Miami Heat have eye on NBA crackdown on flopping violations
LAS VEGAS – If the NBA has its way, Kyle Lowry will remain upright far more often this season.
Either that, or there will be a price to pay for the veteran Miami Heat veteran guard, assuming he remains with the team once the Damian Lillard dust settles.
In an attempt to remove theatrics from the game, the NBA has instituted a harsher anti-flopping rule on an experimental basis for the coming season. Embellish in an attempt to draw a foul and it’s a technical foul and free throw for the opposition.
“It is going to change the game significantly,” Caron Butler, the Heat’s summer-league coach, said, “because it’s a lot of guys that get away with those things.”
Starting with Lowry, not that Butler was naming names.
The Heat already have gotten a taste of the rule during summer league, benefiting from a call on what could otherwise have been ruled a push off on forward Nikola Jovic, but also penalized for what officials perceived as a bid by forward Jamal Cain to draw a foul while converting a 3-pointer.
Video review is not an automatic part of the process, leading to a degree of consternation with referees having to make such judgements in real time. Previously, an after-the-fact fine was issued after league video review, often days later.
“I think it has to be a review, in part, to really solidify if it is a flop or isn’t a flop,” said Butler, the Erik Spoelstra assistant whose first summer coaching assignment continued with a Thursday game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the NBA2K24 Summer League.
Butler said he had no issue with the call against Cain, particularly because Cain’s successful 3-pointer still counted.
“Jamal got caught red handed, throwing his body out a little bit,” Butler said, “searching for the foul,”
Cain disagreed
“That was foul. That was a foul,” Cain said. “And I’m not a flopper. I don’t try to add that to the game. I’m trying to play it the right way. But he fouled me, 100 percent.”
Cain said a previously sprained ankle led to his awkward landing.
“I felt him under me,” he said, “so I didn’t want to land that way.”
Jovic said he was familiar with the rule, having played under something similar in Europe.
“If you did it in Europe, they would give you a tech,” he said.
Because of the stakes in NBA games, Jovic expected review to be part of the process.
“Yeah,” he said. “I thought they were going to look at the video every time they think someone flopped. But it’s going to be hard.
And perhaps even harder on players such as Lowry.
“We have some good floppers,” Jovic said, not naming names. “So it’s going to be tough on them.”
With the calls now potentially coming with games in the balance, adding even more drama to block-charge calls.
“It’s going to change the game,” Butler said. “And it’s going to change momentum.”
The new rule adopted for this coming season by the NBA Board of Governors:
In-Game Flopping Penalty
“Under the new rule, when a game official calls a flop – or a physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player – the offending player will be charged with a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team will be awarded one free throw attempt, which could be attempted by any player who is in the game when the technical foul is assessed. A player will not be ejected from a game based on flopping violations.
“Referees will not be required to stop live play to call a flopping violation. If necessary (for example, to avoid stopping live play while the offensive team has an immediate scoring opportunity), the officials will wait until the next neutral opportunity to stop live play to administer the flopping penalty. After the penalty free throw, the league’s resumption of play principles will apply, meaning that the team with actual or imminent possession when play was stopped will be awarded possession when play resumes.
“It is possible that the officials could call both a foul and a flopping violation on the same play.
“A flopping violation will not be directly reviewable by a Coach’s Challenge. However, the referees could call a flop via replay review of a called foul triggered by a Coach’s Challenge or referee-initiated replay review of certain types of called fouls (such as a potential flagrant foul, block-charge call, end-of-period foul or clear-path foul).
“The league office’s ability to assess flops after a game will remain in place. New for the 2023-24 season, the postgame monetary penalty system for flops has been modified to replicate that of technical fouls, with fines starting at $2,000 and increasing incrementally for repeat offenders.
“A flopping violation called by the officials in real time will not result in a fine or count toward the postgame financial penalty system. When a flop is called by the referees, the lone penalty will be the in-game competitive penalty of the opposing team being awarded one free throw attempt.
“The new in-game flopping penalty will be in effect on a one-year trial basis.”
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