... and how can the league stop it? It's a deliberate attempt to mislead and deceive the game officials-- not the opposing players! What can be done to minimize its impact? Instant Replay? Technical Fouls? Your ideas, please:
Players realized the refs would reward the acting, and if the acting wasn't rewarded, the result usually wasn't detrimental (read: no foul was called against the actor), so it was a win-win choice. Example: Vlade Divac flopping against Shaq. If Vlade gets an offensive foul called, Kings would get possession and Shaq would get a foul. If the offensive foul wasn't called, Shaq would just get a dunk, which he would've probably gotten anyway even if Vlade didn't flop. May as well lay out and act as best as possible to try to get the foul. I wouldn't mind seeing a technical called for egregious flopping (similar to yellow card for diving in soccer). Might make players think twice about flopping, or at least wait to receive *actual contact* prior to falling down (nothing worse than watching a replay and realizing that a player trying to draw a charge falls down prior to impact --- should have to at least take the punishment to earn the reward).
All European athletes are weaned on soccer/football where diving is an art form taught from Day 1. Combine the influx of the Euro-diver with homegrown American flopping skills honed by the Master Flopsmiths in Utah, which has a proud tradition of flopping in both the collegiate (Danny Ainge) and professional (Stockton/Malone) levels and you have a deadly combination. Under FIBA rules flopping IS a violation and can get you a T, which is amazing because I never saw it called once during the Olympics where the diving was so bad it appeared a sniper was shooting at Pau Gasol from the rafters at one point.
Coaches can send in tapes after the game of flops by the opposing team, and for every flop caught on tape, the flopper is fined a thousand bucks (unsportsmanlike conduct). Would that help? Nowitzki would spend nearly a million dollars per season on flops.
There don't need to be penalties for it, all that needs to happen is for the ref NOT TO CALL THE FOUL. I put all the blame on the refs for rewarding the behavior.
Call a technical. Hockey's started calling Unsportsmanship-Diving penalties and it made some difference. If there's no penalty for the flop, players would be dumb not to give it a shot.
I think some of these options make sense. I think this at best a part answer. The ref isn't calling it because he thinks it is a flop, he is calling it because he thinks it is a foul. It is often only seeing from another angle where the flops are most obvious. Thus I think the best remedy has to be after the game, because the refs call what they see. Sure if the see an obvious flagant flop, call the T, but it is hard to see. However tapes should be sent in for review. Obvious flops documented on camera should receive warnings to that player than big fines for repeated offenses. Further, start sticking players with "flopping" reputations where their opponents get the benefit of the doubt on close calls with those players. I think these are more realistic solutions to the problem. Same thing they should do with flopping soccer players. No evidence (compound fracture of the fibula), no yellow card.
If your going to make flopping a penalty then they should make the offensive player that jumps into a defensive player that go straight up an offensive foul. I believe that is more obvious than flopping. I find it interesting if the defensive player initates the contact its a foul but if the offensive player does the defensive player more than likely get the call on him
Easiest way would be to get competent refs. The league still hasn't recovered from the plane ticket tax scandel from 97, and it wasn't like the reffing then was the greatest thing on earth. It's a hard game to call, but even so, the refs in the league are far too easily swayed from any number of factors. Is it a good sign when they're constantly getting memos to change how they call certain plays? Anyway, so that's task 1. A more direct approach is to make flopping a foul, as previously mentioned. Evan
A lot of times flopping is not trying to deceive referees, but flat-out working with the referees to help your team. Can you honestly tell me that when Dirk has flopped against Yao in the 3rd quarter of 4 consecutive games, that the refs really think the guy is getting fouled? No, they just give him the call because he is the bigger star, and he is about to be made to look really really bad if Yao gets the ball. Dirk and the refs have a working partnership. He does the acting, and they happily oblige by giving him the calls. They're not being tricked, they just want to help him look better than he is. Like when he drove on Bowen last night, and clearly shoved Ryan with his off arm, yet Bowen is called for the foul. It was perfect defense on Bowen's part. However, they see that Dirk cannot score without their help. Tmac, on the other hand, rarely relies on the refs. He just goes out and makes 14 shots, 6 of them 3's, and doesn't worry about forcing the refs to make calls. Everyone watching this series can tell that Tmac has skills, while Dirk is just flopping his way to 22 ppg. When Tmac gets hit on his way to the basket, the refs give him nothing because they expect him to make the shot anyway. The 4th quarter of last night's game is a good example of what happens to Dirk when he doesn't get consistently bailed out. He's nothing when they let defenders contest with slight body contact.
Call a technical or personal foul on flops!!! In soccer, intentional dives warrant a yellow card warning. Bball should borrow that from soccer.
its not the players we should blame its the DUMBASS blind officials. Basically it makes the officials look like incompetent asses for not paying attention, i wonder what they do when they review the calls and see that the player didnt even get touched, he just launched himself backwards about 6 feet to cause it to look like he got hit.....ehem....john stockton.
When the player flops and doesn't get the call, that is when the refs could be calling a tech. Now the player is just laying on the ground getting dunked on.
yeah, the refs suck - but some of these guys are really good at flopping, so without a television replay, it's hard to determine if the guys faking. With a replay you can slow it down and see where the falling movement starts from - the head whipping back on a flop, or the center of mass from getting a shoulder in the chest. Fines after the fact would be nice.
