Thank god.

12/11/2006 4:15:31 PM

ha ha that is funny - I wonder if they'll still sell the new style ball as like a gimic or something.




[Edited on December 11, 2006 at 4:18 PM. Reason : s]

12/11/2006 4:18:05 PM

You see, the new basketball is like Kodak film...no wait, actually, its more like the New Coke.

It'll be around forever.

12/11/2006 4:19:16 PM

People care about the NBA?

12/11/2006 4:19:35 PM

i saw one of the new balls in Dicks Sporting Goods this weekend...it did feel shitty

12/11/2006 4:20:40 PM

People care about the NBA?

12/11/2006 4:20:59 PM

i care about them playing with some whack ass synthetic POS ball just to make the PETA and animal rights idiots happy.

12/11/2006 4:22:28 PM

^is that really why they did it?

12/11/2006 4:23:35 PM

that's what i heard on ESPN a couple of times. David Stern was getting all this shit from PETA, so he tried to look all progressive and shit, get them off his back and told them they'd play with a synthetic ball the next year. problem is he didn't even consult the players on if they liked the new ball or not. Steve Nash and others were very vocal in their dislike of the feel of the new ball.

look at this whack ass non-traditional design. i personally like the interlocking channels on basketballs.



[Edited on December 11, 2006 at 4:27 PM. Reason : ]

12/11/2006 4:25:23 PM

Quote :

"Steve Nash and others were very vocal in their dislike of the feel of the new ball. "

I heard he was influential in getting it changed....It's one thing when the usual suspects are bitching, but when a well respected guy that is usually pretty quiet speaks up, people tend to listen.

Stern is such a tool.

12/11/2006 4:31:18 PM

You would think that when looking for a commissioner of a sport, they would look at someone who, I don't know, has played the sport sometime in his life?

12/11/2006 4:36:11 PM

Crystal Pepsi




[Edited on December 11, 2006 at 4:41 PM. Reason : *]

12/11/2006 4:40:45 PM

^^NO.

That rarely ever is the case.

you want a commish who has a business/legal background, because thats the majority of what they do.

[Edited on December 11, 2006 at 4:41 PM. Reason : asdf]

12/11/2006 4:41:29 PM

Quote :

"Stern is such a tool."

at least he admitted it was a mistake and is changing it back.

12/11/2006 4:43:08 PM

yeah - that 161-157 game really showed that scoring is down with the ball

I don't have a problem with them switching back - I thought it was stupid anyway.

I just hope stern keeps hammering them with the rasheed rule. It's about time someone took action against these fucking bitches

12/11/2006 4:43:30 PM

Quote :

"at least he admitted it was a mistake and is changing it back."

he was pretty much forced to, or lose any shread of credibility he had.

12/11/2006 4:47:37 PM

i think Stern is a good commish. he seems pretty well grounded and does a good job considering the league is run by prima donnas. and yeah he apologized for not handling the situation better too.

/one obligatory NBA comment this season

12/11/2006 4:48:14 PM

Quote :

"yeah - that 161-157 game really showed that scoring is down with the ball I don't have a problem with them switching back - I thought it was stupid anyway"

not to mention FG % is up across the board LOL

12/11/2006 4:48:18 PM

Was there a point to the new ball that I missed? I never heard a reason for switching to it, just a bunch of over-paid bitches whining about why they shouldn't.

12/11/2006 4:51:06 PM

it was designed to absorb sweat and not wear down. unfortunately, it didnt seem to have good absorption, and it was highly inconsistent in its bounce.

12/11/2006 4:53:57 PM

they switched back cause the players were getting cuts on their hands from the "high friction" of the new ball haha

12/11/2006 4:54:32 PM

Quote :

"^^NO. That rarely ever is the case. you want a commish who has a business/legal background, because thats the majority of what they do."

Yeah, I would agree if the commish was just there to make the legal/marketing decisions.

But he also makes the basketball decisions, which he doesn't have a background in. There should be a separate position to make those type of decisions.

12/11/2006 4:54:37 PM

Quote :

"Leather ball will return on Jan. 1By Marc Stein ESPN.com NBA commissioner David Stern, in a stunning reversal, has decided to shelve the new microfiber composite basketball after just a few months of use and switch back to the old leather model for all games starting Jan. 1, according to sources close to the situation. The decision will be formally announced by the league Tuesday, sources told ESPN.com. Despite an avalanche of player complaints about the new synthetic model from the first day of training camp in October, skepticism was high among players that Stern would consent to a change during the season. But with a number of prominent players complaining of cuts on their hands caused by the new ball's high-friction cover -- Phoenix's Steve Nash and New Jersey's Jason Kidd among them -- Stern was forced to concede that an in-season swap was unavoidable with the new ball inflicting injuries. "

12/11/2006 5:05:36 PM

Quote :

"Thank god."

Since you are an NBA player and it effects you so much.

12/11/2006 5:55:16 PM

well i just one didn't want to hear the constant story about it, and it does look stupid. a brown leather ball looks way better than some orange looking one that reminds me of the old outdoor balls.

12/11/2006 6:29:52 PM

We have played with one a couple of times, everyone but the owner of the ball hated it.

12/11/2006 6:32:23 PM

I love Shaq's comparison of the synthetic ball to one of those cheap 'indoor/outdoor' balls you but at the toy store

12/11/2006 7:38:13 PM

People care about the NBA?

12/11/2006 7:39:25 PM