Basketball's biggest flopper Billy Hunter left his players unprotected and unprepared again on Wednesday, failing to warn the union membership against what turned out to be a coast-to-coast embracing of a league-mandated fine system. This is how sadly disorganized and defeated the players are: In a continuation of the lockout ass-kicking delivered the Players Association, NBA commissioner David Stern had players coast to coast offering him a standing ovation for digging deeper into their pockets.

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Hunter had weeks to prepare his players for the fact that the NBA could punish flopping with financial fines, and he never bothered. After Hunter waited hours to issue a statement that the NBPA would be filing charges with the U.S. Department of Labor, he had lost the public-relations war and left his players embarrassed and exposed on the matter.

The union could've notified the player reps to encourage teammates to call the fine system for flopping excessive and unnecessary – remember, some coaches teach it – but Hunter is too obsessed with his one true priority: fighting off investigations into his business practices and preserving the lavish lifestyle the NBPA provides his family and him.

Now, Hunter files charges with the Department of Labor saying the NBA can't impose financial fines without negotiating with the union. Here's the problem for the players' interests: As the Department of Labor considers this case, its deep into a joint investigation with the Department of Justice of Hunter's business practices that sources tell Yahoo! Sports include several NBPA employees privately meeting with investigators without Hunter's union lawyers present.

[Related: Blake Griffin says flopping rule just a money grab]

Within the union, there's a strong movement to make Hunter accountable to the players for how the Players Association operates, how it ultimately benefits Hunter and the family members on the payroll. Hunter has done everything in his power to limit his contact with players over the past several months, balancing the cancellation of meetings with the scheduling of others that were inconvenient for players to attend.

For Hunter, he'll use the new flopping legislation as something – anything – to convince his rank-and-file that he's fighting for them. It's all a ruse, and ultimately it speaks to the NBA's complete lack of respect for Hunter's office that it believed it could jam through this legislation without any input from the NBPA.

Yes, flopping needs to be curtailed and punished, but a system of arbitrary fines passed down out of Stern's office for violators on film is ridiculous. The NBA is essentially conceding that its officials don't have the competence to call flopping in the flow of the game, so Stern decides that the players will be punished financially for it.

[Related: Shane Battier says refs tell him to flop, sell contact]

Once, there was a league-wide competition committee that debated the merits of such monumental change. That's changed. Now, Stern lords over a small group of owners, general managers and coaches, and as one executive said, "This is just his way of getting whatever he wants rubber-stamped."

Yet, Stern couldn't get his legislation passed and replaced with a far more pliable, far smaller group of owners, GMs and coaches. "Stern pushed for a smaller committee, so he could bully through all the changes he wants before he leaves office," one league executive said.

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