Post#8 » by College Boy » Tue Apr 5, 2011 8:51 pm
There is a difference between taking a foul and faking a foul. Taking a foul is when you actually take contact (created or received) and you earn that TO or trip to the KM line. I have no qualms with a good pump fake to get your man in the air and creating contact to get to the line. Reason being, you actually took the contact to earn the call. That's just being a wily player that knows how to manipulate your defender. And if you're a defender that's dumb enough to jump for every ball fake, you deserve to get called for a foul. Play smart defense. Now what I would like to see is the defender to stop trying to pull back in mid air. You're already getting the whistle on you, you might as well make it worth your while. And if you're a smart defender that knows your opponent's next move, and you step in front of him and take a shoulder to the liver, you deserve and earned that charge. And if you're able to get that 2 or 3 times a game, you're a good defender not a flopper. So taking the full force of your opponents momentum right in the chest, or driving fearlessly to the rack only to be pummeled by the opposing big man is commendable and respectable.
However, faking a foul is when you create the illusion of the foul. You cheat the system if you will. That is a were the flopping happens. Let's say a shooter is being forced into a bad shot because his defender doing everything he was supposed to do, and gets blocked. Instead of trying for the loose ball or getting back on D, he'll throw his hands in the air as though there was contact (Kobe). Or sometimes he'll Reggie Miller it and throw his leg out. Other times the defender will shut down the slasher's lane to the basket and force him into the corner. But instead of throwing the ball to the top of the key to reset the play or throw it out of bounds off the defender's body, he'll fall down and act like he was being pushed or pulled to the ground. I like Manu, but he is very big on this.
Kevin, on the other hand, earns the majority of his trips to the line by actually creating contact. He will sell it from time to time, but he earn the majority of them. That's why I can respect him. But people assume that by him taking so many KM's, that automatically makes him a flopper. Call me a homer, but I think Scola's flopper rating is a bit high as well. He sticks his chest in the lane and earns his charges. But then again, I have a biased view.
Taking fouls is real man's work, good defense even (The Chuck Hayes). Faking fouls will eventually bring shame on legacy (Karl Malone who raped a 13 yr old girl while at Louisiana Tech). But I don't blame this on the players. If you can get away with it, do it. Why not? It's the refs fault. They need to be more aware of flopping and the different techniques of the art. I wouldn't even be all the way opposed to creating a flopper's foul.
KiDdFrESh wrote:No way Utah passes up on a solid white guy at center. He'd be perfect fit for the Jazz.
