Ref Class Presents: DON'T BE FOOLED!! 15 Basketball Plays To Determine Foul Or Flop {1st Edition}

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[@jamesday3591]

First, love this series! Thanks, Professor!
Second, here's my take:
1. Defensive player caught the edge of someone's foot as he attempted to move laterally. The fall was not caused by the offensive player, nor was it a flop. He just lost his balance at about the same time as the offensive player made his final step to the basket. No call, play on.
2a. No call, no flop, play on. The offensive player has his back to the defensive player, and they are both fighting for legal rebounding position. As the player who is behind the other player, the defensive player is responsible for contact, unless he has stopped moving, which he hasn't. He's overpowered by the stronger player under the basket without having first established a position.
2b. Offensive player pushes the defender with arms extended to prevent the defensive player from obtaining a favorable path to the loose ball. Technically, foul. Practically, play on. I wouldn't call it either as a ref or as the defensive player. In eras where less contact was allowed, definitely a foul, but not by today's interpretation of such contact.
3a. No call, play on. Offensive player lost his footing on the load for the layup. If that was a flop, it was because he was trying to hide his trip, not because he was trying to get a foul call, IMO. ;) You can specifically see his left ankle giving way in a somewhat dangerous angle as he goes down.
3b. No call, no foul, no flop. Offensive and defensive player moved together. Offensive player contorted his body to get the shot off over a well-positioned defender as a half-runner. Tough, desperation shot the he wasn't prepared to take considering he tried to finish in a triple team with decently well executed help defense underneath and a ... perhaps less than half-hearted help defensive from the wing. His body contortion caused him to fall, not the defender, and not because he was flopping. It reminds me of my wife's biggest complaint about my game. (If you really want to know, ask what that is. ;)
4a. Ticky-tack foul. I'd tell him to stop, and then warn him if he didn't. Stop pushing your opponent with your arm extended, especially above the free-throw line. Not enough to really call, but I'd want him to know that I saw it, and didn't like it.
4b. Travel first (lol!), and then an offensive foul. Lowering your shoulder into the defender is not legit, IMO. Plus, he had the defender slightly off balance from his clear jab with his left (pivot) foot, pushing off his right foot before the dribble. So, clearly a travel first.
5. No foul, no flop, no call. Defender went straight up. Offensive player bounced off.
6. Can't tell from that angle from that far away. If the defender caught part of the ball first, then it's a clean block, no foul, no flop, no call. If the defender didn't get part of the ball first, then it's still hard to tell from that angel from that far away. The defender clearly hits the offensive player's arm. The offensive player might be flopping, because he "expected" the defensive player to swipe above, but I think it's more likely a foul, if the defender didn't get a piece of the ball first. Bottom-line: inconclusive, so essentially a no-call, but not because of the players, because of my position and distance. My best guess would be clean block.
7. No call, no foul, no flop, play on. Smaller offensive player who doesn't have enough court awareness yet, throwing up a running fade away in traffic against a bigger defender. Decent defense, but certainly not overly aggressive. No contact. Lack of body control on a desperation shot that he never should have taken. You've collapsed the defense, and have two open teammates in good position to take a pass. Technical foul for bad judgement. LOL! ;)
8. No foul, no flop, no call, play on. Good play, both offensively and defensively. Defender had good position. Offensive player broke down his defender with some good physical body contact (legal) that doesn't dislodge the defender, but puts him off balance enough that the defender can't shift to his left with the offensive player's low spin, and the offensive player is able to finish with some nice post foot-work. Defensive player needs to work on not absorbing that type of contact too vertically, and lower his center of gravity so that body contact from the offensive player doesn't rock him off balance, but otherwise, good play on both players. Better play by the offensive player.
