MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) - Lost amongst Sydney breaking their near-seven-year drought against Perth - and Josh Childress’ allegedly hamstring-injuring goose-step celebration – was the fact the Kings’ win was almost thwarted by the NBL’s flopping fixation.

With two minutes remaining and the Kings leading by six, Wildcat Jermaine Beal missed a long three-pointer which was rebounded by Sydney centre Angus Brandt.

At that point, one referee decided to issue a technical foul to Beal for flopping after he fell to the ground.

The penalty was one free throw for the Kings – which Ben Madgen missed - after which the ball was inexplicably awarded to Perth, even though Brandt had secured the rebound.

Had no call been made the Kings would have had the chance to score as many as three points  before Perth got the ball back, but because of this error they received just one free throw.

On the ensuing possession Jesse Wagstaff canned a mid-range jumper, meaning the Wildcats effectively received a two-point benefit from the flopping tech foul.

Wagstaff’s bucket put the Wildcats within four and could have been a momentum changer. Luckily, the Kings steadied and won.

The wrong approach
Now I can understand some would argue the flopping fixation isn't the issue, the referees’ mistake was. But I say it goes to the very essence of why the NBL’s crackdown is so ill-advised.

The league’s rules committee decided flopping was a major issue after last season’s grand final decider where numerous flops were rewarded with charges.

Unfortunately they decided to treat the symptom and not the sore.

The real issue is players without legitimate defensive position, and/or who don’t have their position displaced by the offence player, being rewarded with offensive foul calls.

It’s a long-running cultural issue amongst players and referees Downunder, where the charge/block is generally called in favour of the defence, as opposed to most of the rest of the basketball world where the offence gets the benefit of the doubt.

This problem isn't the making of the current crop of refs nor should it be theirs to solve alone.

Long-term change
Cultural change is needed, and it cannot be achieved by calling tech fouls for flopping while defenders are still rewarded with dodgy charges, and hence the incentive to fall over is still strong.

The NBA got it right, giving the NBL an excellent precedent they chose to ignore.

The NBA simply review game tapes and issue warnings for those who clearly flop. In their high-paying league fines are a deterrent. On NBL salaries, a suspension on the ‘third strike’ might be more appropriate.

Using video review, the NBA can check whether the player tripped over their own feet, someone else’s feet, or were simply hit by a significantly bigger man.

In the NBL, refs are being made to look foolish making real-time judgements (and are exposed to potentially game-changing mistakes like in the Sydney-Perth game).

A great example was 105kg Wildcat Earnest Ross making contact with Mark Worthington, who fell over and was warned for flopping by high-quality Olympic referee Michael Aylen.

Later in the game lightweight Deandre Daniels – generously listed as 88kg - made contact with Worthington, who fell over in front of Aylen but received neither a charge nor a flopping tech.

Now when Australia’s best referee can’t get it right, it’s pretty clear the job the reffing panel is being asked to do is beyond them.

The next steps
It’s time for someone at the NBL to be brave enough to admit they were wrong and get on with making our game a better spectacle.

The first step is to take flopping out of the hands of the on-court officials.

The next step is to make a defining order of the rules committee that any change they implement must make a demonstrable improvement to the spectacle, not detract from the spectacle as this has done.

The third step is to tackle the cultural issue of calling too many charges. Inform referees, players and coaches that only the most obvious charges will be granted to help defenders.

If there is to be a mistake it must be calling a block or a no-call on light contact. You could look at a system where refs who repeatedly call incorrect charges are suspended, ala players who flop repeatedly.

What they creates is a new culture where it’s not worth defenders’ effort sliding under players who are attacking the basket and then falling over, and it’s not worth refs’ effort rewarding them.

Get that right and a large amount of flopping will disappear, offensive players will attack the basket more aggressively, and help defenders will contest drives in the air more often.

Win, win, win.

Already making progress
Cultural change is clearly possible, we have seen significant progress this year when it comes to blocked shots.

The eye test suggests our refs have done a much better job (after an iffy start to the season) letting incidental body contact go on clean swats of the ball.

The stat test backs this up. As of a month ago, the league was on track for a record high number of blocks per field-goal attempts.

Now that has a fair bit to do with the NBL featuring its greatest array of shot-blockers, with Mickell Gladness, Ekene Ibekwe, Josh Childress, Deandre Daniels, Alex Pledger, Luke Nevill, Tom Abercrombie and Co patrolling the skyways.

But there is no doubt the league’s swatters are being allowed to do their thing more often, bringing the NBL closer in line with other major leagues around the world.

Gladness will tell you there’s still room for improvement, there always will be because no one is perfect.

But in a year where poor direction from above has made our referees’ job tougher than it needs to be, they should be given credit for their performance in this area.

It gives me hope we can also make the necessary changes in the charge/block area, giving current and potential spectators and TV viewers more of the aerial contests they want to see.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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