Basketball was originally played with a Football (association football) soccer ball. These round balls from association football were made, at the time, with a set of laces to close off the hole needed for inserting the inflatable bladder after the other sewn-together segments of the ball’s cover had been flipped outside-in.These laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable.Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith.These laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable.