The NBA: where the world’s greatest basketball players come to
 showcase their talents and skills. Right? Due to the flop, that 
answer has been “EEEEHHHHH!” For hardwood purists, the sport has become a 
breeding ground for phony plays that receive applause for embellished
 falls to the ground, and provides point-guards with super powers to
 physically overwhelm centers with the touch of a pinkie finger. Luckily, the league said “enough!” last year by instituting anti-flopping rules to keep the focus on balling, instead of falling. So in a season that is still in its infant stages, there will be a close eye on how the rule continues to impact the game.

Flopping evolved over the years from it being a single attempt to 
receive a favorable call from a ref, all the way to it becoming a part of NBA practices edging it closer to a laughable “art.” Up until last year, former head 
coach and current NBA analyst, Jeff Van Gundy, continuously clowned
 the league for its lack of effort to put a stranglehold on the matter.

Accounts like that only made an NBA fan wonder how many coaches 
might have taught flopping, and how much players focused on flopping.
 Where did Reggie Miller learn to kick his leg out on his smooth jumper 
only to initiate contact with the defender, and fall oh so helplessly 
to the ground while his arms flailed in the air like strands of 
spaghetti? What actor did Vlade Divac take lessons from to sell the 
idea that he wasn’t 7’0 feet and more than 240 pounds, but was
 actually as light as a feather and could be plowed over by the likes 
Muggsy Bogues? This is the type of back-and-forth that plagues every group of friends that love basketball, in barbershops nationwide, and 
among drunken fanatics at a bar who watch their favorite squad come to
 their demise, or rise to prosperous levels, due to critical whistles that involve 
flopping.

Despite the rule being in play, the post-season still brings out low-level tactics just to get the W. Lebron James and David West were both fined $5,000 in the 2013 Eastern Conference finals for hilariously and desperately attempting to draw a foul, only to have the refs look at them like disappointed parents that see their kid doing something they know they shouldn’t be doing.

But in a twisted way, flopping did serve some good. The league would 
never have had such comedic and “what is going on?” moments to add to
 history without foolish acting from its players. The flop gave us Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone fumbling, 
bumbling, and tripping all over themselves in the 98’ Finals. Also, Chris Paul mastered the illusion of a foul by using his
 small stature to make it seem as if he was run over by a Mack truck 
from thumb-war like contact, while performing his best 
fish-out-of-water routine after he hit the deck.

The anti-flopping penalties range from a warning, all the way to $30,000, for both offensive and defensive flopping, and force players to
 consider if a flop is worth not being able to pop a few more bottles 
in the club. Furthermore, after six flops, suspensions are handed
 out. So for all those rebels against the rule, the best suggestion may be to save the flops for the playoffs, or not to be a scrub in order to afford the hefty fine.

-Clinton P. Jackson