NBA Dress Code

[TeeRaySix9Teen]

Here is the policy...


In a memo issued Monday, the NBA set forth a "minimum" dress code starting with the 2005-2006 season. The following highlights are excerpted from the memo:
1. General Policy: Business Casual
Players are required to wear Business Casual attire whenever they are engaged in team or league business. "Business Casual" attire means:
•  A long or short-sleeved dress shirt (collared or turtleneck), and/or a sweater.
•  Dress slacks, khaki pants, or dress jeans.
•  Appropriate shoes and socks, including dress shoes, dress boots, or other presentable shoes, but not including sneakers, sandals, flip-flops, or work boots.


2. Exceptions to Business Casual
There are the following exceptions to the general policy of Business Casual attire:
a. Players In Attendance At Games But Not In Uniform
Players who are in attendance at games but not in uniform are required to wear the following additional items when seated on the bench or in the stands during the game:
•  Sport Coat.
•  Dress shoes or boots, and socks.


3. Excluded Items
The following is a list of items that players are not allowed to wear while on team or league business:
•  Sleeveless shirts.
•  Shorts.
•  T-shirts, jerseys, or sports apparel (unless appropriate for the event (e.g., a basketball clinic), team-identified, and approved by the team).
• Headgear of any kind while a player is sitting on the bench or in the stands at a game, during media interviews, or during a team or league event or appearance (unless appropriate for the event or appearance, team-identified, and approved by the team).
• Chains, pendants, or medallions worn over the player's clothes.
• Sunglasses while indoors.
• Headphones (other than on the team bus or plane, or in the team locker room).

[TeeRaySix9Teen]

My opinion...complete bullshit. If a player is on the bench, but not in uniform...i think the league should be able to implement a dress code. But the league is takin it too far. This is when you know the league is more of a business then it is a game. Fans dont give a shit if the players look professional when they are walking from the plane to the arena. Fans want to identify with the players. As far as the racism part of it, i can see how some feel that way. It seems like its mostly hip hop related clothes that are being attacked by the league. I wonder when David Stern is gonna tell Ben Wallace he cant have an afro and Iverson he cant have braids. Steve Nash looks like a complete bum...but he doesnt wear a chain, so he's ok. lol. wtf.


some responses from NBA players....

"I think it's a load of crap. I understand what they're trying to do with [forbidding] hats and 'do rags and [retro] jerseys and stuff. That's fine. But I don't understand why they would take it to this level. I think it's basically retarded.

"I don't like the direction they're going, but who am I?"

-- Spurs leader Tim Duncan, quoted in the Oct. 19 San Antonio Express-News. Duncan also said he might choose to stay in the locker room on nights he isn't playing.


"I just think people should be able to express themselves. I know they took out the 'do rag stuff; I understand that. As far as guys wearing what they want to wear, I am all for that. Who really cares about what they wear from the bus to the locker room?"
-- Nets swingman Vince Carter, quoted in the Oct. 19 Bergen (N.J.) Record


"What they do, just like anything, they go to the extreme so they can get what they really want. It's like any negotiation. You ask for something completely outlandish, knowing that we'll meet you halfway when halfway is what you really wanted."
-- Nets forward Richard Jefferson, quoted in the Oct. 19 New Jersey Bergen Record

   
Jackson
"I have no problem dressing up ... because I know I'm a nice-looking guy. But as far as chains, I definitely feel that's a racial statement. Almost 100 percent of the guys in the league who are young and black wear big chains. So I definitely don't agree with that at all."
-- Pacers swingman Stephen Jackson, quoted in the Oct. 19 Indianapolis Star

"I thought it was funny they can't wear any of the jewelry and stuff like that. That's stricter than the dress code in a lot of office buildings."
-- Heat head coach Stan Van Gundy, quoted in the Oct. 19 Washington Post

