MINNEAPOLIS — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has never been afraid to share his opinion on topics he believes are important to the NBA. That continued on Wednesday night when Kerr was asked what he felt should be emphasized as the league tries to crack down on flopping.
“You know my take on the NBA. We should be the No Bulls— Association,” Kerr said before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. “Like, every bit of bulls— that the players try to pull, we should just say, ‘No, no. We’re not doing that.’ And it’s a better game when guys aren’t flopping, guys aren’t grabbing each other, hooking each other, running into screens and looking like they got hit by a car. It’s just a better game when the officials have the ability to just say, ‘No. We’re not buying into that.’ And I feel like we are constantly, as a league, sort of behind the players. The players are grifting and we’re chasing them and we’re never getting ahead of it. And that’s my biggest issue.”
Both Kerr and Timberwolves coach Chris Finch were asked about flopping in the context of a question about three straight flopping calls late in Tuesday night’s Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers game. Both veteran coaches had their own take on what the league should do.
“I think everybody’s trying to figure out what’s a flop, what’s not,” Kerr said. “Because we feel like we’ve had some illegal screens, guys who have taken a dive, and we’ve sent them into the league. We’re discussing that. We’re having internal discussions, what’s what. I think everybody has to figure it out. The league made it a point of emphasis, but it seems to be only certain actions. So, we have to figure it out.”
Finch believes the focus should be on stopping offensive players from flopping.
“I was all for the league cleaning up flopping when I heard they were going to do it,” Finch said. “Unfortunately, I think the league has their own definition of what a flop is, which is needed but confusing when you feel like when you see a flop (and) everyone kind of knows what it is. It doesn’t need to be overly explained. I think where they got it wrong is all these flops they’re calling on the defense, and that’s not what the people want out of the game. They want the flops on the offensive players out of the game. The league was very intentional about saying the fans didn’t want to see flopping, but that’s not the flopping that … they don’t care if a defender spills down and shouts.
“What they care (about) is that the offensive players are baiting the game and falling down and getting unnecessary free throws. That’s what they care about because that’s not really in the spirit of why everyone wants to tune in and watch. So, I feel like all these flops on the defense, at the moment they’re probably just overemphasizing. But it’s the ones on the offense that I think have to be addressed.”
Kerr said he sent clips to the league office early in the season on various calls, but wanted to keep those conversations “private.” He said that flopping as a whole should be “banished.” Kerr was complimentary about the job NBA officials largely do on a night-to-night basis, but was consistent in his messaging on getting “player grifting” out of the game.
“I talked to a good friend in the league who said, in training camp, they had the players call their own fouls,” Kerr said. “Because they were just tired of all the grifting. And when you have the players call their own fouls, they don’t flop. It’s just basketball. And I’m not saying that’s the answer. I think our officials do a great job, and I think they work their butts off. It’s such a hard job. So I’m not complaining about the officiating. What I’m saying is we need to stay ahead of all the player grifting. Easier said than done, I get it, but we’ve consistently been behind here a decade.”
As Kerr discussed ways to get flopping out of the game, he was asked about another league issue he’s opined on multiple times this year: the length of the league schedule. Kerr, a longtime proponent of cutting games to preserve player health, was asked for his opinion after a long list of players were already missing games because of soft-tissue injuries.
“It’s hard for me to sit here and say four games into the season that guys are getting injured because we have too many games,” Kerr said. “I don’t know that (the schedule) is tied to injuries. I do know the speed and pace at which the game is played is definitely making the length of the season an issue. That’s always been my talking point. But I can’t sit here a week into the season and really justifiably bring up the length of the season as it relates to what we’ve seen so far.”