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The NBA Finally Kills the Microfiber Ball

Sep 8, 2008 – 8:05 PM
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Matt Watson

Matt Watson %BloggerTitle%

Remember when David Stern tried to introduce the NBA to the brave new world of synthetic microfiber balls? It didn't end well. After players complained non-stop the first two months of the season, Stern was forced into making an unprecedented decision to switch equipment mid-season.

But even while throwing his players a bone, Stern didn't completely give up hope, instead moving his experiment to the D-League, which used several versions of the synthetic ball in hopes of finding a model that could be deemed an acceptable replacement. How did the experiment go? Apparently, not so great. From ESPN's Ric Bucher:
The NBA will use leather basketballs in its developmental league next season, temporarily ending its attempts to re-introduce a composite ball at the NBA level, a league official has confirmed.

"We are committed to leather for the foreseeable future," said league spokesman Tim Frank. "We just realized leather is what our guys wanted."
You can now exhale, old school NBA traditionalists. Microfiber will receive no second act. Long live leather.
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