"No it's not a big deal, not to me. Sometimes you feel lazy and you don't feel like putting some clothes on, but this is a job. We are going to have fun, but this is a job and we should look like we're going to work, that's the way they feel."
-- Cavs swingman LeBron James, quoted in the Oct. 19 Cleveland Plain Dealer

   
Hill
"Personally, I like it. I like to dress up. I kind of came in [the league] when it was ... sort of an unwritten code or law or whatever, that you look nice. It even got to the extreme, with guys [who] would go all out with the designer clothes and so forth. It was a little weird, the NBA turned into a fashion show. But I think it's good."
-- Magic forward Grant Hill, quoted in the Oct. 19 Washington Post

"I mean, it's cool. It's not real harsh. It just changes the image a little. Guys just got to grow up I guess. They're just trying to exclude some things. It's simple to me. Guys need to go out and buy some clothes and start something new.''
-- Celtics guard Ricky Davis, quoted in the Oct. 19 Boston Herald

   
Pierce
"You knew it was coming in. I've got a couple of suits in the closet I've got to dust off. Hey, they make the rules; you've got to abide by them.''
-- Celtics swingman Paul Pierce, quoted in the Oct. 19 Boston Herald


"The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it's like gangster, thuggery stuff. It's time. It's been time to do that. But one must remember where one came from. I was wearing bib overalls when I was a player one time. But I wasn't going to the games or events in them.
-- Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, quoted in the Oct. 19 San Gabriel Valley Tribune

   
Mason
"I don't have that many suits; I may have to recycle. I can't go to Men's Wearhouse because my arms are too long. I can make it work, though. If you've got 10 suits, you've really got 30. You just have to mix and match 'em right."
-- Bucks guard Desmond Mason, quoted in the Oct. 19 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"I think anything you impose on players, the first reaction is going to be, 'Nah, I don't want to do that.' We fight a little bit about change. But in the end, when it all settles, and you start to realize why, and guys will come in and they'll feel good about how they're dressed and things like that, hopefully they'll start to embrace it."
-- Knicks forward Antonio Davis, quoted in the Oct. 19 New York Times

   
Jamison
"As far as when we're traveling, I don't see that as being necessary. We're the first ones at the arenas so no one sees us and then we're out of here and on a plane where no one sees us so why does it matter what we're wearing?"
-- Wizards forward Antawn Jamison, quoted in the Oct. 13 Washington Post


"If you want to cut the jeans out, I think that's fine. I just don't think you should have to wear a suit and tie all the time, especially [on] plane rides."
-- Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince, talking with FSN's Detroit Sports Report this week


   
Szczerbiak
"I think they're coming on way too strict. Movie stars in L.A., they're not always in jackets and ties, and they're setting trends, and we're looked at in the same light."
-- Timberwolves forward Wally Szczerbiak, quoted in the Oct. 7 Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"There is no GM dress code. We're not on the bench, luckily. I think if we were, I would have a problem."
-- Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe, telling the Rocky Mountain News on Oct. 7 about failing Doug Moe's dress code back in his playing days

   
Allen
"Sometimes, getting on the plane, with the distances we fly, you need to be comfortable. I think there is a way to be classy and dress up. I think the dress code should strictly [enforce] what guys wear on the bench when they are not playing. That is when guys are most visible. But when we are on the plane, that is when we are most leisurely. I don't think that should matter. Wearing a sweat suit with a team logo on it? What sense does that make?"
-- Sonics guard Ray Allen, quoted in the Oct. 18 Tacoma News Tribune

   
Kirilenko
"I don't think it's quite comfortable, but it's probably reasonable because NBA is a big organization around the world. We're like businessmen, and businessmen wear coats and suits."
-- Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, Salt Lake City Tribune on Oct. 18

"I'm a dresser, so it's not going to be that much of a change for me."
-- Raptors guard-forward Jalen Rose, quoted by the Canadian Press on Oct. 6


"I'm actually glad they're doing it because some people come to these games looking wrong." -- Bobcats forward Melvin Ely, in Charlotte Observer on Oct. 7



   
Stevenson
"You get into a city at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning off a back-to-back, you don't want to have put all of that stuff on."
-- Magic guard DeShawn Stevenson, who recently wore a shirt to practice featuring the image of bikini-clad Halle Berry. This garnered approval of teammates, according to an Oct. 7 Florida Today story.

