NBA to take on flopping

[whoman69]

To some NBA fans, flopping is a scourge upon the NBA. Like pump-faking or playing with other superstars, it degrades the ideals of competition on which sport is founded. If the NBA wants to be taken seriously and move beyond record ratings, they must do something drastic.

Luckily, David Stern and his handpicked competition committee are meeting this week to discuss potential fixes. On Monday, they talked specifically about how to hand out punishments after games. From Brian Mahoney for the Associated Press:

The NBA commissioner believes too many players are deceiving referees into calling fouls by falling down, or flopping. So he and the league's newly reformed competition committee met Monday for a discussion about how it can be prevented.

One option, Stern said, is a ''postgame analysis'' in which a player could be penalized if it was determined he flopped. The league retroactively upgrades or downgrades flagrant fouls after review, and along those lines he said that perhaps a player could receive a message from New York saying: ''Greetings from the league office. You have been assigned flopper status.''

''No, I'm joking, but something like that,'' Stern said. ''That sort of lets people know that it's not enough to say 'it's all part of the game.'''

My own joking aside, it would be good if the league could crack down on flopping. I'm not convinced that it's a major issue for the NBA, but it'd be best if it weren't so prevalent. On the other hand, the postgame plan helps underline exactly why it will be hard to stop flopping.

Under this proposal, one man (perhaps suspension/fine czar Stu Jackson) would have to assess all questionable flopping instances on any night. But if flopping is as common as some believe, then that would be a time-consuming process, particularly on nights with 10 or more games. Can a centralized situation do that much work? Would the league have to enforce selectively to make it manageable? Is that fair?

On top of that issue, the entire use of flopping is that it makes the intentional look unintentional. Even when divorced from the clamor of in-game officiating, assessing a charging or blocking foul for intent is a tricky task. Can we really know if a player meant to fall? What should we make of situations where there is legitimate foul-worthy contact and embellishment? Where do they draw the line? If players are allowed to appeal flopping rulings (which seems necessary, especially for this type of transgressions), then we could see arguments over intent usually kept to courtrooms and theological conferences.

In this case, the solution to the War on Flopping might prove much more controversial and difficult to rein in than the crime itself. The NBA and its fans have every right to cry foul over flopping, but they'd do well to consider the unintended consequences of enforcement.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ba...4016--nba.html

[blaise]

If anything they'll issue some token fines of suspension early in the year, and then just stop when it gets anywhere near playoff time.

[KCUnited]

Or how about when a guy gets hacked on the arm at the top of the key, drives to the basket for a lay up. AND 1!

[SPchief]

Originally Posted by |Zoccer|

Heh, I was just reading yesterday morning something about the NBA's interest in how the MLS has dealt with the issue in a way that uniquely American.

I'm kind of surprised you didn't post a link with the article.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by SPchief

I'm kind of surprised you didn't post a link with the article.

I don't really care to go back and look but I really appreciate all of your concern and look forward to getting under your skin in more threads.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by SNR

At this point I'd be totally fine if they only focused on what is and is not a charge. They should be making it far more difficult for defensive players to get that charging call. Right now most of them can slide in at the very last split second before the offensive player has a chance to change their course on the drive. If they did something like the defensive player has to claim that position on the court counting to one-banana, that would go a long way to making those calls far less prevalent.

That is a rule that the NCAA should ABSOLUTELY be considering as well. Charging calls in college are far ****ing worse than they are in the pros. It's despicable to watch UNC and Duke and some of these other schools prey on the charge.

I can't remember where I heard this maybe it was Jeff Van Gundy running his mouth about extending the restricted area to about the end of the circle

[qabbaan]

Watching an NBA game, for someone who only watches the college game, was a weird experience for me last night. What seemed like obvious fouls happened on every play away from the ball - guys very forcefully shoving people out of the way, tying their arms up, yanking on jerseys, etc. Nothing called. But on the guy with the ball or in a rebound situation there are so many phantom calls. It's like if the ball isn't in one of the two players hands there can't be a foul, and when it is, fouls are rewards for the acting involved.

The sheer number of them is a turnoff, really. It seems like most of the tv time consists of players standing around getting ready to shoot free throws.

[Bane]

Lol **** the nba

[qabbaan]

Originally Posted by SNR

At this point I'd be totally fine if they only focused on what is and is not a charge.

Conversely - in college it doesn't seem like you can get away with barreling into the lane completely out of control and with no real chance of making a basket, just hoping to get some kind of a slap foul. It's an offense at the pro level

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by qabbaan

Conversely - in college it doesn't seem like you can get away with barreling into the lane completely out of control and with no real chance of making a basket, just hoping to get some kind of a slap foul. It's an offense at the pro level

I feel the very same way. Watch a ton of college ball and only caught a bit of the playoffs and most the finals in the NBA. Lots of horseshit. Defenders should have the right to occupy space and defend accordingly.

[whoman69]

Originally Posted by |Zoccer|

This would be hard to take on in the NBA. It has been cleaned up a lot in the MLS with retroactive punishment.

Sure it has.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by SNR

At this point I'd be totally fine if they only focused on what is and is not a charge. They should be making it far more difficult for defensive players to get that charging call. Right now most of them can slide in at the very last split second before the offensive player has a chance to change their course on the drive. If they did something like the defensive player has to claim that position on the court counting to one-banana, that would go a long way to making those calls far less prevalent.

That is a rule that the NCAA should ABSOLUTELY be considering as well. Charging calls in college are far ****ing worse than they are in the pros. It's despicable to watch UNC and Duke and Missouri and some of these other schools prey on the charge.

FYP

And I agree.