Patches Perry wrote:He was rewarded with points, so he'd do it again in a heartbeat, and so would most players. Flopping is a skill, and Harden is great at it. In order for flopping to not be a (beneficial) skill, officials need to stop falling for it.
This is 100% on the officials. Players try to win by any means necessary. Their objective is simple, try to put as many points on the board as possible and prevent the other team from doing the same. By any means necessary.
You can only go so far with the "by any means necessary" perspective before you risk corrupting the nature of the game. The parameters under which the game is to be contested are what make the game what it is and not some other game. The object of Monopoly is to bankrupt your opponents, but not by getting them to look the other way while you steal from the bank. The object of road cycling is to complete the predetermined course in the shortest time, but not by sneaking a little motor onto your wheel. The object of the marathon is to cross the finish line first, but not by going undetected while taking a shortcut. The object of basketball is to outscore the opposing team, but not by deceiving the referees into believing a violation has occurred when one has not, nor by willfully violating the rules in the hopes of gaining an advantage that will go unpunished or under-punished (i.e., it's "worth it" despite the potential penalty). Do you want to win a basketball game, or do you want to be awarded with a win having really succeeded at employing tactics that are proscribed by the rules? If that distinction means nothing to you, then what's the point of the game at all?
It is the officials job to make sure both teams are pursuing that objective legally within the rules.
Yes, but it is the responsibility of all participants and the entire culture around the sport to promote honest play. It does not fall on James Harden or any other player alone to eradicate these behaviors from basketball, but neither are they to be excused simply because they can get away with it. Attribution of guilt gets complicated when the entire culture of and around the sport supports breaking the rules, as happened most notoriously with doping in cycling, where participants were left feeling they simply couldn't remain competitive without doping. Some may suggest that flopping or blatantly inducing foul calls in basketball has reached a similar level of acceptance: refs looking the other way, players widely adopting these strategies, coaches encouraging it, fans defending it. This may be so, in which case it's unfair to single out Harden as I have in this thread. But I don't think we're there yet. I believe you can compete just fine in the NBA without this crap, so I do expect players not to lean on such methods.
