ESPN.com is reporting that the league has officially given up on the idea of developing a composite ball, staying with the tried and true leather. Although they are discussing switching from an eight panel to a two panel ball. That just seems weird to me. Was there a great movement somewhere to dispose of the traditional basketball? Is it full of hidden, heretofore unannounced flaws? Is the eight panel leather ball singlehandedly responsible for the decline in fundamental basketball skills in American youth? If not, why bother? The article says something about the normal ball being somewhat more expensive to produce but you're the N Freakin' B A for heaven's sake. Pat Riley probably spends more on ties each season than the entire run of official NBA balls costs. My vote is to leave things alone.
Unless, of course, you want to go back to the ABA red, white, and blue. Those things were cool.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)