NBA Commissioner David Stern is a cranky old coot. When the league’s head honcho isn’t vetoing trades, fining individuals for discussing the league’s terrible officiating or asking Jim Rome if he’s “done beating [his] wife yet,” he’s apparently coming up with his next diabolical plan. Yes, David Stern is now determined to stop the flop.
Stern told reporters he’d met with the league’s competition committee this week to discuss ways to eliminate flopping, or exaggerating contact in hopes of getting a foul called. He is apparently disgusted by watching big, strong players topping over at the slightest contact and fooling the poor, helpless referees to gain an advantage. The committee will discuss and consider a measure to allow video review of possible flops after the game. Yes, the NBA will essentially give out red-light camera tickets to floppers. Flop today, pay tomorrow.
If such a system were implemented, it would likely work similarly to the technical/flagrant foul system in the NBA. For each technical foul a player receives during the season, he’s given a certain amount of points. Once he crosses a certain threshold, suspensions are doled out by the league office. Had such rules been enforced during the days of flopper extraordinaire Vlade Divac, his career might have lasted shorter than Greg Oden’s.
While player flopping certainly occurs, occasionally at an obnoxious rate, it seems that Stern is missing the point with his proposed solution. Instead of using Big Brother to detract players from embellishing contact on the court, how about training a competent officiating staff?
Awful officiating has marred the NBA’s regular season and playoffs. During the Miami – Boston series, Ray Allen was given a tech for jumping up after a foul call and saying “Aw man,” Kevin Garnett received one for touching the ball after it went through the basket and Doc Rivers was hit up after yelling out “Come on Ed!” Even during the Finals, Thunder coach Scott Brooks received a tech for arguing a bad call that was ultimately changed, after he was penalized of course.
Referees’ accuracy with personal fouls hasn’t been much better. Missed calls, bad calls, questionable calls, etc. have all occurred far more frequently than they should, giving the officials a narrative that should be reserved for the players on the court. The non-call on LeBron James at the end of Game 2 was egregious, especially considering the impact it had on the game, but it’s not even close to the worst call (or non-call) of the series.
Plain and simple: the league needs better officials. If the task is too much for the standard three officials to handle, maybe the NBA should look at adding another. If the current crop of officials just isn’t good enough, the league needs to expand its search. I’m sure some TV producer can come up with a reality TV show help hire competent referees. If nothing else, the league will make a few bucks and we’ll get to know the personal side of the guy we’re yelling and hurling pretzels at from the comfort of our couches.
If the league really wants to address flopping, put the power in the (newly trained) official’s hands – during the game. A radical idea would be to take the hockey approach and if a player is charged with flopping, he’d be forced to sit on the sidelines for a minute or so, leaving his team at a disadvantage. A more reasonable approach would be to simply make the act of flopping a personal foul that counts towards the given six foul limit.
Regardless, Stern needs to stop placing all the blame on the players for the mess encouraged by incompetent officiating. Officials are there to uphold the integrity of the game. But when so many calls are jokes, it’s hard to take the game seriously.
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