The NBA’s use of sleeved jerseys has worked up players and fans on both sides of the issue. But most agree, from both a fashion and a player standpoint, they aren’t the best iteration of an NBA uniform. The most well-known and vocal of critics, LeBron James, will have a chance to air some of his grievances with the feel of sleeved jerseys when he meets with commissioner Adam Silver this summer.
After LeBron went 6-for-18 against San Antonio earlier this year, he told reporters after the game, “I’m not making excuses, but I’m not a big fan of the jerseys. Every time I shoot it feels like it’s just pulling right up underneath my arm. I already don’t have much room for error on my jump shot. It’s definitely not a good thing.”
James isn’t the only one, as Jodie Valade detailed for the Cleveland Plain Dealer a little over a week ago. Some players have used some pretty harsh words to describe them on Twitter:
Needs to be a mass burning of these sleeved nba jerseys. Also, no to the grey lakers logo. Looks like the real jerseys are in the wash…
— Robin Lopez (@eegabeeva88) December 26, 2013
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Call me old school but these jerseys with sleeves are awful…..
— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) December 25, 2013
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Dirk’s owner, Mark Cuban, feels the same, telling Tim McMahon of ESPN Dallas, he “hated them,” after the Mavs wore them for their Christmas Day game.
After James — probably, along with KD, one of the NBA’s most popular players — criticized the new look, new NBA commissioner Adam Silver, took note. Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reports:
Commissioner Adam Silver told Bleacher Report he intends to revisit the issue after the season. He plans to meet with LeBron James, one of the loudest critics of the jerseys. The NBA could decide to curtail the use of the sleeved jerseys, leave it up to individual teams or simply kill the program for good.
“Ultimately, if the players don’t like them, we’ll move on to something else,” Silver told Bleacher Report. “I don’t regret doing it for this season. But it’s intended to be something fun for the fans and the players. And if it becomes a serious issue, as to whether players should be wearing sleeves, we’ll likely move onto other things.”
[…]
“I appreciate the fact that the players were open-minded in trying them this year,” Silver said. “We’ve had some fun with the program. Fans have enjoyed wearing them.”
“I take the feedback from all the players very seriously,” Silver said, adding, “We’re not going to do anything without taking into account how they feel.”
Silver told Beck, LeBron’s comments struck a chord, and he would meet with him this summer:
“I’ve had conversations with LeBron about the jerseys, and we agreed that we would park the issue until the end of the season. And that once the season is over, he expressed an interest in sitting down with me and Sal LaRocca (the NBA’s president of merchandising) and discussing his point of view.”
As of this writing, the informal poll Bleacher Report has going shows the overwhelming majority of fans guessing the sleeved jerseys will be gone next season:
Earlier this season, LaRocca had already echoed much of what Silver mentioned in Beck’s piece, saying that “We don’t have any intention to do anything that is going to compromise the play on the court or that the players are against doing.”
(B/R)
Should the NBA ditch sleeved jerseys?
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