When considering a college player’s transition to the NBA among their problems are bigger, faster opponents and difference in the court measurements but apparently the difference in the basketballs is something we haven’t thought much about. Apparently it’s the reason Shabazz Napier had issues during summer league this year.
In summer league, Napier shot 28-for-102 (27 percent) and had more turnovers (38) than assists (34). Despite his billing as one of the NBA’s most ready draft prospects (so said LeBron James), he really didn’t look prepared for the top league.
via Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press:
“I just want to continue to get better at everything,” Napier said. “But my biggest thing is getting comfortable with that basketball. That’s one of my biggest problems and it’s kind of ironic, because it’s a basketball. But it’s different than a college basketball.”
“The funny thing is, I never really touched an NBA ball until I left school,” Napier said. “I told myself I never wanted to. I felt like it was superstitious, like something bad was going to happen, like I had to earn it. I never touched it and it’s definitely different. This ball is leather and the biggest thing for me now is getting comfortable with it.”
At UConn, he used a Nike ball, and one of the quirks of the college game is that different teams use different types of basketballs. In the NBA, it’s uniform, with Spalding being the only ball used.
