The synthetic ball has drawn the ire of many players who say it bounces differently (which was proven to be true in a study commissioned by Dallas owner Mark Cuban) and that it gets slippery when wet.

The apology was nice to hear, said Jazz guard Derek Fisher, who is the president of the players association, but it doesn't help the circumstances.

"It says a lot about the situation for him to say that and it says a lot about him because it takes a man to be willing to say he made a mistake or error in judgement," Fisher said. "I think a lot of guys would like to go back to the old ball, from the feedback we've gotten. Guys are dealing with it because they have to, but they're not comfortable with it."

Matt Harpring didn't like it at first, but has warmed up to it enough not to want to switch back.

"It's one of those things where it takes a while to get used to it, but I don't think, after playing with it a year, many players are going to want to go back," he said.

Woulda, coulda

As expected, many of the questions coach Jerry Sloan is answering this week regard the landmark of his 1,000th career win, which could come Friday at Minnesota.

Prior to his long tenure as a coach, Sloan was a durable player who spent 10 years with the Bulls before a knee injury ended his career in the 1975-76 season.

Looking back on his playing career, Sloan said he believes he could have played longer had he had the benefit of a weight program like the ones used by players today.

"I would have prevented more injuries if I had," he said. "I did a tremendous amount of running, five or six miles a day, back then. I didn't know better. I'd just get out there and run until you get tired. That is the way we did it back then."

Sloan still is getting injured. He had to cut Monday's shootaround short to have a tooth fixed after breaking a tooth on a piece of candy.

"I bought five pounds of it for $3," he said. "I like it."

Briefly

A possible Christmas present for Jazz fans is the recently released book "Maravich," by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill. The book chronicles Pete Maravich and his basketball career from his youth to his NBA career. . . . San Antonio's 129-89 whipping of Golden State Monday caught the eye of Jazz players. "We've taken some steps, but we are a ways away from being able to destroy teams like that," Fisher said.

lwodraska@sltrib.com