(AP)

After the 76ers wrapped up their Tuesday morning practice, they got coached up some more in one of the back rooms at PCOM. Delaware County native Mark Wunderlich, an NBA ref for 20 seasons, was showing the Sixers a video from the NBA concerning the league’s rules changes.

We’ll get a first look at those changes tonight, when the Sixers tip off in Orlando in their preseason opener.

Those changes include:

• Warnings and fines for flopping. The first flop, in an attempt to goad a referee into making a call, gets a warning. The next brings fines in increments of $5,000 until the fifth flop, which brings about talk of suspension.
• Flagrant fouls. They’ll be called in real time, then refs will use replay courtside to determine the degree. A Flagrant 2 carries an ejection.
• Blocking/charging fouls and goaltending. Replay will be used in the final two minutes of regulation and all of overtime to determine the appropriate call.

“I told our guys, ‘Referees are arguably the most-scrutinized people in the NBA.’ Every play, every whistle,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said. “A lot of times, somebody will get upset when with five seconds to go, a referee will blow a whistle and the game is already a 20-point game. He’s being evaluated on that call with five seconds to go and if he doesn’t make it, it’s like, ‘Why didn’t you make that call? We don’t care what the score is.’ That’s the respect we want to show these guys.”

Collins believes the lockout played into foul calls last year, saying it prevented players from getting time to practice under the best circumstances and it took away in-game practice (preseason games) for referees to get their feet wet. It led to “slippage” in the calls, according to Collins.

There probably won’t be nearly as much leniency this season.

“Sometimes those meetings with the NBA kind of get boring, but I think the ones with the refs give you a little bit of insight because you’re playing the game and the team is seeing what they’re seeing through their eyes and what they’re looking for,” Sixers guard Jason Richardson said. “It gives you an advantage and a disadvantage. Some of the things that work to your advantage, it’s good, but the things that work to your disadvantage, you’re like, ‘Oh man, I have to change my game.’ It’s kind of good to get their insight.”

And as for flopping?

“I’m not a flopper, so it was nothing to do with me,” Richardson said with a chuckle. “But that’s a good call for the game because it has gotten out of control.”