Friday Bolts – 9.28.12

: “The NBA is finalizing a new procedure to deal with flopping this coming season, with an off-court remedy expected to be in place before the start of the regular season. After meeting with their newly revamped competition committee two weeks ago in New York, the league anticipates that incidents of flopping will be adjudicated on a postgame basis with fines assessed for the offenses, a league spokesman said Thursday. “The procedures will likely involve a postgame review as opposed to calling it as an in-game infraction,” the league spokesman said in a statement to CBSSports.com and other outlets.”

Anthony Slater of NewsOK on Harden being a distraction: “As a Thunder fan, recent NBA history should scare you. Carmelo and the Nuggets became an everyday sideshow, then Dwight and the Magic made them look like a toned-down opening act. But Harden doesn’t possess the stature or personality of those two and the stable Thunder organization certainly can’t be compared to the mess in Orlando. So I don’t think it should become too much of an issue. Something to follow though.”

KD didn’t really give an answer for his top player in the league. Also, Kris Humphries and Blake Griffin look identical to me.

If it’s your kind of thing, NBA2K13 is getting rave reviews.

John Schuhmann of NBA.com: “The Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs were the three best teams in the league last season. The Heat and Thunder met in The Finals, while the Spurs tied for the league’s best regular season record and fell to the Thunder after winning their first 10 playoff games. So it’s logical that Miami, OKC and San Antonio are three of the four teams that are returning more than 80 percent of last year’s minutes on this year’s roster.”

Chris Broussard on if LeBron has peaked: “But if James merely saved face, while he’ll still be recognized as a champion, it might be as one who fortunately — and barely — escaped universal ridicule with one magnificent tour de force that he was unable to maintain. Fair or not, some will say the LeBron James who put together spectacular individual seasons but failed to consistently win rings was the real LeBron James. They will say the LeBron James who wrecked Kevin Durant and the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2012 was an aberration.”