NEW YORK -- NBA players have complained all month that the league's new synthetic ball feels and performs differently from the old leather one.
According to results of a study requested by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, they may be right.
Physicists at the University of Texas-Arlington released results of preliminary tests they say proves the microfiber composite ball doesn't behave like the old leather ball. A number of players have griped about its grip and unpredictable bounce since training camps opened.
Cuban contacted Dr. James L. Horwitz, chairman of UT-Arlington's physics department, to test both balls -- though the owner says he has no intention of doing anything with the results.
"Nothing," he told the Associated Press in an e-mail. "Just try to support the commissioner and the league to the fullest of my ability with the data."
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 David Stern dismissed that complaint last week, and said the NBA is staying with the new ball. Cuban said the league should do the same in his internet blog.
Dan Touhey, vice president of marketing for Spalding, said the difference in bounce could be because of the surface it was bounced on, or more likely because of the age of the balls. An old leather ball will bounce more than a new one, as well as a new synthetic ball.
He said the leather ball tested had to be an older one, because Spalding hasn't shipped new leather balls to teams since August 2005.
"That ball is probably out of the NBA's spec, and if it's not, it has a greater likelihood of being so," Touhey said. "There was a lot of wear and tear on that ball, no question."
The other finding of the study directly contrasts with what the NBA and Spalding have said about the feel of the ball when it is wet.
The league has stressed that one of the advantages of the composite material is that it's easier to grip when it starts to get damp. But the researchers found that it's less absorbent than leather, causing it to be more slippery when moist.
But Touhey said one of the strengths of the new ball is that it prevents the absorption of water, which changes the weight of the ball as the game goes on.
