Changing the main tool of the trade can have its repercussions, even when it comes to absolute professionals like NBA players. This season, after 37 years, the league left the Spalding balls to go back to using the Wilson ones (which had made their appearance on the NBA courts in the first decades of the game). Changing the ball can be one of the reasons why several shooters – usually infallible or nearly so – they are having difficulties in these first 15 days. At least this is Paul George’s opinion: “I’m not looking for excuses or anything like that, but we’re just talking about a different ball. Change everything. You don’t have the same feeling to the touch, or the same consistency as the Spalding balloon. You will see how things will go this season: there will be a lot of blunders in shooting ”. A trend that actually appeared already in the first games.
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Among the players in trouble, it is impossible not to mention Damian Lillard – ended up under the magnifying glass after two weeks in which the aim was not the best: 18.3 points on average for the All-Star of the Blazers with 35% from the field and 23% from the arc – the worst figures ever recorded during his ten-year career. Of course, the reference champion is still small, but the trend is evident, so much so that it has also led CJ McCollum – his teammate and vice president of the association that represents the players – to underline that he will talk about it with his colleagues to gather feedback about the transition from Spalding to Wilson. A situation to be monitored, given that George may have been only the first of the players willing to speak and blame the ball for this kind of problem. After the change of rules regarding the whistles that punish the defense less and generate less free, another question hot that the league will have to face in the coming days.
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