NBA Must Take a Stand as Ridiculous Flopping Tarnishes the Game
For the sake of the game, the NBA should suspend players for flopping. It's cheating, it can alter the outcome of the contest and it definitely makes the basketball a far less entertaining product.
It distracts from the flow of the action and puts emphasis on the referees. I've never heard one fan say they were entertained by a ref, or enjoyed a game because of the fouls that were called.
You will never see the NBA promote the slogan, "Where flopping happens."
The league needs to do everything it can to eradicate this growing problem. It is virtually impossible to watch any game without witnessing a blatant flop, and in far too many contests the flop is on display as if it were one of the essential fundamentals of the game.
It wasn't always like this. The flop didn't begin to take hold in the NBA until Vlade Divac put the power of flop on full display throughout his stellar career.
Divac integrated the flop as an effective weapon of his game and others took notice.
It has now spread like an ultra-contagious flu from a bad Hollywood scare flick. The NBA has made rules to combat it, but the flop adapts and becomes immune to the antidote.
The league has done things like adding the circle under the basket in 1997. In this area, it doesn't matter if the player flops, or was legitimately knocked to the ground when their feet were planted. It is still a blocking foul.
In 2008, the league announced that it would start imposing fines for clear cases of flopping, but this has done little to slow down this fake violence.
You don't need to look any further than this year's NBA playoffs to find of evidence of that. Two of the league's higher profile teams are two of the most flagrant flopping squads.
Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel called the Miami Heat the biggest flopping team in the NBA. Comments that earned him a $15,000 fine, according to Eight Points, Nine Seconds.
Vogel's comments to combat the flop aside, it is hard to argue his assertion about the Heat's propensity for chucking themselves to the ground.
Here is the league's MVP reacting to a screen by Tyson Chandler.
This isn't even good acting. His overblown reaction to the contact was delayed. That's always a dead give away.
This certainly isn't an isolated incident either. The Heat work the flop as a vital part of the suffocating defense. And the only reason they aren't the unquestioned kings of flopping is because the Los Angeles Clippers give them a run for their money.
Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Reggie Evans are all accomplished floppers. Check out this effort from Evans in the first round series against the Grizzlies.
What an obvious flop! The massive Evans might not hit the ground that hard if he was hit by a semi-truck. Remember, this series went to seven games. It is not too big a stretch of the imagination to say that the Clippers' flopping in this series was enough to tip the scales in their favor.
This is not the way for playoff basketball to be decided, and it doesn't need to be. There is an obvious next step to combat the flop, and that is with the suspensions I mentioned in the opening.
Combating the Flop
The blatant flopping the league decided to fine players for should be changed to suspensions. A fine isn't a severe enough punishment. A dedicated player and teammate will gladly fork over a little cash if it can help his team win.
However, if that same player is faced with the fact that they would not be able to contribute to their team in future games, it will change their thinking.
While there is certainly gray area in what is and isn't a flop in many cases, it is all too obvious in plenty of Razzie-worthy efforts like all of the ones in this video.
For cases like that, one flop would be worth a one-game suspension. But the league doesn't have to stop there. They can attack less blatant flops.
In those instances, three "highly-questionable flops" would earn a player a suspension.
This is the only realistic way to fight this growing problem, and the game of basketball would be better off for it.
