TREVISO, Italy -- Vlade Divac was the guest speaker for day two of adidas Eurocamp, and spent some time with the international players trying to impart some of his vast knowledge of the game gleaned from a successful 16-year career in the NBA.
Divac is known as one of the great passing big men of all time, but he’s also known for bringing flopping into the NBA -- if not initiating it, then certainly making it more prominent and acceptable as a way for players to gain an advantage.
The league has implemented a largely toothless anti-flopping policy in recent years, but it’s at least a start in trying to shame players into cutting down on the blatant attempts to fool the referees into making a questionable call in their team’s favor. It hasn’t had much of an effect, as we’re still seeing it go on at this late stage of the postseason.
Divac was better than anyone during his era at successfully pulling off these kinds of acting jobs, but he’s not necessarily proud of it. He’s in favor of the league trying to eliminate it from the game, but said his resorting to that strategy was simply done out of necessity.
“Whenever you overdo something, it’s time to stop it,” Divac told NBCSports.com. “So I think it’s a great decision by the NBA. But everyone is saying that’s my rule; that’s not my rule. That’s Shaq’s rule.”
Wait, you think Shaq started it?
“No, I started it because of Shaq, because they didn’t want to call fouls,” Divac said. “So that’s not my rule, that’s Shaq’s rule.”
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Our interview also covered a variety of topics.
On players forcing their way out of current teams in advance of free agency (i.e., Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and now potentially Kevin Love):
“I’m not supporting it,” Divac said. “But you can’t do anything about it. I think loyalty from all sides should have more impact — from the teams and the players. You just can’t go to [random] places. I remember when I made the decision to go to Sacramento, all my friends, even my agent, advised me not to go because they were the worst team. But I chose to take the challenge, make sure that I do something to change it. And I did.
“For me, being a champion is the way you act and the things that you do on the way to being a champion. That’s more important. Today, I can be a champion — just go and sign with the Miami Heat, and I’ll be a champion, right?”
On the ways the game has changed since he played:
“Every year it’s become more fast and physical,” Divac said. “I don’t see big men playing with their back to the basket anymore. That’s a big minus for basketball. To have an inside-outside game, it’s very important to have big men playing with their backs to the basket.”
On being traded from the Lakers to Charlotte:
“I was devastated,” Divac said. “That first week, I just didn’t know what was happening. But you know, things happen in life that you don’t have answers until later on. I think that trade actually helped me and extended my career. It was good for me, but back then I didn’t know.”
“I talked to Jerry West or Mitch Kupchak later on, I told them now, thinking about it, I would do the same thing. Because you move Vlade, you make the salary cap to get Shaq and you get Kobe. So you got Shaq and Kobe for Vlade. It’s a no-brainer.”
Was it an honor to be part of a deal involving two Hall of Famers?
“I’m not honored,” he said with a laugh. “But I would have done the same thing.”
Dan Patrick Show: Flopping too big an issue in today’s NBA