# Stern: NBA testing new ball; leather still an option



## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

Source 

*PARIS -- *David Stern has flown across the Atlantic on an NBA Europe Live tour that will have taken him to five countries by the middle of next week, but the league's commissioner has been unable to escape the raging controversy about the new basketball introduced this season.

Speaking to reporters in Paris before Sunday's exhibition game between the San Antonio Spurs and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Stern conceded for the first time that reverting to the old leather ball is a possibility if the rigorous testing he has just ordered validates the widespread complaints about the ball -- particularly its tendency to become slippery when wet.

"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."
-- David Stern

"We have sent out the most stringent testing crew to see what there is to the issue," Stern said when asked if returning to leather was under consideration.

"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 [old] 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 [Spalding's new microfiber composite balls] 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."

Stern went on to insist that the technology behind the new synthetic ball is sound.

"Spalding came to us and said they had a technology that will improve the ball," he 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 D-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."

The change from traditional leather to a synthetic ball, the first such change made by the NBA in 35 years, has been greeted with almost universal criticism by players after a week of training camp.

Complaints have centered not only upon the ball becoming slippery, but also a "sticky" texture when dry and its tendency to wear out more quickly than the old-style ball, making it likely that more than one ball will have to be used in many games.

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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

This is an embarrassingly historical flub on Stern's part.


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Ninjatune said:


> Speaking to reporters in Paris before Sunday's exhibition game between the San Antonio Spurs and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Stern conceded for the first time that reverting to the old leather ball is a possibility *if the rigorous testing he has just ordered validates the widespread complaints about the ball -- particularly its tendency to become slippery when wet.*
> 
> "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."*-- David Stern
> 
> ...


I don't understand why the league - like the government - can't just make things simple. Give a group of NBA guys the ball and let them play for an hour or so. If they say it's better, go with it. If they can't shoot...bad sign. Meanwhile, they waste time and money trying to figure out what a 10 year old could.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

bray1967 said:


> I don't understand why the league - like the government - can't just make things simple. Give a group of NBA guys the ball and let them play for an hour or so. If they say it's better, go with it. If they can't shoot...bad sign. Meanwhile, they waste time and money trying to figure out what a 10 year old could.


 That's not nearly exciting as putting it in a box and having the freeworld on it's toes before the draft!!!!


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

If I am not mistaken, Shaq had some colorful remarks about the new ball....

:biggrin:


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## ss03 (May 31, 2006)

edwardcyh said:


> If I am not mistaken, Shaq had some colorful remarks about the new ball....
> 
> :biggrin:


Yea, Shaq, Wade and Steve Nash are some of biggest bashers of the new ball, or atleast the most documented ones in terms of comments about the new ball. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

Especially since Shaq does so much handling of the ball :uhoh:....


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

_Dre_ said:


> Especially since Shaq does so much handling of the ball :uhoh:....


 :rotf: Imagine how bad it would be for Dampier.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

t1no said:


> :rotf: Imagine how bad it would be for Dampier.


 If a guy with Shaq's hands can't perform with the ball, Dampier is no longer an offensive option whatsoever, he might as well just stay in the backcourt to preserve energy for defense.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Shaq openly told the media that his shooting percentage will drop this season. Of course, I am assuming he's referring to his stellar FT shooting %. 

LOL


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

edwardcyh said:


> Shaq openly told the media that his shooting percentage will drop this season. Of course, I am assuming he's referring to his stellar FT shooting %.
> 
> LOL


 It's really hard to toss a ball 3 feet and dunk it isn't it :uhoh:....


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

_Dre_ said:


> It's really hard to toss a ball 3 feet and dunk it isn't it :uhoh:....


Not if he can't handle the pass! :biggrin:


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## StackAttack (Mar 15, 2006)

The only player in the whole league that likes the ball is Josh Howard.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

StackAttack said:


> The only player in the whole league that likes the ball is Josh Howard.


 who can't dribble :uhoh:...

are we in the twilight zone?


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## Jet (Jul 1, 2005)

lol, I thought Dirk liked the ball because isnt it the same type of ball that he used in Germany? Whatever, but its just a ball.. It may make a big difference but me, being the unobservant person I am, will probably forget about it and not notice a difference.


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## MacDanny 6 (Jun 7, 2002)

Kobe also said he likes the ball. He said it had a good grip


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

MacDanny 6 said:


> Kobe also said he likes the ball. He said it had a good grip


That's because Shaq doesn't like it.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

Kobe probably got the ball two years ago. Him, Wade and Lebron are completely used to it by now :whoknows:


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

_Dre_ said:


> Kobe probably got the ball two years ago. Him, Wade and Lebron are completely used to it by now :whoknows:


 But Wade said he dislikes the ball...


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

Saint Baller said:


> But Wade said he dislikes the ball...


 But I was joking...All he has to worry about is shooting charging and shooting free throws with it anyway :whoknows:


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

_Dre_ said:


> But I was joking...All he has to worry about is shooting charging and shooting free throws with it anyway :whoknows:


 :clap: :clap: :clap:


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

*Stern expects all the kicking about new ball to stop*
By NESHA STARCEVIC, AP Sports Writer
October 11, 2006

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) -- NBA commissioner David Stern suspects complaints about his league's new ball will go away -- just as they did in soccer.

Some of the NBA's biggest stars, including Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Steve Nash, have said the ball is sticky when dry and slippery when wet.

"To make me feel better, I went back and looked at reactions when Adidas introduced its new soccer ball," Stern said Wednesday. "There was virtually identical commentary."

The Adidas ball, introduced before this year's World Cup, was met with heavy criticism from many players, especially goalkeepers. But few complaints were heard during the tournament.

O'Neal said the new basketball "feels like one of those cheap balls that you buy at the toy store, indoor-outdoor balls."

Stern, in Cologne to attend the final day of a four-team tournament that includes the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers, said he would keep monitoring the situation.

"But as the players get more used to it, it will become less and less of an issue for us," Stern said.

Stern also said NBA teams will continue to tour Europe for preseason games. He called the current trip a "complete success" -- apart from seeing a fan in Cologne wearing a counterfeit Allen Iverson jersey in Seattle SuperSonics colors.

"Then I knew there was some hanky-panky," Stern said with a chuckle. "It was over the top."

The Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs also have been playing in Europe, and Stern said there was a long list of cities eager to host NBA teams, including London.

"We'd like to make this an annual affair," he said. "Players have been very happy, they have been enriched by the experience."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-stern-newball&prov=ap&type=lgns


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

> "But as the players get more used to it, it will become less and less of an issue for us," Stern said.


With an intelligent statement like that, I think more and more highly of Stern....


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