often?
Watch a mid-90s contest between the Bulls and Miami Heat, or Knicks and Pacers. There was much more contact and what I think was a better game.
Granted, with the violence byproduct and today’s emphasis on safety, we won’t see that style of basketball anytime soon. But watch Scottie Pippen and Charles Oakley fight for rebounds and tell me you’re not entertained. I digress.
If the NBA implements penalties, I would hope all flops be reviewed following the game, similar to how the NFL treats illegal hits. I don’t think a majority of fans want a flop to count as a technical foul.
I can’t officially make the argument “These new rules are bad for the NBA” because the flopping rules are still being tweaked, but if the NBA implements a flop-free game, it will cause more problems than it solves.
Time to Schein 