Old Bynum flagrant controversy

By Jason Wojciechowski on February 7, 2009 at 9:12 PM

Henry Abbott went off on Andrew Bynum, as he's done at least one other time. I'm not sure he actually saw the play. Bynum didn't "collapse his lung" -- Bynum hit Wallace the same way lots of guys get hit all the time (and a way he shouldn't have hit him). That Wallace's lung collapsing was an accidental outcome, one that, as a moral matter (which is the tack Abbott is taking here), can't be put on Bynum.

I'm a little surprised that Abbott is falling into the trap where outcome controls how you feel about the play, which is where the NBA gets into trouble with its flagrants all the time. Jeff Van Gundy is the one notable commentator I can think of who decries this practice, and I'm 100% agreed with him. It's not about the effect, it's about the action.