by Milo

NBA will go back to the old reliable leather ball starting January 1.  My question is why now?

After promoting the new Spalding synthetic ball endlessly, pitching its supposedly numerous positives compared to the leather ball, David Stern finally buckled down to the huge number of complaints he received from the big names of the game.

Maybe, the high turnover rates and a handful of “magical-that-was-supposed-to-be-missed” shots this season also contributed to this decision done by the usually “no-decisions-reversed” attitude of the commissioner.

However, despite all of these, Stern, in my opinion, should’ve stuck with the synthetic ball this season.  Players will need to grow accustomed to a “new” ball again, but this time, in the middle of the season.

When the new ball was announced and first used in the season, players complained a lot, and still do up to now.  The ball bounced differently in the game compared to the leather one.  Prime rebounders like Elton Brand had a hard time predicting the direction the ball would bounce to, resulting in low rebound rates during the early part of the season.  Shooters like Gilbert Arenas were throwing up bricks, putting up atrocious field goal percentages day in and day out.

However, like all human beings, they will eventually adapt to their environment.  Brand is back being the rebounding machine that he is, and Arenas just dropped 60 points on the Los Angeles Lakers.  In fact, the players used more or less three months just to get acquainted with this new ball.

Now that they’re reverting back to the leather ball, it’s like coming back to school after a long Christmas break, or summer break in some countries.  Players will have to feel their way around once more to observe the intricacies of the leather ball, and readjust their body movements and muscle memories.

And what’s funny about this situation is, it’s being announced in a similar fashion when the new ball was brought into the game.

This is where it all the complaints started about the microfiber ball – when the league failed to discuss with the players about a major change.

I’m predicting that there will be complaints here and there about this change, and most likely, there will be a wave of turnovers and lowered stats again once the leather ball makes its rounds once more.  Spalding and Stern then could use the complaints about the leather and say, “we told you so” to the players.

This move could also be seen as a diversion to the real issue of not involving the players with the league’s decisions.  The players will be focused on reconfigurating themselves back to the feel of the leather ball to prove that indeed, this is the perfect ball for the NBA – the one that they’ve been clamoring about the entire season.

But then again, the complaints will be few and far between.  After all, the players got what they wanted.