Cleveland rookie Dion Waiters drove, and LeBron fell backwards as if pushed by a burly bouncer. The worst part? He tossed his hands up in the air trying to sell the foul. Does the NBA only penalize role players for flopping? True Hoop tackled this, and surmised that technically if you watch the NBA flopping video, language says this isn’t a flop:

“While there may be a slight embellishment by the defender to draw attention to the marginal contact … this is a legitimate basketball play and is a reasonable attempt to draw the charge. This play would not be deemed to be a flop and it will not be penalized.”

I suppose the NBA suits will determine what a “legitimate basketball play” is, right?

The NBA, in its infinite wisdom, determined something had to be done about flopping. Some folks thought this was a bad idea. Until a star gets penalized for flopping, this will sort of feel like the NCAA getting angry at Kentucky and punishing Cleveland St.