Flips, Flops, Floppers and Flip-Floppers
Jul 11th, 2007 by totoro
Only in the NBA world do you have a combination of flips, flops, floppers and flip-floppers.
The Flip. The NBA only has one Flip and that is Ronald “Flip” Murray of the Detroit Pistons.
The Flop. No, this is not the first three community cards in a game of Texas Hold’em. These are the complete failures we see each year in the NBA. The guy that had so much potential and hope but ended up being a complete bust. Look it up in a basketball dictionary and you will probably see former #1 overall draft picks Michael Olowokandi and Kwame Brown right on top of the list.
The Flopper. Vlade Divac was the quintessential flopper of past years. Manu Ginobli, Anderson Varejao, Raja Bell and many more have all proudly followed in his footsteps. They are the players you love to have but hate to play against. I’m sure you witnessed the incredible Oscar worthy acting job Steve Nash performed on Bruce Bowen during the playoffs. You know, the one where he performed a ridiculous “I got kicked in the testicles” flop, followed by an extended rolling, arms flailing in the air, on the floor in the fetal position with a painful expression of agony. Only to instantly rise up looking fine and dandy once the whistle was called. You may call that flopping, I call it brilliant.
The Flip-Flopper. This has been an emerging trend this summer. We all know how Kobe seemingly changed his mind every minute in the span of 2 days during the playoffs. Billy Donovan caused a public relations nightmare for the Magic by signing a 5 year/27.5 million dollar contract, only to wake up the next morning wanting to go back to Florida. Heck, even the NBA did a flip flop on the new synthetic basketballs last season after so many complaints. And now comes word that Ron Artest wants to retire a Sacramento King, after publicly stating his desire to be Knick this past season. These guys flip flop more than Oprah’s weight.
How do they all relate? NBA free agents can now official sign. Flip Murray would have been a free agent but he picked up his player option to remain with the Detroit Pistons 2 weeks ago. If you can’t get a Flip in free agency, the free agent pool has many Flops and Floppers to choose from, led by Michael Olowokandi and Anderson Varejao. The silly one week moratorium rule before players can “officially” sign causes many free agents to “verbally” agree on a deal. Surely, Orlando fans were hoping Rashard Lewis didn’t flip-flop and “pull another Billy Donovan”. Yes, this is the life we live in. One in which flips, flops, floppers, and flip-flopper can coexist. Only in the NBA.