Seeing Lebron come out and trash the new NBA basketball and at the request of one loyal reader, I’ve decided to throw out my 10 cents (my 2 cents are free) on the new ball.
First, I am starting to agree with Bill Simmons at ESPN that the NBA may have a new publicity trend going that few are addressing. Last year they changed the rules on the dress code right before the start of the season. It wasn’t a change to the game, and meant very little to nothing to the fans, but it was a huge deal to the players and gave the media something to talk about and suddenly everyone was talking hoops during football/playoff baseball season. This year, they brought out a new ball. If there is some rule or code of conduct change right before the season next year, then I’m officially deeming Simmons a prophet and think we all have to admit that Stern is a genius. If it’s true, I see them making a change that brings the NBA rules closer to international rules (different size ball, shorter 3 line, trapezoid lane, new goal tending rules). It will be spun as a way of reaching out to the global hoops community and will suit Sterns desire to continue to expand the NBA. Plus it will give the talking heads material to discuss how this will better prepare our boys for another bronze medal run at the Olympics.
My initial reaction was: “who cares?” I’m not all up in arms over the use of leather. I have it in my cars, in my closet (just jackets…no pants…or…accessories), on my furniture and don’t mind the NBA using it on the basketballs. I wasn’t surprised when the players hated it because it is something different that they had to get used to, but I wasn’t particularly sympathetic since I figured they wouldn’t make them use a completely lame ball and it would be the same for everyone, so no real advantage.
Speaking of the backlash from the players, wasn’t it the players that allegedly called for this? I thought I read when they first introduced it that it had the support of like Paul Pierce and Kenny Smith or something like that. Funny, I haven’t heard much from any players saying how much they like it. In fact, I haven’t heard one word of support from anyone other than Stern. Strange.
Then the other day, I found one of the new balls in a big sporting goods store. Oddly, none of the balls had price tags on them, so I have no idea how much this new ball costs. I will tell you this though, it feels like it should cost $14.99. No joke, it has a terrible texture and feel to it. There are basically 4 kinds of basketballs right now. At the low end you have your rubber basketballs that are super grippy, bouncy and durable. They are the ones we played with in elementary school and that everyone has at least one of in their basement, attic or garage. The extra bounce and grip makes them difficult to play with and they are especially bad for shooters.
Next there is the new on the scene patent leather ball. Have you seen these? They are usually some flashy color like silver or a team color or have some superstar’s name plastered all over them. They are super flashy and some of them are even quite cool looking in a way, but they are awful to try to play with. In the store they actually have some grip and even though they are very hard, they seem like they would be playable. But try to play with one some time. With the slightest bit of moisture or dust, they are the texture of a marble and impossible to grip or get to bounce true. They are rubbish. Come to think of it, a rubber ball is way better. I should have put these lowest.
Moving well up the chain there are the synthetic balls. But a synthetic is not a synthetic if you know what I mean. There is a huge variety of synthetic (“indoor/outdoor”) basketballs out there and you can pay anywhere from about $15 to $50 for one of these balls. The general rule is that the closer they feel to leather, the better. For years I bought Spaldings (the maker of the new NBA ball) mostly because they were the cheapest. Then when money wasn’t the only factor, I started buying Wilson balls. They had wider tracks which allowed you to get a truer grip as a shooter and also contributed to greater backspin and thus, better accuracy and bounces around the rim. They also had a nicer feel that took much longer to get slick as they all do as they wear.
Lately though, the Nike balls have eclipsed all others that I have found. Nike has gone to assigning numbers to their different basketballs to denote the size of the ball (youth, women’s, men’s, etc.) and texture. Unfortunately, most of the Nike balls you can buy are not your basic basketball orangish brown. Most of them are striped and funky colors which makes it almost impossible to convince people to use your ball when you go to play pick up hoops because it just looks to gimmicky and toy like to be taken seriously. That said, they have a better feel and wear rate than any other ball I’ve tried and usually put them through a rigorous test that includes my uneven driveway, indoor wooden surfaces, the carpet covered gym floor at my Church and various playground surfaces.
Specifically, I prefer the Nike 1100. Sadly, I could only find mine in an orange and white combo that looks like it was designed specifically for Pepperdine. It’s a great ball though.
