The bigger you are, the harder you fall. The more chance of getting injuries. Yeah, Yao enjoy flopping on purpose. I've seem Yao fall down many time because of awkward footwork and off balanced and like many are saying. His centre of gravity is one of the main reason for his falling plus with his awkward feet shuffling.
all international players flop. every utah player flops. please, no flopping. it's destroying the integrity of the game.
i think yao tries to get foul calls and loses the ball in those situations trying to make it look like he got fouled. but the falling is usually on rebounding effort situations. hard to control that body. nevr really seen someone push him to the floor.
what's that sh** spreading arround this board?! taking a charge and flopping are two completly different things. I siriously hate flopping and the league for allowing this crap, but y'all need to stop akting like taking a charge is the biggest problem. The biggest problems are no contact flops (AK47, Varejao), driving flops (Manu, Wade). Taking a charge is not the problem - because it is a contact. FAKING contact is what p*****s do and the biggest problem is that it brings them Ws!!
Karl Malone was 265 pounds of SOLID muscle, and he was hitting the floor more times a game than the towel boy's towel touching the floor. That for sure was flopping. I'll say Yao is more clumsy than floppy. Maybe the deafness in one ear alters his sense of balance even more for his already clumsy self
Yao always flops in slow motion though....when he finish flopping, the rockets have already been scored on, and got the ball back down the court..lol
I don't think Yao flops at all on the defensive end. Occasionally he will flail his arms on the offensive end after a clean strip but considering how much he gets hacked and clawed without getting the call, I don't blame him. Every player tries to get the refs to blow the whistle at the offensive end and it is usually after some degree of contact. The issue with players like Kirilenko, Okur and Harpring are the complete acting jobs they do when there is little or no contact at all on the defensive end. It's the degree of acting/flopping. Examples like that recent Kirilenko flop against Dirk where video showed there wasn't any contact at all or like a previous poster mentioned, the flop he pulled in the playoffs last season where Scola's forearm was barely touching him and he flew into the 2nd row of seats. If anybody flops on the Rockets, it's Scola. Not a big surprise considering most floppers are international players.
Yao is just awkward. He falls at the slightest bit of contact...and i think it's a mindset of his Chinese playing. It's a mentality I think. Very passive. Also, I hav e never seen another center in my life who is more prone to having opposing point guards just YANK the ball out of his hands. It can get pretty pathetic. I kind of think it's an issue with Yao hand-size in relation to the size of the ball. Think about it...Yao's hands are so big...its like you or i holding a coconut or a large cantaloupe. Could it be that Yao is not able to really grip the ball securely? I dont know. I think its all mental though. Yap spends more time on the floor than any big man Ive ever seen in my life. Ever. But he aint flopping.
No doubt this is true. I think most of the time he's legitimately fouled and no foul is called. It's not about being clumsy, it's about being hit..
Now that's interesting .... whatever you're describing sounds like a flopping "mentality" to me. Or, at the least, there's a very subtle difference. The question posed in the original post wasn't just whether Yao flops. I didn't expect many to actually answer yes to that question (I didn't). A lot of Rockets fans want flops to be called more strictly by refs. How should flops be dealt with, in game? And how might that impact Rockets players? With Yao, we can say that he just loses his balance easily and falls when there's minimal contact. How does the refs distinguish a player who loses his balance or has a passive mentality as described above, from the real floppers?
BTW, the play I was referring to in the OP happened in the second quarter, with 7 minutes remaining. As Shaq grabs the offensive rebound and is putting it back up, Yao falls backwards, audibly yelling "Aaagh" as he falls to the floor. For anyone with a recording of the game, take a look and tell me how a ref should call that. Imagine also that a player on another team does the exact same thing while Yao is grabbing the rebound and putting it up -- let's say Okur. Should it be dealt with exactly the same?
any other plays you can think of? i actually re-watched that play and i am not sure if yao did something there that would qualify as a flop. but to me one thing is for sure. if yao flops, then we all need another word to describe what others (such as ak47) do, because that's on a whole different level. and what is the point of the thread anyway?
I don't think Yao flops. He hates floppers and that was clearly shown in his recent interview with the media. I think he's a man of principle and he is a blind believer of rules. Thats why he was so frustrated when rules were not strictly followed by refs in officiating his plays. He always plays "too cautious" after two fouls as he was trying too hard to follow rules letting his conscious mind to guide his play and that affects Rox offense. As a rule-abiding player, Yao does not commit hard fouls and never swing his elbows to protect a rebound. Thats why his opponents never fear in taking advantage of his gentleman style of play in the paint. I hope one day he would eventually understand that he has to adapt to the NBA style of play and not blindly following the rules hoping that the refs would give him "fair" officiating. Once he starts to give out hard fouls to players who dared to dribble past him for a lay-up and swing his elbows to protect rebounds, he would create fears among opponent players and become a true dominant force in the paint on both sides of the court; and when that day comes, Rox would be a championship contender.
jazz verb, jazzed, jazz⋅ing, noun –verb (used without object) 1. to flop to the most extreme degree, often performed by players on the NBA basketball team, the Utah Jazz: Andrei Kirilenko is a master at the art of jazzing. He often falls down during games without any contact created by an opposing player, often due to light breezes created by player movement. For this reason, he is legitimately hated throughout much of the basketball world. –noun 2. an act of extreme flopping.
