Old ball bouncing its way back

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Had an unshaven Tom Hanks been the one pining away for his old ball -- the one he named "Wilson," painted a face on and got strangely attached to over countless long, fireside conversations on that desert island in "Cast Away" -- then maybe the NBA's midseason switcheroo would make more sense.

But scrapping Spalding's new microfiber composite basketball, the one forced on players and coaches through the first three months of this season, and reverting to the leather ball (also made by Spalding) that had been just fine for a generation seems a little, well, indecisive for a league run by a commissioner as autocratic as David Stern.

"I still don't quite understand why they'd change it in midstream," Timberwolves assistant coach Randy Wittman said. "They could have played with this [synthetic] ball this year, then changed it for next year. You don't want to present yourself with a whole new set of problems."

Unless the ones you already have -- griping superstars, a grumbling rank-and-file and a players' union muscling up with lawsuits and the NLRB -- are worse.

So when the Timberwolves take the floor tonight at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena, they'll have a rack full of leather balls from which to choose. The NBA mandated that all games played on or after Jan. 1 use the old ball for the balance of this season, while further studies are done on the new orb.

And if you listened carefully Sunday around midnight, hardly anyone cut loose with an "Auld Lang Syne" for the microfiber.

"This is a Christmas gift for me that I'm never going to forget," said Wolves forward Mark Madsen, Minnesota's union rep who lobbied on behalf of the players to dump the new ball. "I'm really happy about it."

So is Kevin Garnett, who has been singing "Hallelujah" for two weeks whenever someone asked about the impending switch. At the Bobcats' facility Sunday, the Wolves held their first practice since last spring with the leather ball. But Garnett admitted that he got in a few extra touches last week.

"Rick [Davis] threw me the ball the other day and there was a big difference, from how it bounced to how it felt, to the seams," Garnett said. "I'll probably spend a lot of time with it. There are going to be a lot of guys sleeping with the leather ball."

Garnett was joined by some other NBA big names -- Miami's Shaquille O'Neal, Phoenix's Steve Nash, Washington's Gilbert Arenas -- in complaining about the synthetic ball. They contended it is too grippy when dry, too slippery when wet and the cause of paper cut-like sores on their fingers. Some feel it doesn't bounce true, others claim it "dies" on the rim.

"I'm sure some of the guys who are having career years, percentagewise, might not like [changing]," Wolves coach Dwane Casey said. "But for the most part, I think the players are unified in wanting the old ball. They got what they wanted."

The opinions of Wolves players in fact ran the gamut from Garnett to guard Marko Jaric, who actually prefers the new ball for its manufactured consistency.

"The new balls, in every arena, they're the same," Jaric said. "The old balls, in every arena, there was a big difference between the [less-worn] ones and the really used ones. There was a little bit of adjustment, always."

Then there are Randy Foye and Craig Smith, the Wolves' two rookies, who will be using the leather ball for the first time. The microfiber version has been used since the NBA summer leagues, and the NCAA uses a variation of the synthetic ball.

"I'm used to this ball, and now we've got to switch," Foye said. "I never had a problem with it. It's just that everybody else playing 10 years before had a problem with it."

Foye admitted that he, too, got his hands on a leather ball last week.

"I've been sneaking in some dribbling, just to get a feel for it," the rookie guard said. "They've been laying around the facility. I'm going to have it in my hand like it's a piece of fruit, dribbling it all day [Sunday]."

Knowing every team, starting tonight, will face the same adjustment acts as an equalizer. Casey said he wasn't about to fiddle with his team's style of play -- for instance, ordering more layups and fewer perimeter shots -- to minimize the initial impact on touch and shooting.

Said Casey: "I'd want that if we were playing with a medicine ball."

Steve Aschburner • saschburner@startribune.com