NBA developing 2 panel ball?

TeK · Post #1 » by **TeK** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:20 pm

The NBA will use leather basketballs in the NBDL next season, temporarily ending its attempts to re-introduce a composite ball at the NBA level, according to ESPN.com.

"We are committed to leather for the foreseeable future," said league spokesman Tim Frank. "We just realized leather is what our guys wanted."

The league introduced a composite ball at the start of the 2006-07 season, but after complaints that the balls became slick from perspiration and left tiny cuts on players' fingertips the league returned to leather in January 2007.

The plan now is to develop a two-paneled ball rather than the current eight-panel model.

Looks like soon, I no longer will be able to palm a NBA basketball...

Wouldnt this just make the game a lot more difficult?

z_from_kc · Post #2 » by **z_from_kc** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:29 pm

They need to just leave the **** ball alone and address the real issues of the league.

jefe · Post #3 » by **jefe** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:30 pm

The lesson to be learned from the composite ball debacle was "the ball does not need to be *(&^*( with" - the lesson was not "we just need to (&&)& with the ball in a different way"

dreamcloud · Post #4 » by **dreamcloud** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:42 pm

Wow, can they just freakin' stop trying to 'develop' their crap? The ball is FINE. Hell add more panels, don't make it even harder to palm a damn ball. How does this help the game?

BubbaTee · Post #5 » by **BubbaTee** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:44 pm

I'd like to see evidence that a single player complained about the ball to the league office, ever. Where do these ideas even come from?

Next the NBA will paint the rim neon green and have the net made out of silly string.

ShaY · Post #6 » by **ShaY** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:47 pm

The fact that the people that run the NBA focus on these kind of stuff just shows how stupid they are.
They already tried this thing one time too many , I don't see what the **** is wrong with the ball.

Bosanac · Post #7 » by **Bosanac** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 10:57 pm

I have no clue as to why the NBA thinks of all the wrong reasons to "improve" the game.

faze · Post #8 » by **faze** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 11:05 pm

What a dumb move, but I guess it doesn't matter how bad the idea is if it makes the league some more money. :roll:

Wade2k6 · Post #9 » by **Wade2k6** » Mon Sep 8, 2008 11:21 pm

z_from_kc wrote:They need to just leave the **** ball alone and address the real issues of the league.

Egg Nog · Post #10 » by **Egg Nog** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 12:42 am

I don't know about you guys, but I loved the 2-panel design on the composite ball. If they used the same thing with leather, it seems like it would be pretty much the ultimate ball.

It's not like a 2-panel ball would have 2 perfect hemispherical panels. It wouldn't be any "harder to palm" or much different to use. It would look cooler and feel a bit better. They've got money, why not?

Paladin55 · Post #11 » by **Paladin55** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 12:50 am

The NBA will use leather basketballs in the NBDL next season, temporarily ending its attempts to re-introduce a composite ball at the NBA level, according to ESPN.com.

A big blow to the fans of vegan basketball.

Joseph17 · Post #12 » by **Joseph17** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 1:01 am

So dumb. I've never heard one NBA player complain about the ball. Why are they changing it?

Patterns · Post #13 » by **Patterns** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 1:38 am

joeyyowee wrote:So dumb. I've never heard one NBA player complain about the ball. Why are they changing it?

So Spalding can sell more basketballs. The NBA doesn't really care about the game. They care about $$$.

Sloanfeld · Post #14 » by **Sloanfeld** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 2:04 am

They're changing it to save money like the article said. Two panels just seems really dumb.

Patterns · Post #15 » by **Patterns** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 2:26 am

Sloanfeld wrote:They're changing it to save money like the article said. Two panels just seems really dumb.

I am sure a billion dollar league needs to save money on basketballs when it's handing out 100 million dollar contracts left and right.

They're doing it to get people to buy new basketballs.

Blame Rasho · Post #16 » by **Blame Rasho** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 2:56 am

z_from_kc wrote:They need to just leave the **** ball alone and address the real issues of the league.

Storm Surge · Post #17 » by **Storm Surge** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 3:08 am

They should start playing with a nerf basketball to save them money

Malinhion · Post #18 » by **Malinhion** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 4:20 am

Yeah, its a ploy to sell more balls. The league is a huge marketing machine. It can produce stupid results, but a lot of us wouldn't be fans if the NBA wasn't constantly geared towards marketing activity.

There is nothing wrong with the current ball. However, I don't think they should necessarily stop researching this product. If they can come out with a synthetic model that is either identical or better than the current one, then I'm all for it. There's nothing inherently wrong with the league saving money or having slight environmental agendas. That's stuff we should all aspire to in our daily lives. NBA fans should be proud that one of America's largest corporate conglomerations is at least thinking about those sorts of things.

vwc228 · Post #19 » by **vwc228** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 12:33 pm

If the NBA is really that concerned with the environment, then maybe Stern should stop flying around in a private jet and use regular flights. One year of doing that would do alot more for the environment than 50 years of using synthetic over leather basketballs.

WadePimp3 · Post #20 » by **WadePimp3** » Tue Sep 9, 2008 12:53 pm

Wow another ball change, for what? Although I believe the two-panel balls actually won't make as much of a difference as the composite balls, why even try to find out? I think they just need to stick to the normal NBA balls and stop wasting there time on new balls.