Stan Van Gundy becomes latest person to question the new flopping rules implemented by the NBA – NBA News
The NBA season is only over a week old and the criticism of the new rules implemented by the NBA this season to discourage flopping have already started flowing in. J.J. Barea of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Donald Sloan of the
Cleveland Cavaliers became the first two players in the NBA to receive an after game warning for flopping after their respective plays were reviewed by the league office after the game. The Wolves Coach came down hard on the ruling and the new rules put in
place by the league, saying in game referees were the best judge of whether a play was a flop or not, and the authority to make that call should be given to them rather than to officials sitting far away from the action. Other players have voiced their concern
over the new rules and Stan Van Gundy became the most recent opponent of the new rules.
Van Gundy, who is the former Head Coach of the Orlando Magic and the current partner of NBC Sports Radio and the NBC Sports Network, talked to Sports Illustrated about the new flopping rules and like many other, he was lost at
the objective behind the new rules and their effectiveness in discouraging the act of flopping.
“I think the attempt to try to address it is a good thing but I don’t see the rule having much effect. First of all, I think the only ones that you will see penalized are very, very egregious flops. I’d be surprise if it even got
to one a game. And I don’t even think this is the NBA’s fault. I just think it’s impossible the way the rule is written where they can ‘crack down’ on it. I think they will make sort of a cursory attempt, and make it look like they are trying to do something
about it,” said Van Gundy
With the kind of backlash the NBA is facing over the new rules, and the fact that the NBPA has challenged the decision made by the league, the league might be forced to either change the new rules or nullify them altogether. However,
the rules will be implemented over the whole season and feedbacks will be taken after the end of the season to analyze how effective it was in curtailing flopping.
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