A lot of players (including TMac) say that the ball feels like it has needles on it after you use it a lot. Glad to see Stern re-evaluate things. I thought changing the ball was dumb in the first place but I got over it. Now that we know that Stern didn't even consult the people that would be most affected by it just lets me know that it had nothing to do with trying to improve the game.
You are looking at this the wrong way (apparently because it's an opportunity to make the rich spoiled-brats are b****ing again, argument). It's not whether stats can prove the new ball should be replaced with the old ball....It's the other way around. The way to look at this is the ball should NEVER be changed until the stats/testing show that it will improve the game...like in tennis when they went to yellow balls. Or football when they introduced a ball that is better for the forward pass. Show me that stats or player testing that makes the case for changing the ball. Until that data is produced, players don't need to show data to make a case to return to the old ball.
It isn't just about shooting percentages. It's about comfort and feel and a lack of input from players. This was handled very poorly. Agreed. Stern should be retiring about now. He is an example of a successful and powerful figure not realizing when it's time to go and give it up to someone else.
Nobody wants to give Stern some props for softening his position and possibly listening to reason from his players?
Excellent post. The questions if the players are spoiled or if Stern is over-compensating is moot, its about if the new ball is better then the old, which it isn't.
When the controversy first erupted early in the season, I said that changing the ball without getting the league's elite players on board was the height of arrogance. Nothing has changed. It illustrates how out of touch with common sense excessively powerful people can become. This was a no brainer, Stern blew it. They should return to leather immediately, let the cows adjust. I bet that Les and his wife have leather furniture somewhere in their several houses and leather seats in their luxury cars. Animals should not be tortured or made to suffer in anyway, but some are fair game for food and other items. How do we know that plants don't have some form of consciousness. Maybe fresh veggies "feel pain" when we crunch them.
Is this intentional irony? Is it not the height of arrogance for the powerful elite players to think they should have an input on what ball is used? Aren't they showing how out of touch with common sense they've become, biting the hand that feeds them?
No doubt, all parties in this case are likely out of touch with the estate of the average fan, but, there is a smart way and a dumb way to do almost everything. Essentially, leaving the marquis players out of the loop in this decision was the dumb way. Every workman should have a say in the tools they use.
No. Are you serious? btw: I don't think it is any coincidence that this new Spalding ball deal with the NBA happened after Spalding was purchased by a publically traded company (Russel). I wonder if the original Spalding company would have ever recommended the change.
Mark Jackson knows exactly whom to blame for the NBA's decision to switch basketballs: Reggie Miller, Cheryl Miller and Steve Kerr. Not a big hit: The new microfiber NBA basketball, which replaced a leather model, has drawn criticism from players this season. - MATT KRYGER / The Star Jackson is joking. He also was part of the testing program for the new microfiber ball that has met with widespread objections from the players, and doesn't back down from his role in the controversy. "I'm just saying if I was a player, I'd blame those three," Jackson said, laughing. The league's "test" consisted of a single session at Madison Square Garden that lasted no more than an hour. The four former standouts, who now work as broadcasters, shot and dribbled with it, and that was that. "Under those conditions, anybody would have said, 'OK, it's a good ball,' " said Jackson, who was Reggie Miller's longtime backcourt partner with the Indiana Pacers. "In hindsight, what should have happened was to get different players and test it over the long haul." NBA commissioner David Stern said the league will address the players' concerns and didn't rule out the possibility of switching back to the old ball. Pacers forward Al Harrington, a former teammate of Jackson and Miller, would heartily endorse that. He's not blaming Jackson and Miller, though, because he liked it at first, too. "It's fool's gold," Harrington said. "The first couple of times you use it, it feels great. But the more you play with it, it starts peeling your nails off your fingertips. It's really rough. They didn't play with it under those conditions."
Now tell me that this ball is the best ball available. That's all that really matters. David Stern isn't the one that has to use them day in and day out for his profession.
I'm betting that they don't actually revert to the old ball, but rather change rules on handling it. The refs will get more balls and change them out more often. Players will get to request a new ball during play stoppages. The complaint is that the ball has problems when it's wet right? If it's switched out often enough, that won't be a problem.
They said that it doesn't bounce right and that it's cutting their fingers. At first, I thought the players were just a bunch of whiners, but if it's affecting them physically, then there is no doubt that they should go back to the old ball...
You can actually see players fumbling w/ the ball when they're dribbling. Seen it time and time again at the games I go to. If it's anything like those rubber-composite outdoor balls, I can only imagine what that would be like game-in, game-out. Those balls are terrible.
I've actually dribbled with the thing at a sports store, its terrible fresh out of the box, I can only imagine it worn down like Al Harrington says... I have to agree with Shaq on this one, it feels EXACTLY like a $10 rubber outdoor-use ball that you can buy at any toy store, except its 10x more expensive...
It's a problem when it's dry (tacky and can hurt the fingers when spinning fast enough) and when it's wet (water starts to sit on the surface making it super slick). It also burns through quickly and needs to be changed out at halftime. It has slightly less bounce and is known to bounce of the backboard "dead" This is not a better mousetrap, it was a marketing deal. Evan
