Kobe Bryant on Flopping: “Where Your Balls At?”

Although there are quite a few forms of flopping these days, many flops come at the receiving end of guys taking a charge on defense. First Kobe spoke about his ‘interesting’ philosophy on never taking charges in the first place:

The 33-year-old veteran who is playing in his 16th season said part of the reason for his longevity is his aversion to sacrificing his body to draw offensive fouls.

“I learned from my predecessors,” Bryant said. “[Scottie] Pippen had a [messed] up back taking charges. [Larry] Bird had a [messed] up back taking charges. I said, ‘I’m not taking charges.’ I figured that … out at an early age.”

But then Kobe got more to the point about flopping when probed on David Stern’s comments about the subject, and his statement that the league this summer will be looking into potential officiating changes to address the matter…

“I think it’s time to look at [flopping] in a more serious way,” Stern said Sunday, “because it’s only designed to fool the referee. It’s not a legitimate play in my judgment. I recognize if there’s contact [you] move a little bit, but some of this is acting. We should give out Oscars rather than MVP trophies.”

Bryant, who made it clear, “I don’t flop,” echoed Stern’s remarks.

“There’s a difference [between taking a charge and flopping]. We all know what flopping is when we see it,” Bryant said. “The stuff that you see is where guys aren’t really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water. That’s kind of like, where are your balls at?”