updated 11:17 p.m. ET Dec. 1, 2006

NEW YORK - The players’ association filed two unfair labor practice charges Friday against the NBA over issues with the new ball and the league’s crackdown on player complaints.

The charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

“I think that’s right within the NBA’s wheelhouse,” Dallas owner Mark Cuban said. “They say the NBA stands for ‘Nothing But Attorneys,’ so we’re going to be great at dealing with those issues.”

A number of players publicly have complained about changing the ball from leather to a microfiber composite. Although players are adjusting to the new ball, they’re having a much harder time with the crackdown on reactions after the whistle, often referred to as a “zero-tolerance policy.”

NBA commissioner David Stern enacted the policy, saying players were reacting too strongly after calls, and it has led to an increase in technical fouls called this season.

“It takes away from your natural reaction, the things that make basketball what it is,” said Jerry Stackhouse, the Mavericks’ player representative. “You think Bill Bradley never hit the support after he was called for a foul? That’s the model citizen of all former NBA players. It’s just a natural thing to do.”

With players fined for each technical they receive, union director Billy Hunter told The Associated Press last month that legal action could be the next step if Stern didn’t tell the referees to “back off.”

There have been 175 unsportsmanlike technicals called through 225 games this season. There were 120 through the same number of games last season, though the number is on par with the amount from two years ago.

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“Our obligation to represent our membership dictates the filing of these actions,” Hunter said in a statement. “There is virtual unanimity amongst the players about their concerns and intense dislike for the new synthetic ball and the ’zero tolerance’ policy.

“After extensive consultation with our membership and player leadership we determined that this was the appropriate course of action.”

Some players still seem most upset about the first change to the game ball in more than 35 years.

“Honestly, it gets to a point where, you can change the way our shorts are, you know, you can change if our wristbands are too high, you can change the dress code,” LeBron James said. “That’s something that’s controllable. But when it gets to the point where you change the basketball which, this is what we use every single day. Every single day, every single minute, 82 games. Plus preseason, plus playoffs. It just kind of didn’t make sense.

“The only thing that we love the most is the basketball. That’s your comfort. I mean, without your basketball, it doesn’t work. That was my biggest problem, was, why would you change something that means so much to us? It didn’t make sense to me at all.”

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