[BizzyR.I.P.]

Bad Idea, they say it's a business so they have to dress like it come on if it was a business than the whole Portland TrailBlazers team should have been fired by now. It also doesn't help that most of the NBA players are black and haven't wore suits most of their lives. David Stern was hands down the best commissioner in any sport probably all-time, but the last couple of years he has just been doing things that are bullshit.  

[Dogg_Pound_Gangsta]

they should all quit and let some real ball players play.  i say quit bitchin, most NORMAL people who have jobs have to wear uniforms so why can they.  I know a dozen college players that would wear suits just to be in the NBA, dress like you want on your own time and do what the fuck the league says.

Now ket the hating on me begin

[TeeRaySix9Teen]

they should all quit and let some real ball players play.  i say quit bitchin, most NORMAL people who have jobs have to wear uniforms so why can they.  I know a dozen college players that would wear suits just to be in the NBA, dress like you want on your own time and do what the fuck the league says.

Now ket the hating on me begin

some real ball players lol. wow...how stupid was that? Id love to see em all quit. Wonder how quick David Stern would be able to whipe the piss off himself and lift this stupid dress code idea to get em all back. He's showing (like i said before) that he thinks Basketball, the business, is more important then Basketball, the game. Like a lot of employers, he is failing to remember who is important...the employees (the players)!! The only other ones who matter are the customers (fans), and guess what...they dont give a shit if the players wear suits from the fuckin bus to the Arena. They only care what these guys do ON the court. You think any of these Laker fans on here would give a shit if Kobe wore a T-Shirt into the Staples center before a game? No. Would AI lose his fanbase because he wore a throwback Sixers jersey....hell NO. And on the opposite end...do you think either one of those guys (or ANYone) is gaining fans for the league by wearing a suit to practice? Of course not. Like they say, "dont fix it if it aint broke". This dress code does NOTHING for the league except maybe cause some players to have a bitterness towards it. I think it was Stephen Jackson sayin it was racist. I dont even blame him for thinkin that. The league is pickin on hip hop related clothing...and what you have is old white guys (i think Phil mentioned "thuggery" lol), telling young black guys that they are dressed like thugs. There probably isnt one "thug" in the NBA. Shit is just silly...David Stern needs to figure out more productive ways to improve the image of his league if he thinks there is a problem.

[The Watcher]

some of the money these guys make, they should just stop bitchin about it

[No Compute]

some of the money these guys make, they should just stop bitchin about it

Exactly

[7even]

"Racist" motivations are definitely behind it. Noone would do that in a sport that has nothing to do with hiphop culture and those shiny, partly ridiculous, clothes you associate it with. 
                                         Still, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

some of the money these guys make, they should just stop bitchin about it

So because they make money they can't have an opinion or express themselves?

These rules are a bunch of bull shit

and what you have is old white guys (i think Phil mentioned "thuggery" lol), telling young black guys that they are dressed like thugs.

Exactly, it just shows how the white guys are trying to control a league that is predominatly black.

[acbaylove]

Who cares.

[ABN]

as long as the players do their jobs and doesn´t get in trouble off court no one should be able to dictate what they should or shouldn´t wear.

[Low Key]

The players have a right to be angry but they do get paid a lot of money and there are many, many people that would like to fill any player's shoes. There is nothing wrong with dressing up but I do agree that there is a difference between the business and the game. For outside functions, I see no reason why the players can't wear suits.

[Doggystylin]

they have the right to shut the fuck up with those millions that their making

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Man, I know I'd be pissed if I'd have to dress up in a suit right before and especially right after playing 48 minutes of basketball just because it's a rule...This shit is ridiculous.

[Macaframa]

I dont even no y this thread was made i think its pointless