Then, at the top of the basketball food chain is leather. It is for indoor surfaces only and usually costs more than $70 which makes it purely a luxury item for casual players like myself. Still, every once in a while you show up to an open gym and someone will bring their own leather ball. When that happens, there is no debate about whose ball gets used. You can’t improve on leather. It is simply a given in the hoops world kind of like how you shouldn’t choose the guy who shows up to play in pants to be on your team (unless you’re playing with my brother who, for some reason, prefers to play in sweats. Strange I know).
The NBA, however, apparently believed that because the leather balls wear differently and because they need to be broken in a bit and aren’t good right out of the box, that uniformity should rule the day and they moved to a synthetic ball because they could make them all the same, something you can’t do with leather. I don’t think that was necessarily a bad decision. I can see the reasoning behind it. I can say however, that the ball they chose is rubbish.
The difference between a good ball and a bad ball is feel, weight and bounce. All have to be right to have a good ball. Well this new ball feels like the cheapest synthetic ball you can buy and is too light. It does seem to bounce ok, though I have yet to use it in an actual game. I busted one out at the store and dribbled it around a bit and shot on one of their display hoops, much to the consternation of the store clerk that glared t me the entire time, but never got up the nerve to come tell me to stop. Since there was a huge display of various basketballs, I compared it side by side with the others available and it seriously would have been the very last ball I would have purchased not counting the rubber or patent leather balls. It is that bad.
Frankly, I was stunned. I mean, did Spalding or the NBA not have a single person who had ever played basketball even touch these new balls before they were put into mass production? I can’t see how any player could have given this ball a good report. I don’t criticize the NBA for moving to synthetic, but there are much better synthetics out there and they seem to have chosen the very worst one. Now, as I mentioned, I haven’t actually played with one of these new basketballs in a game, so my test was limited, but I’ve been playing ball long enough to have a pretty good feel for what is a good ball and what isn’t and I’m telling you this one isn’t.
The players all claim it gets slick when wet and the minute you feel this ball you know they are right.
Pretty disappointing really. My guess is that they will stick with this ball for the year, and then improve the synthetic used on the balls starting next year. I hope so anyway. It just isn’t right that the ball used at the highest level is worse than the old ball in the corner of my garage that has been replaced but not discarded though it ceased being a good ball years ago.
First, I am starting to agree with Bill Simmons at ESPN that the NBA may have a new publicity trend going that few are addressing. Last year they changed the rules on the dress code right before the start of the season. It wasn’t a change to the game, and meant very little to nothing to the fans, but it was a huge deal to the players and gave the media something to talk about and suddenly everyone was talking hoops during football/playoff baseball season. This year, they brought out a new ball. If there is some rule or code of conduct change right before the season next year, then I’m officially deeming Simmons a prophet and think we all have to admit that Stern is a genius. If it’s true, I see them making a change that brings the NBA rules closer to international rules (different size ball, shorter 3 line, trapezoid lane, new goal tending rules). It will be spun as a way of reaching out to the global hoops community and will suit Sterns desire to continue to expand the NBA. Plus it will give the talking heads material to discuss how this will better prepare our boys for another bronze medal run at the Olympics.
My initial reaction was: “who cares?” I’m not all up in arms over the use of leather. I have it in my cars, in my closet (just jackets…no pants…or…accessories), on my furniture and don’t mind the NBA using it on the basketballs. I wasn’t surprised when the players hated it because it is something different that they had to get used to, but I wasn’t particularly sympathetic since I figured they wouldn’t make them use a completely lame ball and it would be the same for everyone, so no real advantage.
Speaking of the backlash from the players, wasn’t it the players that allegedly called for this? I thought I read when they first introduced it that it had the support of like Paul Pierce and Kenny Smith or something like that. Funny, I haven’t heard much from any players saying how much they like it. In fact, I haven’t heard one word of support from anyone other than Stern. Strange.
Then the other day, I found one of the new balls in a big sporting goods store. Oddly, none of the balls had price tags on them, so I have no idea how much this new ball costs. I will tell you this though, it feels like it should cost $14.99. No joke, it has a terrible texture and feel to it. There are basically 4 kinds of basketballs right now. At the low end you have your rubber basketballs that are super grippy, bouncy and durable. They are the ones we played with in elementary school and that everyone has at least one of in their basement, attic or garage. The extra bounce and grip makes them difficult to play with and they are especially bad for shooters.
