Celtics, adidas Eschew Tradition With “Parquet Pride” Alternate Uniforms

The basic font. The subtle detail. The green and white. The history. There may not be a more perfect uniform in all of basketball than the Boston Celtics’ classics, which makes the design of their “Parquet Pride” alternate uniforms all the more vexing.

The new adidas kits are meant to “celebrate great moments in Celtics history from the famed Parquet Floor.” We can definitely get behind that. But nothing about these jerseys is a reminder of Boston’s record 17 NBA titles.

Are sleeves supposed to invoke Bill Russell? Shoulder stripes Larry Bird? And the color grey Paul Pierce?

Further description and a look at the actual uniforms are below:

The Parquet Pride jersey features a green and white Celtics wordmark on a grey background with parquet-inspired piping down the sides. The shorts also feature the parquet piping along with the Celtics new Lucky alternate logo on the waistband. Consistent with the other home and road jerseys, a gold patch showcasing the Larry O’Brien championship trophy, as well as “17x” which represents the franchise’s league-record 17 titles, is featured on the back collar.

Boston will wear these ill-fated jerseys for five home games during the 2014-2015 season, each of which coincides with the anniversary of a memorable date in franchise history. On January 2, for instance, the Celtics will show “Parquet Pride” to honor the retirement of jersey number ‘2’ for Red Auerbach. Think Boston’s legendary, dearly departed coach would be a fan of his Cs playing ball in outfits like these? Us neither.

Let’s hope “Parquet Pride” is a one-year promotion. If the Celtics must don sleeves, they’d be far better off sticking with the classic design of their original uniforms.

What do you think of “Parquet Pride?”

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