I cannot be the first to have noticed, but if I am please do acknowledge this by referencing this post when wowing listeners about the theatrics currently on display by the NBA’s best point guards. The move is subtle, but so prevalent that it cannot be overlooked.

Ask yourself (only if you’ve been following the NBA regular and post seasons), have you ever seen so many quick-footed point guards be tripped when driving to the basket or splitting two defenders off a screen? Honest. The two PG’s that come to mind, and only one you can still watch, are Rondo and Paul. These guys are two of the most athletically gifted point guards in the league, and use this to their advantage constantly.

Watch closely when either drives the lane or splits defenders and then stumbles spectacularly to the floor. The refs are almost forced to call a trip, and do so nearly 100% of the time. When the play is shown again, however, it is obvious the ballhandler purposely, and purposefully, catches his trailing foot behind his opposite ankle and goes down of his own accord. Nonsense…especially for you NBA fans who decry soccer as a sport of fakers, or something similarly harshly put.

I implore you to watch these guys closely, and note how many more tripping penalties are called this year than in past. Then watch how the trickle down theory can be applied (and the only way it is truly successfully observed) as collegiate-level guards will begin to do the same in the upcoming season…then high school…then you get the point. As far as I can tell, this move to be known henceforth as “The Rondo” is the single greatest subversive threat to what remains of basketball’s tattered integrity.