It is possible that one day, all the “Oscar-level” acting jobs of players will be banned from the NBA. Yes, due to this new rule proposal that the League Office has encountered and shown interest to implement. No more flopping in the NBA, floppers. This was the direct objective of the new proposed rule the NBA which is soon to be imposed on its players and in the league, preventing players to feign fake offensive fouls, preventing selling of offensive fouls to the referee, preventing untoward incidents, fights bruises, career-threatening injuries and promoting honest and solid defense. According to one news clip:

NBA Might Penalize Players for flopping, League Official Says
By Scott Soshnick

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — National Basketball Association players who fake fouls might soon be penalized themselves, a league official said.

The NBA is studying how often feigned fouls, known as “flops”; occur and whether officials can consistently tell the difference between actual fouls and embellishments, said Stu Jackson, the executive vice president for basketball operations. “They’re really difficult to determine in real time. They are meant to fool an official,”, Jackson told reporters today. “Are we going to be wrong more times than not? It’s tough, but we’re looking at it.”

FIBA, the governing body for international basketball, allows referees to impose a technical foul for flopping, a penalty that Jackson said the NBA is considering. Other sports, including soccer and hockey, also allow officials to penalize players who embellish fouls.

“We have so many more plays than you do in a football or soccer game and in a more intimate environment,” said Jackson, who didn’t offer a timetable for a decision.

Jackson met with reporters in New York to discuss the league’s officiating program.

That is what the news article says. But really, what is flopping in the first place? Why in the world is the NBA League Office contemplating on banning the controversial art of flopping and why does the ban include stiff sanctions on offenders? Makes you wonder ah?

Let us first define flopping in basketball. According to Wikipedia,In basketball, flop is a derogatory term that refers to a defensive player intentionally falling backward to the floor upon physical contact with an offensive player. The hope is that it will appear to the official that the defensive player was knocked off of his feet by the offensive player’s contact, thus prompting the official to call a charging foul against the offensive player.

The move is also sometimes called acting, as in “acting like he was fouled”. Because it is inherently designed to deceive the official, flopping is generally considered to be less than sportsman-like. Nonetheless, it is widely practiced and even perfected by many great professional players.

Flopping effectively is not easy to do, primarily because drawing contact can sometimes result in the opposite effect—a foul called on the defensive player—when too much contact is drawn or if the player has not positioned himself perfectly. Additionally, even if no foul is called on either player, by falling to the floor, the flopping defensive player will have taken himself out of position to provide any further defensive opposition on the play, thus potentially allowing the offense to score easily. To consistently draw offensive fouls on opponents takes good body control and a great deal of practice. Players generally become better at flopping as their careers progress.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) added a rule in 1997 to cut down on flopping near the basket, adding a 4-foot (1.22 meter) block/charge arc around the center of the basket to help prevent flops. Such flops are charged as blocking fouls or no-calls.

Known floppers in the NBA (based on my opinion):

1. Manu Ginobili

2. Dwyane Wade

3. James Posey

4. Steve Nash

5. Raja Bell

How does one player do the flop?

1. Go close into the basket or go close to your target. Make sure you place yourself straight to the moving but unaware victim. Make sure that you aim well for your target to flop for.

2. Do your protective position. Put your hands above your balls, your chest, your back, or spread your arms as if you’re ready to accept the charging player into your arms.

3. Take the flop and try to sell it as best as you could. Think of yourself as a good marketing person slash basketball player while doing the flop. Do your best acting job. The better chances that it can get to the Oscars, the better.

4. If you don’t get the call or you get called for a a blocking foul or the referee lets it go because he notices that you are flopping, then face it. You suck in the art of flopping. This special skill of basketball is not for you. Just play honest to goodness defense.

5. If you’re successful, then congratulations to you. You are now officially included in the cheating kingdom of the basketball world. You are now a cheater of the game.

Now why are the NBA officials moving for flopping to be banned?

1. It’s DAMN dangerous especially for the airborne player, if one flopper decides to sell fouls to people in the air.

2. Flopping fools refs. And the NBA doesn’t want players fooling game authorities cause they feel the league office and the fans are also fooled of those flops.

3. I can’t think of any other reason. Seriously.

What do you think about flopping? Should it be banned in the kingdom of basketball? Should violators really merit harsh penalties? Should we continue this art of selling fouls? What are your opinions? Share it! Take your stand and share it in the comment box!