I think its come to the point where a flop needs to be added to the box score. Theres certainly some subjectivity involved, but unless you start developing a metric to track offenders you are never going to find a real solution. technicals and fines would most likely curb flopping a bit, but documenting the flopping works two fold: 1) objectively identifies problem floppers to aid officiating 2) shaming offenders through publicizing the information
"because it's only designed to fool the referee. It's not a legitimate play in my judgment. That's a GREAT way to describe flopping. I love it.
Kobe talking to the press about upcoming game 2 with the Thunder had this gem about flopping: "The stuff that you see is where guys aren't really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water. That's kind of like, where are your balls at?" In context, he wasn't accusing the Thunder of flopping, just saying how the Lakers mostly do not and don't draw as many charging fouls on opponents.
Kobe has some nerve. Whining and barking at referees is often little different from flopping and Kobe does both in spades. All three are geared towards playing the refs instead of the opposition, which is the problem. IMO, politicking refs from the opening tip to the final buzzer is worse than flopping. I remember a game in Milwaukee a couple of years ago where Kobe missed a shot in the final seconds, barked loudly at a ref who then blew his whistle. It was disgusting. EVERYONE knew what they just saw. Give me a Manu flop instead of that trash any day of the week.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>...and Rockets. RT @<a href="https://twitter.com/LarryCoon">LarryCoon</a> Oddly, David Stern received 0 votes for executive of the year after the Hornets' dealings w/ Lakers, Clippers.</p>— ClutchFans.net (@clutchfans) <a href="https://twitter.com/clutchfans/status/202831992679706625" data-datetime="2012-05-16T18:44:50+00:00">May 16, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Give me barking (which happens constantly in every game) over flopping any day of the week. I don't love the barking, but Hakeem worked the refs pretty hard. Hakeem did not flop, as a rule, and as far as I can remember. Ergo, barking is more noble than flopping. Nothing short of physical violence on the court is worse than flopping.
