Gary Sheffield, Jr
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NBA legend Eddie Johnson has offered some interesting takes the past few days after what he views to be an unacceptable level of flopping. This Mavericks/Suns series, that’s been widely controlled by the whistle, has basketball fans brainstorming a solution. Eddie Johnson wants the NBA to adopt some college rules and even suggested the NBA add intentional fouls and warnings for flopping.
Anything that can potentially slow down flopping, we’re all aboard.
I have said for years that the @NCAA should incorporate some @nba rules, like the 24 sec shot clock and moving ball up to 3/4 court after timeouts late game ! The NBA should incorporate intentional fouls and warnings for flopping.
— Eddie A Johnson (@Jumpshot8) May 9, 2022
“I have said for years that the NCAA should incorporate some NBA rules, like the 24 sec shot clock and moving ball up to 3/4 court after timeouts late game! The NBA should incorporate intentional fouls and warnings for flopping,” the former Phoenix Sun tweeted.
Can anyone argue against this? There are times when veteran players do something savvy to get to the foul line, but what we’re watching today is pathetic. This play, for example, ended up in a technical foul on Devin Booker:
Devin Booker was T’d up on this play. Tough call when you’re being fouled on the play as the ball handler
pic.twitter.com/esyHg5HchJ— Gary Sheffield Jr. (@GarysheffieldJr) May 8, 2022
Your eyes don’t deceive you. The ball handler, whom was fouled on the play, was called for a technical for “inadvertent contact to the face.” Which means, by definition, that Booker would be ejected if given a second technical foul the remainder of the game. This is the NBA’s biggest on-court problem while trying to maintain the interest of the old-school fan. Fans of the showtime Lakers and Bird’s Celtics watched players fist fight and now this is called a technical foul? An accidental brushing to the face? The referees couldn’t hold more power over the complexion of this sport than they currently do, so the league has to reverse course here a bit.
There’s simply too much B.S. being called for anyone to care about this sport right now.
Flopping
Watching offensive players pretend they were shot at the rim is an act we can no longer allow. Luka Doncic, most notably, controlled game 4 with plays like this.
What the Suns are dealing with
pic.twitter.com/MvEuqyBlmU— Gary Sheffield Jr. (@GarysheffieldJr) May 8, 2022
That’s not basketball. And the worst part is that Doncic isn’t the only one willing to stoop this low for a whistle. Michael Jordan used to sell a foul every now and then for strategic purposes, then LeBron James would eventually build on the tactic. It eventually festered into both offensive and defensive players selling calls — every play, every shot, all the time. It’s an awful watch that’s changed the narrative from the NBA as a man’s sport to practically the WWE.
Modern day NBA rules aren’t going to let players assault one another like year’s past for safety reasons, but they need to let talent win games again. Watching a 6-foot-9 Luka Doncic go down like George Foreman because Chris Paul touched his neck is dismal entertainment. Aside from the blatant disregard for human rights in the NBA, they probably want to get something right — and that something is ridding the plague of flopping.
As a former NCAA soccer official (NISOA member 2017-2019), I LOVED being able to issue a yellow card for “Simulation” — faking a foul or injury. I don’t recall ever calling it in a college game, but in my over 1,000 USSoccer games over my career, I gleefully called it at least 3 times. EVERY time it was incredibly obvious and one player protested himself into a red (2nd yellow for Dissent).
Refs just have to have the GUTS to call it. As an assistant ref, I called for it several times only to be over-ruled by the Center-Ref on MOST occasions. It’s really hard to call a man a “liar,” and essentially, giving a yellow for “Simulation” was doing just that.
It’s WWE level at this point, and absolutely the flagrants are out of control. What gets called a 1 is almost always a common foul and 2’s would embarrass the old school enforcers. Speaking of which, bring them back to get rid of the shimmying and assorted BS celebrations for making a freaking 3.
Yep, I like this. NHL has a 2 min penalty for embellishment to prevent this.
Agree. Except the NHL, with their bozo officiating, uses it as a coincidental minor to wipe out the power play for the original penalty. I’ve always thought if the player was faking, or as they like to say “embellishing,” then why is the other guy also getting a penalty?