Players Score as Stern Tosses New Ball
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Score one for the players.
NBA commissioner David Stern has spent most of the past two decades cementing his control over the league — particularly the player’s association — and he recently redoubled his efforts. Thanks to his iron will and considerable negotiating skill, the league added a luxury tax, dress code, a significantly increased international presence, and a new ball.
Um, hold that last one.
In a dramatic reversal, the NBA is set to announce today that the league will switch back to the old leather ball on January 1, dealing a huge setback to the commissioner, according to a report on ESPN.com.
The replacement ball’s brief life began in the off-season, when the league announced the switch to a microfiber synthetic ball with fairly little input from the players (although they did use it at last year’s All-Star Game). Once training camp began, the reaction from the league’s rank and file was both harsh and virtually unanimous: It stinks. Slippery when wet, tacky when dry, so squishy a fish could palm it, the perfect accessory to go with Stephon Marbury’s $14.95 sneakers, and ill-suited for basketball’s highest level.
Worse yet, it was hurting people. The balls were so dry they were rubbing players’ fingers raw, so much so that many point guards were starting to get cuts on their fingers and had to practice with bandages on. And everyone forgets this, but the league’s assistant coaches had it even worse. These are the guys who are out on the court for two hours before every game, running drills with the scrubs that involve them constantly rebounding, catching, and passing the ball. As the season progressed, they were all but wearing catcher’s mitts onto the court to avoid further injuries.
The players were so vehement in their disapproval that the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the league with the National Labor Relations Board, saying such a change in the condition of their employment had to be bargained collectively.
And when the controversy refused to die, the commissioner did the unthinkable — he reversed course. For a league to make a switch like this in the middle of the season is all but unprecedented. Imagine the NFL scrapping instant replay after Week 8, or baseball suddenly switching to aluminum bats after the All-Star Game, and you’ll get some idea of the magnitude.
Through it all, unanswered questions remain. Why did the league think the players wouldn’t be vocal about this? Why mess with the ball in the first place? And a big, yet largely unasked one: How did Spalding come up with such a crappy ball?
Let’s take a step back. The synthetic microfiber ball is not a new concept. Colleges and high schools have been playing with it for years, and it’s also been the ball of choice in international tournaments — including the World Championships and Olympics — that have featured NBA stars in recent years.
The NBA is the outlier here, not the other leagues. They’re essentially the only major league that continues to use a leather ball, in spite of the major problems caused by leather. It needs to be broken in, for starters, and because it absorbs water, it tends to get heavier as a game goes on — especially in the pros, where 260-pound men will sweat profusely even after just a few minutes on the court. Additionally, leather isn’t the most PC material these days, and animal activists would prefer the league use a synthetic ball.
All those reasons drove the league’s desire to switch, but none explains why they couldn’t come up with something that more closely matched the international or college balls. By and large, nobody seems to have a problem with those, and at the very least they aren’t injuring the players. That’s important info to file away, because it means this isn’t necessarily the end of the road for the synthetic ball. Don’t be shocked if the league tries to reintroduce the synthetic ball again five or 10 years down the road — with considerably more input from the players.
In the meantime, here’s another question to ponder: What does this mean for Stern’s leadership? In twoplus decades, he’s hardly taken a wrong step, but in recent years people have been wondering if Caesar was getting a little power-happy.
In addition to the ball, players are upset over an officiating point of emphasis that has led to more technical fouls — another change brought down from on high with no input from the union. And reports of league spies at games handing out fines for things like untucked jerseys and chewing gum during the national anthem have players wondering whether they’re in the NBA or the Marine Corps.
The players aren’t Stern’s only adversaries. His increasingly punitive approach toward Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban could have been handled with considerably more tact, and his seeming insistence on keeping the league in New Orleans regardless of whether anybody still lives there has some scratching their heads.
Even in his greatest area of expertise — marketing — some are asking questions, namely, why the league is so gung-ho on marketing itself to a small European fan base that, outside of Spain, Greece, and the former Yugoslavia, treats pro basketball with about as much interest we treat Division II college football.
So in a way, the ball flap is about much more than just the ball. This is the first time in anyone’s memory the commissioner actually admitted he was wrong about something. Is it the first sign of chinks in the armor, or a mea culpa that will see him pull back on some of the more draconian moves of recent seasons?
My guess, not to mention my hope, is the latter. Stern’s two decades have ushered in an unprecedented era of success for the league, and I would argue much of his recent heavy-handedness has been a reaction — if not an overreaction — to the melee at the Palace of Auburn Hills two years ago. Because of that, he’s attempted to market a kinder, gentler NBA full of angels and choirboys, and almost by necessity he had to do it in a heavy-handed way.
But power corrupts, as they say, and once he realized he could ram a few changes down the players’ throats he broadened his field of play. (Thus, the flap with the ball, and the showdown with Cuban, and the other mini dramas that have played out in the league office recently.)
Thankfully, one of the mistakes will be undone on January 1. Let’s hope this begins a broader tendency to backpedal on Stern ruling by decree and that he loosens his iron grip. Otherwise, somebody will loosen it for him, and it won’t be pretty.