Flopping.
There have been countless times this season where players have "flopped" on the court.
Some notables have been players on the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers. LeBron James showed it off in the Round One series versus the New York Knicks, where he got bumped and made a late reaction, falling to the ground. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have also been part of the act.
The Clippers, this year, have probably been the best floppers. Chris Paul has done it countless times this year and has been the master-flopper on the team. Blake Griffin has clearly been taking notes, earning some drawn fouls on the opposing defender. Then, of course, there is Reggie Evans, who's made some of the fakest falls to the ground during the playoffs.
It's no wonder there are now merchandise and nicknames for these teams (example: The Los Angeles Floppers, Flop City).
Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel recently criticized the NBA's officiating for letting the teams, like the Heat, do this. He hopes to not see it happen towards his team, saying the Heat are the "biggest floppers in the league." However, after his comment, Vogel would be fined $15,000.
"(Vogel) didn't have a beef; he was just manipulating the refereeing or trying to," NBA commissioner David Stern said. "I would have fined him much more than our office did."
However, Stern does agree with what many are really looking at.
There is an epidemic going on in the NBA, and it's clearly the flopping.
"I think it's time to look at (flopping) in a more serious way," Stern said, "because it's only designed to fool the referee. It's not a legitimate play in my judgment. I recognize if there's contact (you) move a little bit, but some of this is acting. We should give out Oscars rather than MVP trophies."
The Memphis Grizzlies had a tough time getting past the Clippers and a large part to it was due to the flopping. They would end up losing in seven games in the series. Grizzlies big man, Zach Randolph, came on the "Doug Gottlieb Show," saying that the Clippers were the biggest floppers he has faced.
"It starts with Chris Paul, because Blake didn't really used to flop like that, you know, last year," Randolph said. "Reggie (Evans) flops, Reggie always flops. I think it started when Chris got (to the Clippers)."
Stern went as far as to say that he almost went towards the route of fining and suspending players for this act.
"Some years ago I told the competition committee that we were going to start fining people for flopping, and then suspending. And I think they almost threw me out of the room (saying), 'No, let it be.' "
So what does the NBA do? How do they stop the flopping epidemic?
Before the new millennium started, the NBA was pretty physical. Actually, they were much more physical than what we see today.
The Michael Jordan era saw a good chunk of that, with teams like the Bad Boy Pistons and the antics of Dennis Rodman. Of course, there's also the eras that featured Larry Bird and Magic Johnson to Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.
The NBA tried to keep things safer, but not it has gotten out of control. Now we see flopping everywhere, with guys like Manu Ginobili and Derek Fisher being one of the leaders of the past decade.
So what should the Association do?
In my opinion, they should keep it more moderate and in the middle between too physical and too safe. You can get a little Bad Boy Piston-y and some Derek Fisher-y, if that really makes sense. Just keep it in the middle and not keeping more on one side or the other. However, if the player flops, maybe the NBA should point towards fining and suspending, especially when it's obvious.
However, that's when the problem comes in.
Let's say for an instance that a player "flops." However, looking at the replay, it's hard to tell whether it's really a flop or not and the player is insisting it isn't. That's when problems arise on the court. Another way could go vise-versa, where the player didn't flop, but he gets fined for it anyways.
Obviously, there needs to be a fix it, and so far the efforts to do isn't looking good. I believe the NBA will do something about to fix it as they plan to discuss about it this off-season.
There clearly needs to be a fix.
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. He also contributes at Hoops Authority and Eight Points Nine Seconds. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
