I agree. If captive bred ball pythons were keeping up with demand, people probably wouldn't bother buying the imported ones, even at a cheaper price. I myself sell most of my normal male hatchlings to places to sell as pets. I sell them cheap, so the places will have well started captive bred babies to sell as pets... instead of them saving the few bucks and buying imports that the new owners who DON'T know how to care for a fresh import hatchling will end up killing through ignorance and lack of experience.
A baby ball python is often the first herp people buy. It's better to make it a good experience. But the imports are also important. Almost all of the morphs originated from imported animals. Someone saw a farm-hatched or whatever term newly imported baby and said "That looks like SOMETHING...." and bred it out to prove it. Yellowbellies come to mind for that one. But most visual morphs were snakes brought in as well. I don't know of anything (off the top of my head) that came out of a long established captive line of ball pythons.
Educating folks so they know what they're getting into IF they choose to buy fresh imports is key. Pointing them to reputable importer/sellers is another key.