<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>NBA commissioner David Stern said Sunday the league will consider going back to its traditional leather basketball if Spalding's new synthetic model doesn't hold up to further testing. Several players, most notably Miami's Shaquille O'Neal, have complained the new basketball becomes too slick when wet. "We have sent out the most stringent testing crew to see what there is to the issue," Stern said in a round-table discussion with five reporters before Sunday's game between the Spurs and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the French capital. "Right now our plans are to stay the course, but we will monitor it and if we find there is something to it and it is a serious issue, we will take the appropriate steps because the most important thing to us is the game. "We have gone out and done tests. We have wet both balls. When the leather ball is wet at the end of the game, it is very slippery. But with the new ball, all you have got to do is put in a new ball because they are all the same, all the time. "One of the benefits Spalding stressed to us is that it is a better ball, it has a more modern approach to the grip that would endure. But the game is uppermost in our mind." Current NBA rules dictate only one ball can be used during a game. It can be dried with a towel, but can't be substituted for a different ball. A league official, however, said that rule could be altered to allow the new synthetic balls to be switched out when they become too slick. Stern also said Spalding suggested changing to the new ball. "They came to us and said they had a technology that will improve the ball," Stern said. "They said that we are the only sport, professional or college ? the last sport ? using leather and that they had a way to improve it. "They came to us several years ago and we said we would have to see the technology working. They wanted to launch it one year ago, but we said no. "We used it in the (developmental league), used it in the summer league, had players test it individually and, a year later, they said they had improved it even more. We said, 'OK, let's go.' So that's what we did."</div>Source: San Antonio Express-News
I really hope they change the ball back to the original leather ball. All the players hate it, some coaches dislike it, and there's really no reason why the ball needs to be changed in the first place. Change the ball back to normal and everyone will be happy.
No one here should comment on this ball. Im sure all of you don't know how it feels to play with. it. Im also sure none of you havent it held it in your hands. If you did, no matter what you didnt play a real NBA game with it. As far as I know, you shouldn't even care about the ball, but as to how the players improve/adjust to the new ball and their game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Oct 9 2006, 10:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>No one here should comment on this ball. Im sure all of you don't know how it feels to play with. it. Im also sure none of you havent it held it in your hands. If you did, no matter what you didnt play a real NBA game with it. As far as I know, you shouldn't even care about the ball, but as to how the players improve/adjust to the new ball and their game.</div> When most of the players hate it and it effects the play of basketball then I have a right to complain when the changes were not needed in the first place. The ball should be unchanged, it's a ball, it should just be a ball, it should never be a topic of conversation or change. You don't change a football, you don't change a baseball, you don't change a basketball and it's as simple as that.
Dont get scared, players will adjust and it wont effect the game. Spalding and the NBA are cautious when makign something as drastic (sry for spelling) as that. If it changes the game so much that you cant bounce it probably, im telling you right after game one its subsituted.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Oct 9 2006, 11:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Dont get scared, players will adjust and it wont effect the game. Spalding and the NBA are cautious when makign something as drastic (sry for spelling) as that. If it changes the game so much that you cant bounce it probably, im telling you right after game one its subsituted.</div> Players don't like the ball, I don't care what Spalding people think or what Stern thinks. Players have been playing with the same ball for 50 years, it's going to effect the game, I don't like it at all, I don't understand why they changed the ball, it was stupid and this is a long sentence filled with comma's, so I'm going to end it here.
Man these guys are pros. They should stop whining and just play. After this year, if no one likes it, then they should just bring the old one back. I guess this ball is like an experiment to see if it would help players or not. I heard Dominique Wilkins say he liked the ball when it 1st came out. He said "Man, if we had this ball back in the day, I woulda dunked on more people because it is so easy to palm."
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Oct 9 2006, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>No one here should comment on this ball. Im sure all of you don't know how it feels to play with. it. Im also sure none of you havent it held it in your hands. If you did, no matter what you didnt play a real NBA game with it. As far as I know, you shouldn't even care about the ball, but as to how the players improve/adjust to the new ball and their game.</div>Oh, stop it with that crap. It's a composite ball, the same texture as most of us use in our high school or recreational leagues. I have an official leather ball, and I have plenty of composite ones, and I will have to agree that the leather one feels much better. The composite ball feels awkward, and I never liked it. Like Shaq/Riley said, it feels like an indoor/outdoor ball you buy at the store.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Oct 9 2006, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>No one here should comment on this ball. Im sure all of you don't know how it feels to play with. it. Im also sure none of you havent it held it in your hands. If you did, no matter what you didnt play a real NBA game with it. As far as I know, you shouldn't even care about the ball, but as to how the players improve/adjust to the new ball and their game.</div>I have felt it at the NBA Store in Manhattan. Its too gripy but I dont about it being slippery etc. I would definately want the old one back.
I just want to see it used in the preseason and if it's so much of a disaster then just change it back.I just want to see it, because I like the new design... it looks cool, but if it sucks well then I guess they're forced to change it.
Either Stern should change the ball now, or he should have some balls and stand up to these pampered millionare players and tell them to stop their bitching.
I'm generally an advocate for the players in most issues, but this is just a group of them being dumb. "It's too sticky," "it feels different," blah blah blah. Get the F*ck over it. If they spent as much time adjusting to the ball as they did complaining about it...it wouldn't be an issue.
If the NBA decides to go back think of how many balls Spalding made for no reason at all...sucks for them...but, Yeah we gotta do whats best for the players to be comfortable on the court...the ball seems like a minor detail, but it has big effects - people have to get used to it and such.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ReppinTheD @ Oct 9 2006, 10:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If the NBA decides to go back think of how many balls Spalding made for no reason at all...sucks for them...</div>Well, Spalding did still get money for making all those balls, so they won't care. They still got the business.But at the end of the day, I really don't think Stern will change back to the old ball. I don't know, I just have a gut feeling. He's not going to allow the players to know that "they overruled him." That's the way I see it anyway. Also, while I disagree with the idea of getting a new ball in the first place, these guys are professionals and they would get used to it after a while anyhow.
