The majority of NBA fans will tell you that there has been flopping issues in the league for a long time now. They will also tell you that this kind of act affects the legitimacy of the game and the league as a whole. I can assure you that during a typical night of games you will see at least 1-3 obvious flops occurring. Everyone hates flopping whether it's in the NBA or during a late night adventure after the bar with a girl (if you catch my drift). This being said prior to the new flopping rule coming out I saw a challenge for the NBA to establish a rule that kept the integrity of the game in tact, but limited the number of flops that happen (especially in the playoffs). I should have known David Stern would tackle the issue with dollar bills on his mind.
The rule:
In short, here is the new NBA flopping policy. First time you do it you get a warning. From there you get fined $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $30,000, after that the player is subject to league discipline.
The Beef:
First off, I just want to say that I do believe a flopping policy is needed in the NBA today. I am a defensive minded guy, I love low scoring games but I think the league approached this the wrong way. In most cases it is very difficult for the refs to determine if the guy is flopping during a live game, and although we at home as well as the league have the benefit of instant replay to see how the player reacts in super slow motion there is still a grey area in cases where 1) the defensive player gets injured on the play, 2) the defensive player was already injured and may have aggravated something, 3) the defensive player lost his balance or slipped or the offensive player lost his balance or slipped. Now, I do realize by bringing up these three points people will read this and say that's why they have replay for these things. Regardless of that I still believe it's a grey area and with a trigger happy David Stern at the helm I don't think he will be very reluctant in taking advantage of this grey area. There is a good chance we will see some similar headaches to the NHL when they issued their "hitting to the head" policy this past year.
My next issue deals with cash fines. Every player under contract in the NBA has the right to the money they earn under that agreement just as we do at our own jobs. They should not be stripped of compensation on a continuous basis when the issue is grey and uncertain. Also, even though this seems to contradict my previous statement, history has proven that players don't really care all that much about getting fined. Also, they don't really learn their lesson from it. I think this approach by the NBA is a way of making more money for the league, which will spark retaliation from the players & owners verbally resulting again in more fines & more money for the league.
My Solution:
My approach is quite simple. In obvious circumstances (which I can assure you there will be) the first violation will be a warning. The second violation will be a 2 game suspension without pay and will increase by 2 games for each violation. In terms of the grey area that should be at the discretion of Stu Jackson (Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations) and Stu Jackson alone. Jackson should treat everyone fairly with the focus being on the obvious cases, NOT the ones open to interpretation. In grey area cases I think the benefit of the doubt should go to the player & his track record of flops up until that date.
You may agree or disagree on my evaluation and/or my solution. But, it is clear to me David Stern's motive in all of this, we can only hope that numerous issues don't arise from this newly established policy.
You can view the official version of the new NBA flopping rule at http://www.nba.com/2012/news/10/03/anti-flopping-rule/index.html.
Written by:
Garrett Daly
@DalyGarrett on Twitter.
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