NBA cracks down on floppers
San Antonio Spurs fans love Manu Ginobili, and some would even argue that he’s not a flopper, but around the NBA, Manu has a reputation for taking a dive every once in a while. Most of the time it works out for the scrappy Argentinean, getting foul calls that he wouldn’t normally get if he didn’t act a bit, but the NBA wants to put a stop to it.
The league announced on Wednesday that they’re going to start punishing players for flopping, going to a video review system after the game is over. The first offense will be a warning but after that it starts getting expensive. Second offense is a $5,000 fine, $10,000 for the third, $15,000 for the fourth, $30,000 for the fifth and then possible suspension after that. To put this in perspective, players have to get 16 technical fouls before they’re fined $5,000, the penalty after just two flops.
It seems extreme, but it’s a proactive move by the NBA.
"Flops have no place in our game -- they either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a call," NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said in a statement. "Accordingly, both the Board of Governors and the Competition Committee felt strongly that any player who the league determines, following video review, to have committed a flop should -- after a warning -- be given an automatic penalty."
The NBA Players Association is already planning to fight these new rules, saying that it’s against the collective bargaining agreement and the league shouldn’t just be allowed to institute new rules before negotiating with the players union.
I would imagine the NBA can’t get away with instituting a new rule out of the blue and forcing the players to abide by it. We’ll probably see a few changes before this becomes official. However, it’s clear what the NBA’s stance on flopping is, and they seem determined to make sure acting isn’t a part of the game.
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You know it will get to Anderson Varejao. Who can also forget about Rudy Fernandez's flop fest at the Olympics?
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Manu is just a warrior, he takes charges from centers, powerfowards, try to take advantage of the ball, there's nothing wrong. When you was bumping by a guy like Shaq or Bynum, it's hard not to fall. That ain't flopping. This is stupid because if they really want take all the flopping away from the game, they can just cancel all offensive fouls, yikes!
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So what this fine schedule is saying is there is a very real possibility the Chris Paul will be suspended after the first quarter of any given game?
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Manu was a flopper but I'm sick of them acting as if he was the biggest floppers in the league. Nobody talked about him as a flopper until George Karl complained and cried about him and ever since then all he's known for is flopping. He's become more of a 3 point shooter the last few years so his flopping has really decreased. The sad thing is how many bloody noses and broken faces does he have to get to know that he's really being fouled. I guess this is a great time for Manu to end his career.
@kmgospurs Correct..the Manu/flop issue has been WAY overblown. The guy has taken WAY more punishment through the years than 99% of the other players. And its other PLAYERS that Manu embarrasses that have blown this up out of proportion imo..exactly the same as they did when Bowen was in their grills constantly and they made him NBAs "dirtiest" player.
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I think Ginobili was definitely a flopper, but I think it's stopped a lot. I think the foul he tries to sell most is the charging foul. Honestly, I know he was gone half the season, but last year I can't remember Ginobili flopping a lot. I think pop must have told him something.
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What, Manu flops? Jeez, I thought he was just one of the hardest fouled players in the league... I wonder if the bat flopped when he smacked it a few years ago?
