Nash: New Balls "Extremely Sticky"...

[---]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... ly_sticky/

I found that heading really amusing , surely even RealGM could come up with something better than that.

Im hoping the players will all get used to the ball because I don't wanna see Ray Allen bricking threes.... Although I don't really wanna see Steve Nash licking his fingers either....

[eisfeld]

According to Shaq he hates the new ball too. It's slippy, hard to catch and difficult to control. "Whoever brought the new ball into the league should be fired".

[Andreas Dahl]

A lot of players dislike the new ball, but I recon it's just a matter off getting used to it. They've been playing with the same ball their entire career, and now that they have to use a slightly different one there's bound to be some friction. In two-three years everyone will wonder why they didn't make the change earlier...

[eisfeld]

Ok I second that. Sure they will get used to it but it's the same thing with the FIFA Ball used during the WC in Germany this year. A new Ball, very unpredictable during the flight (meant to bring some more excitement to the game). But does the NBA need something like that? There's no real improvement to the ball physics that will affect the game (besides the possibility of more turnovers till the players get used to it)

So, why change the good old leather ball with no real downsided to a synthetic one with no real upsides?

But as Andreas stated before, when the players get used to it it will be no real problem, though the reason why a new ball has been introduced is one I can't understand.

[Dan's Brain]

that whole article is full of double entendres.

my favourite:

"I certainly won't have to lick my fingers."

[dafunk]

So shaq says it's slippery and nash says it's sticky............interesting.

[volsey]

In the all star game I also remember Vince Carter had the new ball slip outta his hands 2 or 3 times, I hope these guys get used to it quickly.

[Andrew]

Seems as good a time as any to bring out the old cliche "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". It sounds like the new ball has been a change for the sake of change, not a change for the better.

[koberulz]

concurred.

@volsey: the sticky ball was slipping out of his hands?

speaking of which, i believe i've found the solution to NBA Live's magnetic hands glitch. it's done deliberately, to recreate the stickiness of the ball.

[---]

I don't get it either, some say its sticky, some say its slippery. VC definately dound it slippery, he missed I dont know how many dunks... He even missed a wide open one by himself at the end of the game that came off the rim so hard it went flying down near the other end of the court.

[cyanide]

Considering half the Raptors team is used to the international game and used to the FIBA ball, they're going to have the least amount of trouble with the new ball.

I don't get it either, some say its sticky, some say its slippery.

Maybe it has to do with their hygiene? I mean, Nash does lick his hands.

[kinokong]

i read somewhere on the internet that they changed from authentic leather to synthetic composite leather because spalding was having more and more trouble finding the type of leather required to make the original nba ball.... also i think it gets real slippery when it's wet so thats why vc missed that dunk but i heard it was sticky when it was dry....

[eisfeld]

That's awful. Slippery when wet and sticky when it's dry... Maybe sweat output is another rating in live 08...

[Matthew]

lol, freestyle sweating? say it isnt so..

[koberulz]

Despite Shaq's complaints, NBA says new ball is better
By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer
October 4, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) -- Some of the NBA's biggest stars say the new game ball is too sticky when dry, too slippery when wet, and too -- well, not the old one.

The league is convinced it's better, no matter what the likes of Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade or Steve Nash have to say about it.

"Sure, you hear some comments that aren't as positive as the overwhelming majority of people that we tested the ball with," Stu Jackson, executive vice president of basketball operations, said Tuesday. "That's going to happen. Everyone that handles the ball loves the grip and the feel of the ball."

Not Shaq, who said the ball "feels like one of those cheap balls that you buy at the toy store, indoor-outdoor balls."

The NBA's old leather balls are being replaced this season by a microfiber composite model, the league's first change in 35 years. O'Neal blasted the ball Monday, criticizing not only the product, but whoever was involved in the decision to use it.

Both O'Neal and Wade griped about the ball's slick grip when wet, and two-time reigning MVP Steve Nash said the ball has a tacky feel that makes shooting and certain types of passes tricky.

"I certainly won't have to lick my fingers. The ball sticks to your hand. It's a big transition. It's extremely sticky," Nash said Tuesday in a conference call from the Phoenix Suns' training camp in Italy.

The ball looks noticeably different, too: Manufactured by Spalding, it features only two interlocking panels -- sort of like a pair of hands with the fingers laced together -- rather than the eight panels found on traditional basketballs.

Nash said it will be a difficult transition, but sounded as though he expected players to figure out how to use it.

"We do have a month to get it going," he said. "Right now I would say that the basketball sticks to the floor, it sticks to the backboard. It is different."

Jackson said no matter what the players say, the new ball's grip is an improvement, even when wet.

"If you moisturize a leather ball, it also feels very slick," he said. "But this new ball has a better grip when it's wet than a leather ball."

Players have already had plenty of exposure to the new ball, which was sent to all teams after the All-Star break and to players during the summer.

Most players were probably exposed to it even before that. The ball was used in events at the last two All-Star games, which O'Neal played in, and was tested in summer league and D-League play. It is also used at the amateur levels, so most players grow up using it.

"It's a better ball," Jackson said. "But as a product matter, composite balls are used in every league throughout the world. And they've been used in every level of play over the last 10 years domestically in the NCAA and also in high school."

Jackson said O'Neal would not be fined for his outburst, in which he said that the person who decided to change the ball "needs his college degree revoked." But he did say that the change would not have been made if there were many similar complaints when the ball was tested.

"We would have pulled the ball," Jackson said.

Of seven Heat players interviewed about the new ball at the team's media day Monday and after practice Tuesday, not one preferred it to the old leather model. Certainly not Shaq, who took a spinning jump hook in the lane during practice, about six feet from the basket. But the ball slipped in his hand and went straight up in the air -- without moving toward the hoop at all.

It was one of three times Shaq lost the handle in a span of about 15 minutes.

"I'm right with him," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "I think it's horrible. ... It really does feel like an indoor-outdoor ball. We'll see how it works. Maybe they'll learn to love it, I don't know."

yahoo sports.

[Andrew]

I have to admit I'm surprised the league chose not to fine Shaq for daring to criticise the ball.

[kinokong]

lol fining shaq wont do any good but im also a bit suprised seeing as how the league is fining players a lot these days for little things

[Mayerhendrix]

I still don't get how it's in the league's place to fine a player for their words, where'd free speech go?

[Ashman23]

Nothing like sticky Balls

[maes]

I still don't get how it's in the league's place to fine a player for their words, where'd free speech go?

Not to get too OT, but free speech is your right as a citizen, not an NBA employee. Shaq can't be executed or jailed for treason for saying "this ball sucks." Shaq can be fired or fined as an NBA employee for any action the NBA doesn't like.

They'll just have to get used to the new feel. I prefer synthetic balls to real leather since leather grows bald and more slick with repeated use...you never know exactly what you're getting with a leather ball. Synthetic getting real slick with sweat is true but how hard is it to dry it off? They even have ball boys just hanging around with nothing to do.

[eisfeld]

Returning to the old ball is still possible:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2617527

[cyanide]

Seems like Stern's stern about keeping the new ball.

link

[Andrew]

So much for the chances of returning to the leather basketballs.

Stern said he has handled the new ball and doesn't agree with the complaints that it bounces differently from the old one.

I would've thought professional basketball players would have a much better feel of the ball and how it's affected the game but I guess not.

[shadowgrin]

^ So he's not a professional basketball player, no one EVER questions David Stern.

[Andrew]

I know that, I just find it amusing that David Stern's assessment of the new ball has more weight than the players who are actually playing with it night in and night out.