9. Starts with a nice travel! LOL! If the offensive player had let the ball go, he could have recovered it without a travel, but since he didn't let the hit ground on his bobble ... travel. I wouldn't call it in a pick-up game (but I'd harass him about it), but I would call it as a ref. It's too blatant. On the actual shot, that's not a foul. Defender is vertical, not moving into the offensive player. The contact is incidental, as the defender's arms are completely vertical, and he's not even making an attempt on either the offensive player or the ball. That contact is the offensive player's fault, but not an offensive foul. No foul, no call. The defender has a legit complaint for the foul call, IMO.
10. Clearly an offensive foul. The offensive player pushes completely through the defender. Offensive foul, and a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.
11a. No foul, no call, no flop. Incidental contact. The offensive player is behind the defensive player, and therefore responsible for all contact. He failed to obtain a good rebounding position, and then failed to make a good effort on the rebound. Technical foul for lack of effort.
11b. No foul, but offensive travel. The defender attempts to stop the offensive player, not by legal position, but by obstructing his path without established position, so I might have called it a blocking foul, but the offensive player clearly gathers before he intended to, due to the help defensive who gets a good hand on the ball, resulting in the offensive player's pivot foot coming back into contact with the floor before he can either pass, rise up to shoot, or get the blocking foul. Good help defensive to cause the turn-over. Travel. Work on awareness and handles. Don't turn into the middle, towards the help defense, unless your shooting guard is cutting towards the baseline, and don't try to dribble high through the space of a smaller defender who's used to guarding faster players. However, on looking closer at the play a second time, after breaking down the travel, it might have also been an attempted flop, as the offensive player's momentum had clearly not pushed through the defender that far. It think it's more likely that the defender's chest bump didn't have as much strength as he intended, he underestimated the strength of the offensive player, and he simply bounced off, since the offensive player does not look like he drove through him at all. He's just moving, and the defensive player has decent position. It's hard to tell from that angle, speed, and distance whether it's a blocking foul or a no call, but regardless ... travel.
12. Offensive foul. The offensive player is facing the defender, clearly up underneath the offensive player's relatively stationary center of gravity at the throw-in, and after driving through the defender for two complete steps, and the offensive player finishes by driving him upwards and then backwards another step, fully dislodging him three feet away from his starting legal position. Blatant offensive foul. No flop. Technical foul warning. Stop that before it gets out of hand. It's just bully ball, playing dirty against a smaller, less-aggressive player.
13. No call. Good screen. I thought it was going to be an illegal back-screen set too close the defender, but the screener did get into the defender's field of view before setting the screen. Barely. The defender, though, had no real space to react, resulting in incidental contact. The defender's just a lot bigger than the screener, and the screener tried to use size (which he didn't have), instead of position (which he did have). He set it too close as a surprise screen, without being able to brace for the inevitable contact. Don't set screens that close on a bigger defender when you're trying to surprise them. SMH. You're not Steven Adams. You're barely Wednesday Addams. No call, play on. Lift more weights. ;)
14. FLOP! Give me break, dude. You're leaning backwards even before the contact, hoping that the breeze from the defender going around you will be enough to knock you over. SMH. Yes, they're a better, bigger team, but don't be stupid.
15. (Travel on the receipt of the initial pass! LOL!) But then ... blocking foul! Defender clearly moves forward into the offensive player on the change of direction. The chest bump emphasizes the forward movement. You can't Scottie Pippen chest bump moving backwards, and you can't move forward into the offensive player, if the offensive player is already driving. The Scottie Pippen chest bump is for post play when the offensive player's trying to body you. Above the free-throw line against an actively driving player? Blocking foul every time. No chest bump, and maybe it would have been an offensive foul, but the chest bump in that scenario ensures that you spend some much needed rest time on the ground wondering why your opponent's shooting free throws.
There's my take. I await your feedback, Professor! What do you see differently?

[@pattynelson5061]

A little dialog or commentary for newer officials might be helpful, but your selection of videos has been very good.

[@RefClass]

Thanks for the helpful feedback. I will look to add audio to the videos.