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NBA Changes 2017-18


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2 hours ago, BShaw20 said:

Lakers are wearing the MPLS in Minneapolis.  Have they worn that jersey there before, as LA Lakers?

They wore them against the Wolves in Minneapolis in the early 2000s.

 

Edit: I spoke too soon, the Wolves wore white in this game on April 11, 2002 but after finding the date of the game I found video of the game and it shows the game being played in LA.  The images on Google made it difficult to tell where it took place so I based it on the Wolves wearing their home whites

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12 hours ago, swilson160 said:

I like sports uniforms. So I enjoy seeing more of them. Are some terrible? Yep. Are some off-brand? Yep. 

 

But how boring would these boards be if everyone was like the Yankees and Canadiens? What the hell would people with this interest talk about? 

 

Give me more alternates. Give me throwbacks and fauxbacks. Give me crazy designs and weird concepts and experiments. GIVE ME MORE UNIFORMS TO LOVE AND HATE AND ARGUE ABOUT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT'S FUN ABOUT LIKING SPORTS UNIFORMS. 

 

This is an excellent point. 

 

Much of the discussion on these boards since Nike's takeover has been "this team should look like this," "that team should bring those uniforms back," "they should [whatever]." I respect all of the opinions, and some certainly have their merits, but so many people seem to want teams to have two uniforms - that HAVE to be called "home" and "away" - and maybe an alternate, that are the exact same in perpetuity. 

 

Teams change. Identities change. Brands change. Change for the sake of change isn't necessarily a good thing, and I won't defend all of Nike's designs, but from both business as well as design perspectives it makes no sense to remain stagnant. Teams like the Lakers and Celtics are obviously more untouchable than others, but even a team as iconic as the Bulls can benefit from something new and fresh like their City Edition uniforms. Mike was great, but that only lasted ~15 years, he's been gone for ~20 years, and they weren't ultra-relevant any time before or after that. 

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13 hours ago, Ice_Cap said:
13 hours ago, swilson160 said:

But how boring would these boards be if everyone was like the Yankees and Canadiens? What the hell would people with this interest talk about? 

I mean this place wasn't exactly a ghost town when most teams rocked the standard "home-road-alternate" setup.

 

Right.  In an ideal world in which most teams had consistent looks and exactly two uniforms, there would still be an infinitude of things to talk about regarding the details of each team's look. And that ideal world would still feature a handful of teams that flouted the norms by having some form of nontraditional design.  

In 1972 the A's introduced their classic uniforms, becoming the only team in the Major Leagues having multiple uniform combinations (with the minor exception of the rarely-worn all-orange uniforms of the Orioles).  At that time the A's were also one of the very few teams to wear a coloured jersey (the Padres wore yellow home and road, and the Braves wore blue on the road, in addition to the aformentioned orange Orioles jersey), and one of only two teams that used white pants on the road (along with the Braves). 

The point is that it's this rarity, as much as the aspects of the uniform itself, that made this particular A's set special.  In other words: the presence of strong aesthetic norms benefits everyone.  This presence benefits the many teams that hew to these norms in order to define their looks, and -- here's the important bit -- it benefits even the outliers, the few teams which define their looks in contrast to these norms. But, when almost all teams are flouting various aesthetic norms to one degree or another, then these norms break down, the visual landscape become polluted, and the very idea of a team's identity becomes a lot weaker. 

So the attitude of "GIVE ME MORE UNIFORMS" is terribly misguided.  It is similar to eating only foods that contain excessive sugar or salt, or to listening to all music with the volume turned up to the max.  The extreme sensory impact resulting from such practices can seem enjoyable; but in that sort of environment one rapidly experiences the loss of the ability to appreciate nuance.  And it is in the nuance where the most interesting discussion topics are found.  Here we have a powerful illustration of the principle "less is more".

