‘Flopping' is symptom, blockcharge the disease

Apparently, NBA commissioner David Sternalong with thecompetition committeeis prepared to address the issue of flopping, thepractice of deceiving officials by faking contact and falling down.That approach, however, is called addressing the symptom andnot the disease.How about this instead: Start calling the blockcharge theway it should be called. Problem solved. Competition committee meetingadjourned.Lets be clear: Flopping is an issue right now in the NBA,and every fan should be for stopping it. Its beginning to undermine thegame.But the fact of the matter is that flopping has become moreprevalent because officialswith a mandate from the leagueare beingordered to call the blockcharge in such a way as to reward a defender who isnot playing defense the right way or within the rules.Get that straight, and flopping will take care ofitself.Over the past decade or sogive or takeit has beenmind-boggling to me why a league that wants to highlight athleticism andincrease scoring actually values less athletic types who sometimes serve littleother function than to undercut (word chosen purposefully) the games mostgifted players.Thats right, Im talking about you Eduardo Najera, ShaneBattier, Anderson Varejao and Glenn Davis. Youre better than that.First off, there is absolutely a place for the charge callin the NBA, and, to me, it is when an offensive player is out of control or withlittle place to go, and a defensive player is occupying a spot before thatplayer makes contact.Taking a charge should be something that a defensive playeranticipatesnot something he does when hes got no other options to prevent ascore.Too often were seeing defenders slide in late orangling their bodies in order to further exacerbate contact.That usually results in some kind of collision, with bodieson the floor, and, unfortunately, more often than not, a charge call. There isnothing worse in the NBA than watching one of the leagues elite athletesaKevin Durant, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, or whomeverdrive to the basket andbegin to make a creative move, only to have a secondary defender impede theirprogress and force contact by moving into their path.Again, there is a difference between an interior defenderanticipating a drive to a certain area and a defender sliding in the lastsplit-second or late. And NBA officials are good enough to tell thedifference.The bottom line is that if a blockcharge is close, itshould be a block. Period. There should be two or three block calls for everycharge, and right now it seems about the opposite of that.When you put two and two together you realize that playershave figured out that they often can draw charges when they dont deserve them,and theyre taking it further and further. Eventually, the issue has morphedinto flopping. But again, thats the symptom.If the league were serious about stopping flopping, theydfirst address the blockcharge. And then theyd get right to shot-blocking because shot-blocking is something that the NBA should encourage, not takingcharges.The NBA should allow more contact up high. In other words,when a player is going to the bucket, and he elevates, defenders should begiven more leeway when leaving the ground to challenge that shot.Allow for contact after the ball is released, forexample.Contrary to what some may believe, this will not lead to moredangerous play or more injuries. When two players are elevating and there is alittle contact up high, each player is pretty much in the same positionvulnerability-wise. And chances are, because the contact will be mostlyhandwristforearm (perhaps), youre less likely to get awkward falls.When players slide in late to take charges, there is littledoubt that the defender on the floor is in a far safer position and theoffensive player is at the height of vulnerability.If Stern and the competition committee get their way, floppingwill be a thing of the past in 2012-13. But the real problemthe currentinterpretation of the blockcharge callwill live on.