The NBA is evolving, and THE FLOP is leading the way.

As someone who has watched basketball for over 20 years, played basketball both competitively and for fun, and also currently coaches, I've found it incredibly disheartening to see the evolution of basketball the past 20 years. It's gone from the physical "grit and grind" type game it was with the Bad Boy Pistons, to the "clear path" nonsense its become. Leading the attack in how soft the NBA has become...THE FLOP.

The art of The Flop was perfected by guys like Vlade Divac and continued by Manu Ginobili and others- a lot of foreign players who probably learned The Flop from the soccer field. Let's be honest, European players are much more prone to The Flop due to the incessant acting that they see/participate in as they are growing up playing soccer. It obviously parlays over to the basketball court and has taken the NBA by storm. It is comical to now see guys like James Harden, Chris Paul and even Lebron James do ANYTHING they can to get a competitive advantage. These are some of the best players in the NBA and they are throwing themselves out of bounds and flailing their arms and bodies all over the court, just to get to the line or draw a foul. When one isn't called, they act as though everyone else is stupid when in fact, its them who look like clowns. I can almost guarantee that Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and players from the early 90's are shaking their heads when they see this pathetic display of "competition." 

Right now, there are only a few of the "old school" mentality type of players left. Kobe, Duncan, The Truth Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, are guys that have competed the right way and won championships. This new-school wave of players is more worried about the amount of twitter followers they have, rather than how many rings they are trying to get. The Flop is a symbol of where the NBA is going. The NBA is moving to a league where its damn near impossible to get physical with anyone without it being a foul/flagrant/suspension. THEY REVIEW EVERYTHING! I can only imagine what they would call common fouls from the late 80s/early 90s right now. Clear path fouls. Flagrant 1. All these ridiculous terms that have been implemented for whatever reason are watering down this great game. It's getting so bad that I have kids on my 6th-8th grade team who ask me, "should I work on my flopping to try to get calls?" I made them run 5 suicides for that comment!

Adam Silver seems like he is going to do right by the NBA. He was given a product that is getting worse in my opinion. I understand that David Stern did a lot to revive the NBA from the mid-80s, however, where the NBA is now is not where the saviors of MJ, Bird and Magic wanted it to be. The NHL embraces fighting and the NFL is obviously a contact sport. Why is the NBA so afraid of a little contact, pushing and shoving and a scuffle from time to time? 

I don't know whats wrong with a little physicality!