 

In a sporting universe in which 80% of the teams looked like the Yankees or the Canadiens or the Raiders or the Celtics (whose variations have not really violated the bounds of their identity), and in which norm-busting innovation were practiced only by a small minority of teams, we'd have plenty to talk about.  And we wouldn't have the terrible visual noise that devalues all design.

 

 

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I wish the Wizards/Nike had used the simplified "the district" wordmark seen on their dance team's uniforms (swipe to the second and third pic).  It's a much cleaner design (obligatory rhinestones aside).

 

 
(Edit: here are the pics from Twitter; flipping through the IG pics can be a pain for some)
 
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There are more enough explicit DC references in the design (the DC flag, the references to the Washington Monument in the word mark, logo, and side panel) to make it unambiguous that "the district" refers to the District of Columbia.  It's certainly more obvious than "Buzz City," "ripcity," or "North."

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16 hours ago, swilson160 said:

I like sports uniforms. So I enjoy seeing more of them. Are some terrible? Yep. Are some off-brand? Yep. 

 

But how boring would these boards be if everyone was like the Yankees and Canadiens? What the hell would people with this interest talk about? 

 

Give me more alternates. Give me throwbacks and fauxbacks. Give me crazy designs and weird concepts and experiments. GIVE ME MORE UNIFORMS TO LOVE AND HATE AND ARGUE ABOUT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT'S FUN ABOUT LIKING SPORTS UNIFORMS. 

 

I think you meant to post this in the Unpopular Opinions thread :P

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861032676-chicago-bulls-v-cleveland-cava

 

 

Random, unrelated thing I noticed... with their new unis, the Cavs have a custom name-on-back font. Are they the only ones not using one of the three fonts that everyone else is using?

 

Even Minnesota is using the standard, Impact-ish sans serif typeface after their rebrand.

Showcasing fan-made sports apparel by artists and designers

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14 minutes ago, Digby said:

Random, unrelated thing I noticed... with their new unis, the Cavs have a custom name-on-back font. Are they the only ones not using one of the three fonts that everyone else is using?

 

Even Minnesota is using the standard, Impact-ish sans serif typeface after their rebrand.

The Clippers are using it too:

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I believe they’re the only other team that’s using it, though.

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On 1/1/2018 at 4:53 PM, andrewharrington said:

 

I’m with you in principle, but even I will concede that this practice is pretty lame and lacking in vision or purpose.

 

Also, wearing the same colors every day? Does anyone even want to wear licensed sports apparel every day? :-)

 

Of course no one is wearing licensed merchandise on a daily basis. But you're missing my point. From a team/business perspective, offering fans options can only mean more money. If a fan walks into the team store they're only going to buy so many shirts that have the same colors. Fans may be more inclined to buy a black/white shirt if they already own other team colored apparel. 

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On 1/1/2018 at 4:52 PM, Ice_Cap said:

All of this is true, but it was all true when teams adhered to 2-4 colours shrug

It’s not like people only realized the Chicago Bulls were a cornerstone of Chicago once they rolled out their CM Punk unis. People figured it out long before then. 

 

I agree. Which is why if I wear a royal blue Maple Leafs t-shirt? I just don’t wear Maple Leafs gear the next day. I don’t sit around going “gosh, I wish I had a gold and orange Maple Leafs shirt!”

People can, and do, wear things other than officially licenced merchandise from sports teams :D 

 

Well that’s the problem, isn’t it? Nike, in the context of NBA uniforms, shouldn’t be the dominant brand. The teams’ brands should come first. Nike, in this context, is just a manufacturer. They shouldn’t be outshining any single NBA brand. 

 

According to who? The Maple Leafs are still doing just fine from a branding perspective with just royal blue and white. The Canadiens’ simple red, white, and blue colour scheme is still iconic. As are the Yankees’ midnight navy pinstripes on white. 

Heck, look at the NBA. The Celtics in grey or black will never replace the equity they have in simple green and white. And the Lakers? They’ll always be purple and gold first and foremost. 

