NBA Players union to file grievance over new flopping rules

When asked, players generally have been supportive of the new NBA anti-flopping rules and fines that were announced by the league office on Wednesday. Because they all think they have been victimized by floppers (but would never do it themselves).

The players’ union, not so happy.

The union has filed a grievance with the league over the regulations, reports Howard Beck of the New York Times.

The players union just announced it will file a grievance to protest the NBA’s anti-flopping rule, bc it was imposed unilaterally.

— Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) October 3, 2012

It’s not really a huge shock — the union’s job is to protect the players and their paychecks, and they see this as a threat. There are legit questions about an appeal process and why the league gets the power here.

Bottom line, David Stern had a competition committee that discussed rule changes and things that included flopping, then the owners voted on those changes, and this didn’t come out of that process. This came unilaterally out of the league. You can like the intent but the league did not follow traditional or mandated process.

Plus, if you think the Billy Hunter and the union are going to pass up an opportunity to tweak Stern, you have not been paying attention the past 18 months.

Here is the direct quote from the union’s release:

NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter stated that, “The NBA is not permitted to unilaterally impose new economic discipline against the players without first bargaining with the union. We believe that any monetary penalty for an act of this type is inappropriate and without precedent in our sport or any other sport. We will bring appropriate legal action to challenge what is clearly a vague and arbitrary overreaction and overreach by the Commissioner’s office.”

But frankly, in the end this isn’t a bad set of rules for the union. For one, the union has to realize flopping rose to the forefront as an issue during the playoffs and the league needed to act. Flopping is and was damaging the league’s image. Second, the fines here are not that severe.

The union may have questions over how the rule will be enforced. We all do. Someone will argue that every close block/charge call was embellished and deserves a fine. The more likely outcome is only the most egregious calls lead to fines and the players will learn to walk that line.

While the union may not like them, the players seem to back the new regulations. Look what some Lakers told Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated at Wednesday’s practice.

“Shameless flopping is ... a chump move,” Kobe Bryant said. “We’re familiar with it. Vlade kind of pioneered it in the playoff series against Shaq [as a member of the Kings in the early 2000s].

“I’d love to see it have an impact on the game itself,” Bryant said. "[In] international play, technical fouls are the penalty for it, you get free throws, get the ball back and that sort of thing. I like the rule, though….”

“Back in the 80s, they didn’t flop,” Metta World Peace said. “It’s very annoying ... It’s not fair to the guys who have worked on their body all these years and got stronger. It’s not fair. Flopping is very stupid. It’s not even basketball. I don’t know who taught people how to flop. Just make the right call. It’s that simple.”

I can’t wait to read the quotes the first time a guy gets fined for this. Part of the league’s goal is to have the public fines be a deterrent (the fine itself is not way out of line, but the perception could change behavior).

This is just not going to play out smoothly, that may be the only sure thing about the flopping rule.