<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> DENTON ? As far as the Mavericks are concerned, the NBA can take its new ball and go home. The league decided to change official basketballs this season, replacing the pebbled, leather spheres with a microfiber composite ball that is getting widely ripped. "They stink," guard Jason Terry said of the new ball. "I've worked out with it all summer long, and I've grown accustomed to losing the ball out of bounds a couple times. It's going to happen." The ball has the look and feel of an indoor-outdoor ball, Terry said. And he's not the only one who has had trouble holding onto it. "Dirk [Nowitzki] had two or three layups [in practice] and they just popped right out of his hands," Terry said. Nowitzki, one of the NBA's biggest stars, gave a succinct impression of the new ball: a thumb's-down signal. The Mavericks are falling in line with just about every other player in the league. Shaquille O'Neal blasted the ball even before he'd played with it, although it's the same game ball used in the last two All-Star Games, league officials said. While the dimensions of the ball are the same as the previous ball, which had been used for more than 35 years, it simply looks and feels different. "It's like a volleyball," coach Avery Johnson said. "It feels smaller than the other ball. But I personally don't complain about that stuff. It's just different. We been using another ball for 100 years, and it's change. And you got to adjust to change." The league announced their would be new official game ball during the off-season. It was only the second change in the ball in 60 seasons. The ball has a special traction design that is supposed to offer superior grip and feel. But it seems to be more of a synthetic feel than anything else, according to players. About the only positive players could find with the new ball is that it doesn't need a break-in period like the leather balls. Of course, that means the new ball always feels new, which isn't necessarily a good thing, either. "Once the ball gets wet, it's going to go everywhere," guard Devin Harris said. "People going up for layups are having the ball slip out. I think there's going to be more turnovers and lower shooting percentages." Harris said the ball is particularly unruly when it gets moisture on it. "If they can keep the ball from getting wet, moving balls in and out, so it can stay dry, that might work," he said. "I don't see it getting any better." </div> Source
Since most Mavs are mainly shooters, and the ball is suppose to lower the field goal percentage and it doesn't stay around the rim for a long time. No surprise that they hate the ball. Im sure most, if not all of the shooters hate it.
