The NBA Season Just Started And The New Flopping Rule Is Already A Bit Of A Disaster

Elsa. Getty Images.

Back in September when we learned that the NBA was going to try and legistlate flopping out of the league, I think pretty much everyone was excited and in favor of that decision. Flopping is one of those things where you're usually fine with it when someone on your favorite team does it and it benefits you, and you can't stand it when it happens against you. The truth is, everyone in the NBA flops because they know it's going to work in an attempt to fool the officials. I think it's safe to say that things got a little out of hand with it as of late, so the league decided to do something about it.

Before the season started this week, I wrote a blog after seeing what the NBA would deem a "flopping tech" and to me, it missed the entire point of why they needed this rule

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Now that the games have started, I think it may actually be doing more harm than good. Right away, we're seeing a glaring issue when it comes to enforcing this rule, and it's something I think is going to be an issue all season. There's absolutely zero consistency as to when these are called. That's a problem.

For example, Josh Okogie was the first player to receive a flopping fine for this play

This makes sense to me. Okogie absolutely flopped on that "push" in the back. The issue of course in a close game in the 4th quarter, the tech wasn't called. Who knows what happens if the Warriors are correctly awarded that tech and make it a 3 point game with over three minutes left. They ended up losing 108-104, and this was our first example of what's looking to be a pretty big issue.

The very next night, in another close game in the 4th quarter against the Knicks and Celtics, after not calling anything all night, the officials decided to step in and call back to back flopping techs on both Porzingis and Jalen Brunson

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Here's our first case of the inconsistency. Why is it that in a close game with GS/PHX that clear flop was a no call/fine after the game, yet in a close game with BOS/NYK the call results in a tech?

To make matters worse, these same officials doubled down on this new rule, despite being completely wrong

This is the exact type of play I had an issue with when the league showed that Jokic example. These aren't "flops". Not only that, but Tatum clearly made contact in Brunson's landing space, which is a flagrant. Again, in a crucial point in a close game in the 4th quarter, there's simply no consistency with this. How do we know that? The refs themselves admitted they fucked it up

We're not done. Enter last night's Bucks/Sixers game. With 3 minutes to go in a 107-104 game, Kelly Oubre was called for this offensive foul

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I mean, that's the exact type of flop from Jae Crowder that was the reason the league made this flopping tech rule. Everyone watching knew it was a flop, including the ref THAT WAS RIGHT THERE WATCHING THE PLAY

That guy didn't call the foul, it came from the official across the court. My question is this, why did that closer ref think it was a "no call" and not a flopping tech? This is the problem with this rule, every official clearly interprets things differently. If that's a no call, and the Okogie one was a no call, why isn't the Porzingis one a no call? All of these plays are happening in close games in the 4th quarter, and so far enforcing it has been a complete disaster.

Take this play from Embiid. I'm pretty sure this is his patent flop the second he gets any sort of contact on the perimeter

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Again, no flopping tech to be found anywhere. Compare that to the Porzingis play where one was called. How does that make any sense?

I'm also not really sure what an after the fact fine does anyway. It's not like you can go back and change the game, and a $2,000 fine isn't going to change shit (we also saw Donte DiVincenzo and Jevon Carter get a postgame fine as well). Guys are always going to try it, especially knowing there's no consistency in how it's called. 

While this rule sounded good in theory, what we're seeing is that officials are clearly picking and choosing when to enforce it. That feels like a pretty big issue. It's looking more and more like this was an idea with good intentions, it just has terrible execution. We already know how brutal NBA officials are, so giving them even more ways to impact a game with something that's going to be pretty subjective feels like it's going to do more harm than good. You can already see a situation in a playoff game where one team gets tabbed for a flopping tech in a close game and it costs them points, and then the other side will flop and it'll either be an offensive foul like Oubre's or a no call like Okogie's only to be fined after the fact. 

The fact that we're only 2 days into the season and we've already had this many issues especially late in games doesn't exactly give you a ton of confidence things are going to get better as the year goes on. If anything, it's probably going to get worse once the stakes get even higher.