NBA Myths: The League has a Flopping Problem

Something Awesome On The Ceiling.

There are a lot of commonly held misconceptions about the NBA that will be explored in a new NBA myths series. ?This first installment was inspired in part in response to this interesting article by new CLNS writer Marianne Thompson. ?To summarize her position: advancements in technology have made flopping calls too obvious to fans and rendered traditional officiating obsolete.

I?m not sure that?s entirely true. ?Watch an NBA game on ESPN Classic from the 1990s or even the 1980s, and most of the flops will be almost as easy to spot as it seems when you watch a basketball game today. ?The more striking difference is simply how many more flops there are now. ?So the first question is: why?

Have you ever seen one of those cartoons in which somebody has a rat infestation? ?They call pest control, which happens to be operated by Daffy Duck. ?He arrives and manages to get rid of all of the rats by unleashing a crate full of snakes to consume them. ?Now it appears that the customer has a snake infestation, but he shouldn?t worry, because Daffy can get a great deal on a crate full of hawks. ?David Stern must watch a lot of Looney Tunes.

He can say whatever he wants about wanting to curb ?the flopping epidemic?, but here is the wicked truth about it: Stern is directly responsible for the problem. ?The reason you don?t see much flopping in the 1980s is that offensive fouls were not being called for many of the things that are considered charges today. The 1990s were a time of legalized hand checking and tough, physical defense. ?If you flopped against Anthony Mason, he simply stood over you and thought about immortalizing the tale into his haircut. ?There were no such thing as 50/50 flop calls, because if it wasn?t obvious, it was not going to be called. ?Flopping meant that you were likely to spend the play on the ground while your opponent scored a demoralizing basket on your team. ?The ?flopping problem? took care of itself.

Unfortunately, Stern was unhappy with the dips in scoring as the defenses became more advanced, and began to manipulate the rules to make sure the game remained exciting. ?Removing the hand-check rule, ?moving the three point line, and creating a three second call for defensive players in the lane were all regulations designed to increase scoring. ?And, as always, teams and their defenses adjusted accordingly. ?Last season, the league announced that they would be instructing their officials to be more strict in calling offensive fouls. ?The plan was to clamp down on the push-offs, elbows, bounce-offs, and other offensive moves designed to create space that the league has historically been soft on, which caused conspiracy theorists to shriek about ?star calls?. ?The mandate has been successful: there were more offensive fouls called last season than ever. ?But if officials are going to be making more ticky-tack charge calls, it only makes sense for smart teams to attempt to exploit the rules to their advantage. ?It is no coincidence that the teams accused of the most blatant flopping last season were mostly still playing in the second round of the playoffs. ?So why does it bother us so much?

Offensive holding can be called on the linemen after virtually any NFL snap. ?The NBA?s travelling violation has increased to as many as three and a half steps. ?The three second lane violation is usually a lot closer to five or six. ?Yet none of these is a problem for any of us. ? We?should spare ourselves the sanctimonious comments about tricking referees and the unfairness of flopping while we simultaneously admire the ingenuity of the players who get away with tugging on shorts while boxing out for rebounds. ?We don?t care about the compromise of precious referee integrity. ?We hate flopping because we think it looks weak.

That is really all it comes down to, isn?t it? ?Our cheap association between sport and the pinnacle of masculinity. ?Laying down for an opponent instead of trying to stop him, why, that sort of weak, lady-like pacifism would offend Ghandi?s lava lamp! No wonder David Stern feels like he needs to put a stop to this epidemic, he?s creating a league of pansies! Down with flopping! Who?s with me?

Look, the flop might not be basketball at its purest, but it is no different than any other exploitation of the manner in which NBA games are called. ?If Stern doesn?t like it, maybe he could allow teams to play a little more without all the cheap offensive fouls. ?The league doesn?t have a flopping problem, it has an officiating problem.

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Source: http://clnsradio.com/2012/09/07/nba-myths-the-league-has-a-flopping-problem/

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