And I will explain in full detail why this is ENTIRELY the Referee's fault. Take a look: The Referee on the Baseline (End Line) is known as the "Lead Official". The Center Official is the official located at or around the free throw line. In 3 Person Mechanics there are certain locations and areas where the officials are: A. Supposed to be located B. Supposed to be watching Depending on where the ball is on the floor. When thinking of primary areas to monitor, the key is split down the middle from free throw line to baseline. The Center Official is supposed to maintain his vision on his half of the Key that's closest to him. The Lead Official is supposed to maintain his vision on the side of the that's closest to him. Now, problem #1. and one of the many reasons why I say NBA officials are Lazy. After Harden's 1st shot, the Lead Official should already be on the strong side of the Key. If he is not there in time, he is supposed to bust his ASS across the key to get a good look at the competitive matchup of Griffin/Harden after the ball stops there. Watch the Center official. He recognizes that the Lead hasn't made a move to the strong side, as he KNOWS he is supposed to, and he does an excellent job of adjusting his position to get a look between Griffin/Harden. The play (since the Lead did not come across the key) is officially in the Center Official's lap. He has no whistle... Now, who blows the whistle? That's right! The LAZY MOTHERFUCKER that didn't come across the key in the 1st place! It's NOT his call! He gave up the call by NOT being in position! He is on the complete wrong side of the key calling a TERRIBLE call that is outside of his primary area! Harden didn't fool the Ref! He didn't get away with some sort of subterfuge or some ruse! The ref was in the WRONG position (mistake number one) and he guesses on the play (the most terrible assault to our game). Because of the guess, Harden is out 5 grand and we are complaining about floppers... I'm sorry but this is simple shit... Harden should be fined I guess since those are the rules. But there is absolutely NO accountability on the Referee's part for being too lazy to simply move across the key...
No, he is arguing that the Refs should have known it was a flop in the first place and should have made a "no call"
Yes I agree with you......the refs suck. However knowing that they suck leaves me to believe they need help. And if watching the replay after the game is over, and fining them,even a little, I am all for it. I think most NBA players will have enough pride not to be known as a "flopper" and they will gradually cut down on the acting. Which in the end is good for the game.
I don't see it. There are players that pride themselves on flopping. The biggest flopping asshole has to be Vladi
Had the official got his ass across the key and simply not made a call then we wouldn't be even talking about this. That's my point on how officials can stop the flops and weed them out of the game entirely. It's entirely on the official to do this. The official should: A. Get his ass in position. B. See through the defense/offense to know who his creating contact or whether there is contact in the 1st place. C. When the player flops. Let him deal with the results of the play. (in the Harden case above I would have simply called out of bounds and gave the ball to LA) D. When the player/coach complains tell them to get up and quit flopping. The officials can stop this. They simply need to do their jobs. Notice there aren't any complaints about College or High School players flopping? That's because A-D is how it's handled at those levels. The NBA could easily do the same.
Yeah but being called out on it by the league will certainly make a dent in the number who do it. Sure there will be a few, and those few will keep getting fined once they get the reputation. and those few will also start to get less and less calls.
Ahh gotcha! Thanks. Stars get calls because they get to the line because they have a reputation for getting to the line because they get calls because they're stars.
Lebron, Paul, Griffin, Wade all fucking floppers. And YES fine them for it. But that's not the ONLY thing that should be done. Refs need to be held accountable too.
Maybe they should leave the players alone and fine the refs $5000/flop. Players are just reacting to ref incompetence, so give the refs a reason to be less incompetent.
That's actually a damn good idea! Maybe not a fine, but warnings. If you receive too many warnings, you will be suspended for a certain amount of games without pay. <-- better than a fine
I don't think any fining or suspending needs to happen either. GET THE REFS WHO ARE GONNA DO THE FUCKING JOB AND NOT BE LAZY. It's really that simple. There are many college refs who are MUCH better than these lazy NBA guys.
I'm soooo glad that Batum doesn't flop anymore. I was getting annoyed when he would throw himself back like someone hit him with a car. Now he stays on his man and when you see him fall back, it means he really did get hit.
Do suspensions eventually come into play with flopping, like with Ts? If not, they should. One-game suspension after 5 flops. Then another game for every 2 flops tallied thereafter, up to Flop 9. If a player gets to a 10th flop they get a 3-game suspension, followed by a one-game suspension for every flop thereafter. Get to 20 flops and you're suspended for an entire season.
This is simply the wrong way to go about it and completely the opposite of what this thread is supposed to shed light on. It's not the players fault. We wouldn't be talking about flops if the refs would simply do their jobs. Let's stop making it a $10K fine to say "the refs could have done a better job tonight" and hold these MFs accountable.
