http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...n-epidemic-that-shows-no-signs-of-improvement Flopping in the NBA: An Epidemic That Shows No Signs of Improvement By Ric Bucher(NBA National Columnist) on December 31, 2013 64,110 reads 321 Share Tweet Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories Next Getty Images/Jared Wickerham The NBA’s lame-duck commissioner, David Stern, acknowledged last June that the league needed to do a better job of discouraging players from flopping, otherwise known as the effort to fool referees into making a call on their behalf. Six months later, the question remains: When is the league going to start? “Flopping,” acknowledged Suns first-year head coach Jeff Hornacek, “is off the charts.” He’s not alone in thinking that; you’d be hard-pressed to find a player or coach who doesn’t believe the tactic is more prevalent than ever. This, after the NBA announced before last season that it would review any incidents in which a player appeared to feign or exaggerate contact in order to draw a foul. After one warning, it would impose a $5,000 fine for each subsequent flop. The league upped the ante when the playoffs started last spring, announcing that flops would draw an immediate $5,000 fine. In all, the NBA said it confirmed 24 violations by 19 different players on 13 different teams during the 2012-13 regular season. Since it required being caught twice to merit a fine ($5,000) during the regular season, only five players paid any sort of penalty: Reggie Evans, Gerald Wallace, J.J. Barea, Kevin Martin and Omer Asik. Michael Hickey/Getty Images First-time offenders in the playoffs netted eight more: Jeff Pendergraph (now known as Jeff Ayres), J.R. Smith, Derek Fisher, Tony Allen, Lance Stephenson, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and David West. Among those 13, only Martin and Allen were on offense. Which is precisely why the league’s supposed interest in eradicating the practice is viewed, at best, as a colossal joke and, at worst, a shrewd means of making its stars appear even more extraordinary. Granted, attempts to draw an offensive charge by defensive specialists appear to be down; but they’ve been replaced, and then some, by the league’s most recognizable faces and talented scorers acting like full-blown charlatans, flinging their arms and snapping their necks and shouting in pain from the slightest contact. Watch Chris Paul or James Harden for an entire game, and you’ll witness at least a half-dozen obvious instances of farce at its finest. They are far from alone, but they may be the most diligent and expressive. At least they didn’t try to deny flopping, as James did, only to be fined by the league a few days later for doing just that; after which James reversed field and defended flopping as an acceptable strategy. It’s one thing for Jesse Pinkman to get caught in a lie and then try to justify it; it’s another when it’s your reigning MVP and two-time defending champion. In any case, what was once a growing nuisance has now become a full-blown epidemic among the game’s most visible ambassadors. “It’s unbelievable,” says veteran forward Channing Frye. “It’s just part of the game now. It’s becoming an art.” As an offensive player, Frye said it in admiration and added, “If you have one of those guys on your team, you’re loving it.” One man’s art, of course, is another man’s eyesore. “They need to clean that up,” says Warriors center Andrew Bogut, whose primary job is to prevent scorers from getting to the rim. “Some guys just look for the body and a way to draw contact and then fall back. That’s not basketball.” Flopping dates back to the very beginning of the NBA, but it seemed to rise in popularity as smaller lineups and more international players entered the fray. Playing small invariably meant having an undersized power forward or center guarding the post; fighting to hold ground and keep from being backed into the paint only to suddenly give way and fall to the floor gave the impression that the larger, stronger offensive player had suddenly unleashed excessive force, thereby warranting an offensive foul. International players such as Vlade Divac and Manu Ginobili, raised in soccer-dominated cultures where fooling the referee by taking a dive (soccer parlance for flopping) was considered more clever than cowardly, added their particular expertise to the craft. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Strictly by the numbers, the NBA is on pace to far surpass the regular-season count of 24 last season. As of Dec. 29, the league already had identified 16 incidents, with both Corey Brewer and Harden receiving $5,000 fines for having flopped twice in the eyes of the league. Paul has received his warning for an incident back on Nov. 11 vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves, but in the eyes of the league, he has not, as the rule states, committed “any physical act that, following review, reasonably appears to be intended to cause the game officials to call a foul on another player.” Paul leads all point guards in free throws attempted with 186. Harden leads all shooting guards with 241. “Some star players look offended if they’re touched going to the rim,” says former shooting guard Tim Legler, “and it’s because of the license they’re given by the officials.” That part is understandable. The league, as a whole, is hyper-sensitive to any sort of physical contact that might incite a skirmish. Larger-than-average athletes wrestling with the faces of terrified courtside fans as a backdrop is simply not the corporate-friendly image the league prefers. Combined with the youngest and least-experienced officiating staff in decades, it’s not surprising that better-safe-than-sorry is ruling the day on any intimation of physical contact. You know, like a doe-eyed point guard flailing at the air or an endearingly off-key singer in a commercial staggering as if he’d run into a wall. “Harden,” Bogut says, “has gotten to a whole other level.” Flopping wasn’t rampant in Hornacek’s playing days, he says, “because the game was more physical, so you just played through the contact. With the new rules, it’s hard to guard star players. But that’s the way the league seems to want it.” Supposedly, it doesn’t. Supposedly.