Next there is the new on the scene patent leather ball. Have you seen these? They are usually some flashy color like silver or a team color or have some superstar’s name plastered all over them. They are super flashy and some of them are even quite cool looking in a way, but they are awful to try to play with. In the store they actually have some grip and even though they are very hard, they seem like they would be playable. But try to play with one some time. With the slightest bit of moisture or dust, they are the texture of a marble and impossible to grip or get to bounce true. They are rubbish. Come to think of it, a rubber ball is way better. I should have put these lowest.
Moving well up the chain there are the synthetic balls. But a synthetic is not a synthetic if you know what I mean. There is a huge variety of synthetic (“indoor/outdoor”) basketballs out there and you can pay anywhere from about $15 to $50 for one of these balls. The general rule is that the closer they feel to leather, the better. For years I bought Spaldings (the maker of the new NBA ball) mostly because they were the cheapest. Then when money wasn’t the only factor, I started buying Wilson balls. They had wider tracks which allowed you to get a truer grip as a shooter and also contributed to greater backspin and thus, better accuracy and bounces around the rim. They also had a nicer feel that took much longer to get slick as they all do as they wear.
Lately though, the Nike balls have eclipsed all others that I have found. Nike has gone to assigning numbers to their different basketballs to denote the size of the ball (youth, women’s, men’s, etc.) and texture. Unfortunately, most of the Nike balls you can buy are not your basic basketball orangish brown. Most of them are striped and funky colors which makes it almost impossible to convince people to use your ball when you go to play pick up hoops because it just looks to gimmicky and toy like to be taken seriously. That said, they have a better feel and wear rate than any other ball I’ve tried and usually put them through a rigorous test that includes my uneven driveway, indoor wooden surfaces, the carpet covered gym floor at my Church and various playground surfaces.
Specifically, I prefer the Nike 1100. Sadly, I could only find mine in an orange and white combo that looks like it was designed specifically for Pepperdine. It’s a great ball though.
Then, at the top of the basketball food chain is leather. It is for indoor surfaces only and usually costs more than $70 which makes it purely a luxury item for casual players like myself. Still, every once in a while you show up to an open gym and someone will bring their own leather ball. When that happens, there is no debate about whose ball gets used. You can’t improve on leather. It is simply a given in the hoops world kind of like how you shouldn’t choose the guy who shows up to play in pants to be on your team (unless you’re playing with my brother who, for some reason, prefers to play in sweats. Strange I know).
The NBA, however, apparently believed that because the leather balls wear differently and because they need to be broken in a bit and aren’t good right out of the box, that uniformity should rule the day and they moved to a synthetic ball because they could make them all the same, something you can’t do with leather. I don’t think that was necessarily a bad decision. I can see the reasoning behind it. I can say however, that the ball they chose is rubbish.
The difference between a good ball and a bad ball is feel, weight and bounce. All have to be right to have a good ball. Well this new ball feels like the cheapest synthetic ball you can buy and is too light. It does seem to bounce ok, though I have yet to use it in an actual game. I busted one out at the store and dribbled it around a bit and shot on one of their display hoops, much to the consternation of the store clerk that glared t me the entire time, but never got up the nerve to come tell me to stop. Since there was a huge display of various basketballs, I compared it side by side with the others available and it seriously would have been the very last ball I would have purchased not counting the rubber or patent leather balls. It is that bad.
Frankly, I was stunned. I mean, did Spalding or the NBA not have a single person who had ever played basketball even touch these new balls before they were put into mass production? I can’t see how any player could have given this ball a good report. I don’t criticize the NBA for moving to synthetic, but there are much better synthetics out there and they seem to have chosen the very worst one. Now, as I mentioned, I haven’t actually played with one of these new basketballs in a game, so my test was limited, but I’ve been playing ball long enough to have a pretty good feel for what is a good ball and what isn’t and I’m telling you this one isn’t.
The players all claim it gets slick when wet and the minute you feel this ball you know they are right.
Pretty disappointing really. My guess is that they will stick with this ball for the year, and then improve the synthetic used on the balls starting next year. I hope so anyway. It just isn’t right that the ball used at the highest level is worse than the old ball in the corner of my garage that has been replaced but not discarded though it ceased being a good ball years ago.
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