 

So teams can, and often do, just fine with just 2-4 colours. 

 

 

 

Of course people wear non-team branded apparel. You're missing my point. I'm speaking from a team/manufacturer position. Offering more options means more potential revenue. Fans are only going to buy so many purple and gold Lakers shirts. If they go to a game and see a black/white shirt they may be more inclined to purchase because they already have enough purple/gold gear. It's about increasing the probability that a fan will wear team branded apparel on the regular. 

 

I wasn't saying Nike should outshine the team. I'm saying that Nike is a bigger brand than any team in the NBA, and they don't adhere to 2-4 colors like NBA teams do. My point is that teams/brands in general don't NEED to adhere to a strict color scheme to have a strong brand. 

 

Teams are fine with 2-4 colors. No one is arguing against that. I'm simply saying that doing things outside the box won't kill a brand because theres more to a brand than color.

 

 

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1 hour ago, JESSEDIEBOLT said:

 

Of course people wear non-team branded apparel. You're missing my point. I'm speaking from a team/manufacturer position. Offering more options means more potential revenue. Fans are only going to buy so many purple and gold Lakers shirts. If they go to a game and see a black/white shirt they may be more inclined to purchase because they already have enough purple/gold gear. It's about increasing the probability that a fan will wear team branded apparel on the regular. 

 

I wasn't saying Nike should outshine the team. I'm saying that Nike is a bigger brand than any team in the NBA, and they don't adhere to 2-4 colors like NBA teams do. My point is that teams/brands in general don't NEED to adhere to a strict color scheme to have a strong brand. 

 

Teams are fine with 2-4 colors. No one is arguing against that. I'm simply saying that doing things outside the box won't kill a brand because theres more to a brand than color.

 

 

 

Thing is team colors have been the defining feature of team identity from the dawn of team sports.

 

And even if a manufacturer's function allows it more latitude (you can get gear in all order of colors from them) in spaces they truly get to outfit athletes as they choose, like track, companies consistently make their athletes look pretty much the same, even if the colors change year to year and they sell others. In the end, Nike, Adidas, Brooks, and the rest will put their runners in the same color gear (or national teams in nearly identical templates) for same reason teams have- the identity may be bigger than the set of colors (see fashion gear), but the unity of color is how you highlight the identity day-in, day-out.

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The Lakers and Thunder are going blue vs. blue tonight in LA, as the Lakers are going with their MPLS throwbacks and the Thunder are going with their Statement uniforms. I’ll try to post a picture later when I can find a good one.

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1 hour ago, upperV03 said:

The Lakers and Thunder are going blue vs. blue tonight in LA, as the Lakers are going with their MPLS throwbacks and the Thunder are going with their Statement uniforms. I’ll try to post a picture later when I can find a good one.

 

 

 

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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Here’s a good shot of the matchup:

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In addition to being blue vs. blue, the matchup offered up a really interesting contrast between retro and modern. Not only that, but the fact that both uniforms feature abbreviated wordmarks and are devoid of white (with the exception of the ad patch on the Lakers’ set) made it even more intriguing.

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Thunder really need to consider dropping the white sleeves from their Statement set. The white sleeves work with their Icon uniforms, because of the white numbers. But since the Statement uni has no white, it feels out of place.

 

DPceJcBVAAEjQ7V.jpg

 

Quick and dirty mockup of what they would look like with blue or orange sleeves instead.

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3 hours ago, TaylorMade said:

Are there going to be All-Star Game jerseys this year or will it go back to home Association vs away Icon?

 

I would assume ASG jerseys, there's too much money in over saturating the market with more jerseys. I hope they go back to blue vs. red. 

kimball banner.png

"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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17 minutes ago, kimball said:

 

I would assume ASG jerseys, there's too much money in over saturating the market with more jerseys. I hope they go back to blue vs. red. 

 

By that logic, though, Nike would have made Christmas jerseys.

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