The NBA has taken action to finally deal with players flopping, a problem the league has had for years.
On Thursday league spokesman Tim Frank said that the NBA has been working on finalizing procedures and penalties to deal with flopping. Many NBA players are guilty of performing flops, which is when a player falls down when little or no contact was made to try to trick referees into calling a foul.
According to the Associated Press, Frank said that the league's competition committee met two weeks ago and began discussions on plans for flopping that could take effect this season. Commissioner David Stern has said that he thinks flopping has become too common in games and that the league needs to find a way to penalize players for it.
"If you continue to do this, you may you have to suffer some consequences," Stern said about flopping during the NBA Finals. "What those exactly should be and what the progression is, is to be decided, because ... we just want to put a stake in the ground that says this is not something that we want to be part of our game, without coming down with a sledgehammer but just doing it in a minimalist way to begin stamping it out. And I think there are ways we can do that and we'll have to wait and see exactly what we come up with."
The procedures for flopping penalties would take place after games, with a review of those plays by the league office to see if the player did indeed flop. It takes the power away from the referees, who at times can simply not know if a player flopped or not.
According to the article, "the plan will include the 'postgame analysis' option Stern discussed after the competition committee met in June. The league already retroactively reviews flagrant fouls to determine if they need to be upgraded or downgraded."
The league has been holding training camp for its 62-person referee staff that is led by former NBA player and longtime league executive Mike Bantom.
"I think one of the things that I'd just like to focus on is I think there's a perception out there that kind of throws into question sometimes the competence of our officials and even the integrity of them at times, and I think that that's not true to begin with and unfair, and I want to try and change that perception," said Bantom, who had been the league's senior vice president of player development since 1999.
The league has been hampered by flopping for years, including throughout last season's playoffs. Some of the players who are notorious for flopping includes San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili, Oklahoma City guard James Harden, point guard Baron Davis, point guard Chris Paul and Lakers center Pau Gasol.
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