Flopping pioneer Vlade Divac in action!

Of the many annoying things about the National Basketball Association and the way the professionals play the game–no fouls on stars, no walks, a lot of rules get ignored in favor of fun play–the worst sin has to be flopping.  That is, when a player flails around in an attempt to draw a foul, or make a foul look worse than it really is.  Vlade Divac was one of the pioneers of flopping in the NBA, and the league will have no part of it.  The NBA has created a fine structure for egregious serial floppers, issuing a warning for the first offense, then fines of $5,000 for a second offense, $15,000 for a third, $30,000 for a fifth, and a suspension after a sixth offense.

“Flops have no place in our game —they either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call,” said NBA Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson.  ”Accordingly, both the Board of Governors and the competition committee felt strongly that any player who the league determines, following video review, to have committed a flop should — after a warning — be given an automatic penalty.”

Despite the fact the players all seem to welcome the attempt to stop the flops, NBA players union chief Billy Hunter has promised to try to stop the imposition of the fine structure, saying that the NBA cannot simply create a new class of fines without consulting the union. Stopping flopping has become one of David Stern’s big tasks in recent years, and this seems to be a good way to get that ball in motion, even if it’s hard to tell when someone’s exaggerating or when someone is really banged up.

Image:  USA Today

Tags: stu jackson, billy hunter, nba, national basketball association, professional basketball, nba rule change, nba fines, nba adds flopping fines, flopping, nba flopping fines, nba adds flopping penalty, nba to crack down on flopping, fouls, personal fouls, acting, sports, unusual fines, unusual sports crackdowns, vice president of basketball operations, vlade divac

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