Flopper's Paradise

What do Cristiano Ronaldo, Derek Fisher and a beached flounder have in common? You guessed it: Their tendency to flop. After watching almost every NBA playoff game and now the FIFA World Cup, I've concluded that play-acting is extremely problematic to the flow and popularity of both sports. Soccer's way of combating feigning injury and over-exaggerating contact is by disciplining the athletes, in the case of a clear flop the ref is required to promptly hand out a yellow card. Roundball has no equivalent. The following presents two possible solutions for the NBA front office to consider that might stifle the growing, and certainly negative, trend of ballers doing their best Ronaldo impressions.

Stern could go the soccer route and hand out technical fouls as punishment for a flop. However, the line between a flop and a legitimate fall or foul is not necessarily black and white. Ballers are massive, freakishly large men moving at speeds and in capacities normal folk rarely get to see in person. Giving officials the right to hand out Ts whenever they believe a player is pretending could open up Pandora's box and cause serious controversies.

What about fines? Stern could create an "NBA Anti-Flopping" committee whose job it is to review tape after games on potential flops and determine if in fact the suspected party purposely play-acted on a given play. If it's clear beyond doubt that there was a flop, then hit their wallets hard. Thereafter, the more a player flops, the higher his fines get in the future. Eventually, if a certain number of fines were assessed, the league could suspend the serial "striped bass fighting for his life" impersonator for a game or two.

The latter solution appears to be the more effective method. The stigma attached with being tagged as a documented flopper might be enough alone to deter players. No doubt, street cred would decrease for the league's most fined floppers. Combine that with less dollars in their pockets and possible suspensions, and the Derek Fishers of the league might think twice before they fling their bodies on the hardwood after merely being breathed on.