By Jessie Elder
The old regulation NBA basketball has bounced its last, and the new ball is here to stay, according to NBA Commissioner David Stern.
While many prominent NBA players such as Shaquille O”Neal and Steve Nash have spoken out against using the new ball, the Utah Jazz players are taking the change well.
Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan says the new ball is just something his team is going to have to get used to, just like the other 29 NBA teams.
“I think some of them [players] complained a little bit about it,” Sloan said. “But I think anytime they make changes we have to deal with it and go about our business instead of making another ? excuse.”
But very few excuses are being made by the Jazz players, some ? like No. 11 Dee Brown ? even like the new ball.
“I like it actually, it”s not bad,” the six-foot guard said. “I like the feel of it, the grip ? A lot of people say they don”t like it [and] when it gets sweaty it gets kind of wet but I mean you gotta get used to [it]. I”ll play with tennis balls, soft balls, it don”t really matter to be honest with you.”
The same sentiment was echoed by No. 47 forward Andrei Kirlenko.
“It”s different,” he said, “but still [a] ball. I can get used to playing with any ball ? it”s just different.”
Results of preliminary tests done by physicists at the University of Texas-Arlington were released Sunday; results they say prove the new microfiber composite ball doesn”t behave like the old leather ball.
According to the results released Sunday, the ball bounces 5 to 8 percent lower than typical leather balls when dropped from 4 feet. It also found that the new ball bounces 30 percent more erratically.
Commissioner Stern told the Associated Press that an upside to the microfiber composite balls is every single one feels exactly alike, something that could never be said about the old leather balls.
Although the new ball is here to stay, that didn”t stop forward-center No. 5 Carlos Boozer from becoming nostalgic.
“I miss the old ball,” Boozer said. “I think everybody misses the old ball but you know we gotta do a good job pounding it in and we gotta get used to it right, so that”s what we”re going to do.”
