Coming into the season, the point of emphasis that drew the most attention was the added focus on push-offs by offensive players. However, through the opening week-and-a-half of the season, it’s been the theatrics on the other side of the ball that have been punished.
Flopping technical fouls have been the flavor of the week for the Lakers. Starting with a post-game fine levied on Ziaire Williams last weekend, the purple and gold have become very familiar with the new point of emphasis.
After being
the victim of Scott Foster’s antics that featured a trio of flopping technicals in quick succession against the Blazers, Tony Brothers strolled into San Francisco and created his own drama, including the most erroneous flopping call yet.
Later on in the fourth quarter, another sequence drew the ire of the Lakers as Brandin Podziemski attempted to draw a foul with a particularly theatrical sequence. But not only was no common foul called, but neither was a technical foul for flopping.
It’s all added up to some head scratching for the Lakers and head coach JJ Redick, who spoke about the flopping technicals after Friday’s loss to the Warriors.
“We all recognize we want the offensive players to stop fouling,” Redick said, referencing himself and fellow coaches around the league. “All of our flopping fouls have been defensively. The reality for the officials, each crew is so different and what they interpret is so different. I think the consistency – the explanation I got for the Podziemski play was there was contact. But if you look at our flopping fouls that we’ve been called for defensively, there’s been contact. Whether or not there’s contact is irrelevant.
“We’re looking for something theatrical and extra. So if that’s not a foul and then throwing yourself back, I would assume that, to me that’s kind of the definition of flopping. Again, that was the explanation I got was there was contact. But, again, there was contact on a push off when Ziaire moves his hands back because they called it an offensive foul. So, there was contact but I guess the consistency, we’re still searching for it.”
The problem with these flopping technicals is that not only will different officials consider different things flopping, as Redick said, but it’s also never going to be called consistently. The Lakers went multiple games before a flopping technical was given to them, then saw it called in a flurry of games.
There is no standard flopping motion as there is with other violations. For example, you know when a player goes over the back or when a defender reaches in for a steal and hits a wrist or arm.
With flopping, though, it can take so many forms and, thus, some officials may view some movements as flops and others not as much.
In theory, it’d be great to get flopping out of the league. But right now, they’re not addressing the issue that existed but, instead, are creating a new one.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