“Flopping,” acknowledged Suns first-year head coach Jeff Hornacek, “is off the charts.” Anyone else get a chuckle out of this?
Kobe is the worst offensive flopper of all time but Harden is making a good case for himself now that he has carte blanche to do as he pleases with the offense.
I don't really like Kobe.. at all.. but flopping was never something I really hated him for. Don't really notice him do it too much
I also find it amusing that Andrew Bogut is complaining about flopping, a tactic to deceive referees, when he is the master of grabbing, shoving, and holding in ways that the officials won't notice. So, Andrew, falling down on purpose is 'not basketball', but grabbing a guy's jersey or holding his arm to prevent him from playing defense 'is basketball'? Curious double standard.
Theres physical flopping and verbal flopping.... Vertical flopping -- blood curdling scream while driving to the basket. Kobe does this Physical flopping -- see James Harden for reference. He is 2nd to none right now
that is pure comedy gold. he played for years for the team that literally invented flopping in the nba. how did he even say that with a straight face? also, bogut complaining after he just got a guy ejected from a game with a bush league tactic was pretty funny. i do feel like in general i've seen less flopping since last year. it doesn't feel nearly as bad to me. harden definitely knows how to sell a foul with a neck snap and arm flail, but you root for a team with chris paul on it. i've really liked paul his whole career, but i really think he's the worst overall flopper in nba history and it's about the only thing i dislike about him (harden used to piss me off when he was in okc but obviously feelings change when they join your team, which i assume is why you defend paul so much). unlike some of the all-time greats like derek fisher and divac, or even a ginobili and now harden on offense, he's one of the few, maybe the only, proactive floppers i've ever seen. most guys wait for a situation to present itself and then do something to make the contact look crazy. chris paul, partly because he's so talented, will actively look for a way to create a situation out of nothing and then exploit it. like he'll identify some slow big guy and run over to him and then suddenly throw himself around like they were the ones who caused the problem. he seems very in tune with what he knows the refs can see or how they'll react to certain things that aren't in the center of the action (like a pick on the perimeter or dribbling in the backcourt when the refs are already up the court) and he exploits them. he's not just an offensive or defensive flopper, he has such all around flopping skills. offense, defense, on the ball, off the ball. he finds a way. he's like harden driving, scola guarding the post, and lowry running around a defensive pick all rolled into one.
No doubt Paul embellishes his flops the most and is like the three time defending "flop of the year" champion for his heliflopter variations. However, in terms of flop frequency he's no even on the list. Like I said before, he flops what, maybe once a game if you count flails as flops, and only has a truly outrageous flop a couple times a year. Contrast this with Harden or Durant who are effectively flopping five or six times a game with their arms gestures when the drive, or Kobe who was flopping ten plus times a game by screaming on every foray to the hoop. Maybe people don't consider verbal outcries or arm flails as flops, but to me they are the same thing because they are creating an illusion for the refs to make them think contact is worse than it really is.
I think you're embellishing what a flop is, the arm rip that kobe and durant do so steadfastly isn't a flop, cheap? sure, but a flop? no. Harden's offensive flops are generally body contact, the arm fouls are just undisciplined defenders being baited.
I'm not talking about the rip through move (which Paul also does)... that is cheap but not what I'd call a flop. I mean the move where these guys drive to the hoop, bump a guy and then throw their arms up to get the call. To me, that's a flop because it's taking a little contact and selling it to the refs, same thing as taking a hit and falling to the ground.
If the refs call it the same no matter its playoff, last 30 secs or regular seasons rubbish minutes. Then there will be no more flops. And the entire review after game is just silly. There is no standard. If they do it correctly, which is NBA fined every single flops, floppers will stop flopping after 5 games. Be it on the defensive or offensive end.
Lol Hornacek... one of the dirtiest players under the dirtiest coach of all time has no room to talk.
James Harden does flop, BUT: Most of the free throws he gets are legitimate fouls. He sticks his forearms out on purpose to protect the ball, but he does it to make himself available for the foul. In turn, defenders see him basically handing the ball to them and try to swipe it, resulting in a slap on the arm. Even if it's not a hard hit, it's still a foul. James is good at creating the illusion that the ball could be stolen, only to offer up a whole lot of flesh to slap. He's great at that, so I don't know if I would consider that aspect a flop. I guess throwing your head back helps, and that is flop-worthy. To me, the absolute WORST offensive flopper is CHRIS PAUL. Because of the way he acts like he's hit and bounced around like a ping pong ball, he is one of my least favorite players. I despise his mentality. The league needs to look at guys like KD that are given an automatic whistle if they miss a layup, even when a foul isn't involved. There's a problem when no team in the league can play defense on a certain player because they know a foul will be called every damn time. LeBron, KD and Melo all have this luxury. It's disgusting.
Our very own TMac did that stuff all the time. I believe the word was "Heeeyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Lol, even before he went up for the layup, he was yelling out just in case the officials couldn't hear him.
