NBA Officiating and the New Ball: Good Move or Bust?

The NBA has gone through several changes this year, as it does every year, but some big ones this year is the new ball and the NBA's crackdown on whining by players. Players haven't necessarily welcomed these changes, but as with any change they usually aren't welcomed right away because they are different. Or maybe, the players really don't like the ball, and maybe the NBA's crackdown on whining has really gone to far.

As some of you may know, the NBA players union has filed an "unfair labor practice" lawsuit, against the NBA. Meeting with players from 20 teams and coming to the conclusion that basically, this new ball sucks and this zero tolerance policy sucks. And from my point of view, they have a point. The league's decision to use the new ball not only seems pointless, but insensitive to the fact that, they aren't the ones playing basketball out there. They should' t just start using a new ball because Spalding told them so. Maybe they should have done a real test with players in the NBA, and found out if this was the right thing to do.

Players have been quoted as saying the ball is "too sticky","too heavy", "horrible when wet".

Jason Kidd has even been quoted on saying that the ball "gives him cuts every game"

Whatever they have been, most of the players haven't been very positive with it, and they are who matter right? Well I guess that's not how the league sees it, because David Stern said a week before the season started, "Like it or not, the new ball is staying". That's why this commissioner thing with him, has gotten out of hand, but that's another story.

The League's other major change this year, was it's crackdown on "player whining". Okay concept? Yes. Horribly executed? Yes? Now I could care less about the NBA wanting to stop some of the player whining because of players like Rasheed Wallace who complain on ever play when they are called for something, but this has gotten out of hand. The NBA has been calling technical fouls for showing too much emotion during the game.

This is an emotional game, and taking the emotion out of it, doesn't make the league look better, it just makes them look like a bullies who like to blow their whistles to show how much power they have over the players. A notable changes is that players can't throw the ball or hit their hands against the padding on the back part of the court anymore when they are angry at a call. They now just have to stand there like robots and act like nothing happened, because if they don't, they are at risk of being called for a tech.

Rasheed Wallace has dubbed this policy "the Rasheed Wallace rule" refering to how he regularly gets technical fouls during the season. The NBA doesn't see it that way, they don't even consider it a "zero tolerance policy", that's just what what various news outlets have nammed it. It sure has looked like a "zero tolerance" policy though.

What the league has done with the technical fouls wouldn't be so big of a deal if they didn't have so much of an effect on the game. It's much easier to get ejected now, as superstar players such as Carmelo Anthony, have been given their second tech and the ejection for things as little as throwing their headband out of bounds towards their bench. Note in no way into the stands. And since a technical foul is giving an almost automatic point to the other team, when referees call them religiously, when they really aren't even warranted, they are effecting the game, in too much of way.

The Knicks, who are leading the league with 19 technical fouls right now, have more then the Wizards who only had 18 all last season. This may not seem like a big stat now, but we aren't even 25% done with this season yet and the Knicks are already on pace to get half of the technical fouls they had last year altogether which was 51. Proof that this has just gotten out of hand.

Now I'm not going to take from the fact that it has gotten better over the last couple weeks during the NBA season, but it still isn't at the level it should be. I should be able to watch some emotion-filled NBA basketball without there being a lot of technical fouls during the course of the game.

Hopefully, the league will change the ball back, it should be the player's choice, not the leagues, they are the people who have to play with it every game, and multiple practices a week. I think most people are all for stopping some of Rasheed Wallace's and Dwyane Wade's constant whining, but the fans love drama, and emotion, so the league is only doing themselves a disservice, by their "zero tolerance" policy. Maybe if the league stopped worrying about things like what ball to use, how the players are dressed on the sidelines, and how much players complain, they would start to work on the real problems the NBA has. A new ball should be the farthest from the NBA's mind when there was nothing wrong with the old one, especially when there are problems with the NBA's officiating and foul calling, which should be their real concerns.