New Game Ball
After the 2005–06 season, David Stern announced that the league would use a new microfiber ball for the 2006–07 season. The microfiber ball replaced the previously used leather balls. The league claimed the new ball would provide better grip than the leather counterparts, especially when wet from player's sweat. Still the majority of players (notably Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash) expressed dislike for the new ball, saying among other things that it became slippery when wet, bounced awkwardly and gave players cuts.
The largest complaint came from the fact that players had not been consulted before the new ball was put into play. The NBA Players Association filed an unfair labor practice lawsuit against the league because of that fact, subsequently dropping it after the league announced that it would revert to the leather balls starting on January 1, 2007. In a humorous move, the Washington Wizards played a video on the Verizon Center scoreboard welcoming back the "new old ball". Despite complaints, scoring and field goal percentage went up while the microfiber ball was used. Some individual players, however, including Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon and then Seattle SuperSonics guard Ray Allen, saw their usually high three-point shooting percentages decline.
A more rigorous study found that while shooting percentages did in fact increase, so did turnover rates.
In the aftermath, Commissioner Stern now says that players will have more input on future decisions.
Read more about this topic: National Basketball Association Controversies
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