Hall of Famer Chris Webber Weighs In on the NBA’s Frustrating Flopping Problem | The Rich Eisen Show

0:00 And then, you know, do you want to chime in before

0:01 I let you go on the Jaylen Brown conversation that he sparked,

0:06 the conversation de jure of flopping?

0:09 Um you know, now that tanking's done.

0:12 Uh that we got to the playoffs and now

0:14 it's all about flopping and it's ruining the league.

0:16 What do you What do you You want to take your bite at that one,

0:19 Chris, before I let you Yeah, I mean, uh I hate flopping.

0:22 And I played with players that flopped.

0:25 Uh I I hate it.

0:26 I I thought that uh the refs at the time would not take you serious.

0:32 Uh you know, it's from European soccer.

0:35 Guys coming over and and doing that and uh it's just

0:39 that you can't say when you lost 3-1 when you were up 3-0.

0:43 [laughter] That's there when you're winning the series.

0:45 Yeah, I guess you know,

0:46 you don't have It's interesting that somebody's accused of too

0:49 many players flopping doesn't have a leg to stand on himself.

0:51 But I I understand that, Chris, but you know, I'm wondering,

0:56 is it a player pride thing that where a player's

1:00 just like if I can get away with it, I'll I'll do it, or is it the officials

1:04 just need to quit taking the cheese here?

1:08 Like who Where Where do Where do we lay the lion's share, Chris?

1:13 I I put it on I put it on the officials to to officiate the game.

1:17 You know, uh a guy like Shaq couldn't flop and I think he

1:21 paid for it because we could hit him harder and and tear him up.

1:25 And I just think you have to look, you know,

1:28 it's it's almost like if my if my dad was in the room,

1:32 I wouldn't let a guy 100 lbs uh uh I wouldn't let a guy

1:37 weigh 100 lbs more push me and fall on the floor and flop.

1:40 I'd be embarrassed in front of my pops.

1:42 And I think that guys can get away with it on the court cuz it works.

1:47 However, I think it looks like WWF.

1:50 It looks like you know the fake, you know, you know,

1:52 I'm helping your momentum gets you to the other side of the rope

1:55 and all that good stuff and it's just we're just too good for it.

2:00 Players are just too good for it.

2:02 It's already hard enough to play the game and so I really um you know,

2:05 I just really I've never liked flopping.

2:07 Yeah, I mean my I I came on the air the other

2:09 day and saying coming off of the Oklahoma City win in game one,

2:14 my timeline on my phone was filled more with SGA, you know, moments,

2:20 a montage of him not being touched and hitting

2:23 the floor than it was of him making shots.

2:26 You know, and and even then, you know,

2:28 you could lay something at the hands of the officials.

2:30 He only went to the free throw line three times in game one.

2:33 So, there were a couple of times where

2:35 the ref refs are just like get up, play on.

2:37 And I'm like wondering like if it gets to the point where we're

2:40 constantly talking about it and the league wants to do something about it,

2:43 the association wants to do something about it.

2:45 Do you do you assess technicals?

2:47 You know what I mean?

2:48 I I know that there's a an issue that you have when you're flopping on defense.

2:52 Like that's a problem.

2:54 Why not Why not flip it and say if you do it on offense, it's equally a problem.

3:00 Right?

3:00 I think it'd be I think it'd be great if we penalized you know, for flopping.

3:06 But I also think that, you know,

3:08 it's on the players because you shouldn't embellish.

3:11 Embellishing is fine.

3:13 It's just that the you know,

3:14 flopping is is is just much more egregious than than

3:19 embellishing contact and so it's a fine line and it's

3:22 happening fast and I do believe most refs are trying

3:26 to do their best in the game and so you know,

3:30 I think blame goes around everywhere, but I think it starts with the players,

3:34 but I think you know, a couple of refs, you know,

3:36 I think a couple of calls you need to let guys be embarrassed,

3:39 you know, because it wasn't a flop and say, you know, get back up.

3:44 And of course, I don't want to go back to McHale moving the moving

3:48 the chair on on on any of the Celtics and how physical they got,

3:53 you know, I hear it, I understand it, but you know,

3:56 it's just I'm a I'm a football fan and I hated that, you know,

4:00 sometimes you can't hit or tackle as much

4:03 and on some calls this quarterback gets hit and this quarterback

4:06 doesn't get hit as much and it's not called

4:08 and so all you want is consistency and I just think,

4:12 you know, as a fan, not even as a player, I just I just want that consistency.

4:16 I don't want to know I don't want to know the movie before it happens.

4:19 Sometimes you know guys, he's going to dribble twice,

4:21 he's going to pump fake and wait going the air

4:23 and you know the ref is already calling the foul

4:26 and the ref needs to let the play happen and I'm

4:28 sure they're going over that, but I think players need to take,

4:30 you know, accountability when it comes to to to flopping.

4:34 Hey, you made it all the way to the end.

4:35 Thanks for that.

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