Take all those floppers and put them where they belong – sleeping with the fishes.

Unless of course one of our guys does it, then it was a brilliant tactical move.

Not really.

Fact is, flopping is not the problem. Players aren’t getting hurt. The “integrity of the game” is not suffering. It’s not even something that’s happening significantly more than it used to.

We could use some more consistency in how it is enforced by the officials.

There is the REAL problem.

The officiating in the NBA is in dire need of reform. Tim Donaghy proved that. David Stern then made serious-sounding noises for a little while until people forgot about the problem, and absolutely nothing has changed.

The last thing we need to “remedy” this “problem” is to give the already-inept officials another highly-subjective rule to enforce (or should I say “inflict”?) on the league in a random, disorganized, and unimpeachable manner.

of the advice given by perhaps the greatest youth hockey league coach of all time, Gordon Bombay:

“Take the fall! Act hurt! Get indignant!”

Seriously though, this is my biggest pet peeve with “Euro” players (I include some select South Americans in this group, and by select South Americans I mean Manu Ginobli). They are soft on defense, if they play it at all, and the slightest touch will send them careening across the floor. It’s pathetic. Where’s the toughness? I blame Vlade Divac.

The offensive player moves first, it´s his advantage. If he is allowed to pull against de defender or use his shoulder or arms against him when the defender doesn´t move, then what the defender is allowed to do?.

how about if a player is flopping or lays on the court for a certain amount of time that the person needs to be taken out of the game until the next stoppage? kinda like the NFL injury rule.

I like you met it and find some fun. It is a real story.

I remember I have written time ago a little comment about the phisycal difference between basketball in Europe and America. I agree with you. In all Europe, I may say in all FIBA basketball, it is the same. NBA is different. Some people here thinks it is because NBA is more beautifull circus than basketball. Anyway, I think the World would be boring without you.

do something about whining about flopping, if you ask me.

They could hold up cards, like ice skating judges do. If 6.0 is a perfect flop, then anything 5.0 and over means the flop sold well and it’s a turnover. Anything under 5.0 means the flop was unconvincing and the flopper gets a technical.

BTW, there is no such thing as a flop against Shaq. If he bumps you, you go flying.

I find it difficult to see anything being done without muddying the waters. If you think about how subjective offensive fouls are to begin with then it becomes even more difficult to determine in real time what a flop is. Instant replay certianly helps but I would never introduce that to Bball. That would just slow down to the point it wouldn’t be entertaining anymore in my opinion.

Unless the post player does something dangerous, e.g. throwing an elbow, he should NOT be called for the charge. Powering backwards is not a dangerous move.

When players are in high school and college they are told “MOVE YOUR FEET ON DEFENSE!” Then they get to the NBA and get called for a blocking foul, and the ref looks at them, shrugs, and says “You were moving your feet.”

Talk about a mixed message. Encourage moving feet on defense, discourage offensive charges and blocking foul calls, and call fouls on the really dangerous plays, not the acting jobs by the “fool the ref” players.

Using that youtube video as a source, you can see one really good defensive play by Gasol and two absolutely abysmal flops. That first play was all about setting himself up well. He got up on Howard’s back so when he got the ball, he had no place to go. He should have pulled back, even though Pau had the position. On the other hand, if he’d stuck out his ass to get the position, he would have been fine because he’s have the distance.

The other two were ridiculous. The horrible part is when he slides back, he pushes his hands on the ground to make himself go further. By the end of a flop, he’s traveled half the width of the court.

That’s the fact that legitimate defense doesn’t work anymore. Now that handchecking is illegal and offensive players are allowed to tuck the ball under their arm and run to the hole like running backs, what is a defender to do? Flop—that’s what.

As for remedy, aside from enforcing the travelling rule on drives to the hoop (I know: talk about your Impossible Dream!), refs need to penalize obvious floppers by calling them for fouls. As it is now, when refs recognize a flop, they usually just make a “no-call.” In other words, there’s effectively no penalty for flopping, so where’s the incentive to knock it off?

The same goes for offensive players when they feign being hacked. It’s one thing to exaggerate contact to get the ref’s attention. It’s another to fake contact where there’s practically none at all. In those cases, whether its an offensive or defensive player, I think the refs should reward the “actor” with a whistle going the other way.

P.S. A play I hate is where the offensive player drives the baseline, then as he approaches the basket he hurls himself into the court and into the defender, creating contact. This is ALWAYS called on the defender. I saw one play the other day where the defender literally ran away from the penetrator to avoid this contact, and he STILL got nailed! In baseball, you’re not allowed to run out of the baseline to break up a double-play, and the same principle should apply here. If you’re driving towards the basket, then veer AWAY from the hoop in order to draw contact, you should be whistled for an offensive foul.

“A dribbler shall not charge into an opponent who has established a legal guarding position.”

That seems clear enough. It doesn’t say anything about how much force is allowed, or that the defender has to attempt to maintain his position. You can say Gasol flopped, but he definitely was hit first.

The truth is that NBA refs could legally call way, WAY more offensive fouls than they do.

A culture of sloppiness among referees has led to a culture of floppiness among players. Refs need to be taught to be far more discriminating. This is very difficult given the extremely fast pace of many NBA plays. But tough cookies. A lot of jobs are extremely difficult. The NBA should cull out refs who don’t have the sensory tools to be discriminating at high speeds. Some people (probably a lot of people) simply don’t have the perceptual and cognitive capacity to be a good referee. Those people should not be hired. And bad refs should not have their contracts renewed. We don’t need more rules. We just need refs who enforce existing rules consistently and accurately.

And it’s a foreign thing to.

Varejao
Gasol
Divac
Manu

While we are at it, let the players carry knives.

Think of how many guys will stay in college if those rule changes are enacted.