What’s up everyone? It’s been a minute since I ranked something so I figured I’d rank these City jerseys. Last season I was underwhelmed with the release of the City Jersey’s, minus a couple of great ones. I had big hopes for this season, being the 75th anniversary, and while I think the jerseys are better overall this season, and there are a lot I like, I am still a little underwhelmed.
That being said, I really only hate the bottom three. The rest are passable to good, with the top three being my top tier. Also, I am only ranking the 28 teams that released new jerseys. Shame on you Utah and Phoenix. Boooooo. Also, keep in mind, I haven’t looked into any of the inspirations behind the designs, so I am going by aesthetics.
Anyway, onto the rankings.
28. Miami Heat
I said it last season with Cleveland’s jersey and I’ll say it again. This Zodiac Killer riddle letter style bullshit font has to stop. At least the Cleveland one had a cool idea behind it. This is just lame. I hate it.
27. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder’s history with terrible uniforms continues. I guess it is hard when your franchise is so young and I think using Sonics colours would probably cause more issues than anything. But still, this is lame.
26. Boston Celtics
Going green on green is certainly a choice…
25. Portland Trail Blazers
This starts the group of jerseys I am meh on. It’s tidy looking but does nothing for me. It’s a shame because I really liked their City Jerseys last season.
24. New Orleans Pelicans
It’s an improvement over last season’s atrocities, but that wasn’t exactly hard. The thing is though, a city with the vivacity of New Orleans doesn’t deserve uniforms so bland.
23. Toronto Raptors
This may seem surprising to anyone who knows me because the original jersey with the Raptor is one of my all-time favourites. That’s how much I hate this black and gold colour scheme. It’s not even gold really, more like bronze. Anyway, way to ruin a cool picture whoever designed this.
22. Golden State Warriors
I like the colour of this and the tribute to the “We Believe” Warriors team with the words down the bottom and the lightning bolts. What let’s this down for me is I don’t like jerseys that don’t have the city or team name on the front.
21. Chicago Bulls
This one is pretty tidy. There just isn’t much going on. I feel like this could be one of those jerseys that looks better in action rather than on a hanger but hey, it is what it is.
20. Sacramento Kings
See my above comment for the Bulls uniform. This one goes higher on the list though as I like the purple and black colours of the Kings. I do believe the font choice is a throwback to when the team was the Royals too, but I could be wrong there.
19. Detroit Pistons
There are positives and negatives to this jersey. The positive is that it’s not another chrome jersey. In fact, I don’t think this looks too bad and it’s a cool tribute to the Zephyrs. But Detroit loses points by way of not using the masterpiece jersey in their history, the teal mustang jerseys. This would look so much cooler in teal with a mustang logo somewhere.
18. Dallas Mavericks
These are pretty tidy and I appreciate the use of the cowboy hat from the awesome 90’s logo, but there isn’t really much else going on.
17. Houston Rockets
From the lists and rankings I’ve seen, I seem to be in the minority for even slightly liking this one. All I can say is I am a sucker for the 90’s jerseys that these are based off of. Reminds me of Hakeem, Drexler and Barkley. If the pinstripes were actually complete, this would be higher too.
16. Indiana Pacers
This is certainly a downgrade from last season’s fantastic jerseys, which I ranked first. But I’m a sucker for a throwback tribute and this is another decent one. Also smart to not do the white jersey as the coloured jerseys work better with the plethora of Indiana’s white players. Can’t wait to see Gordon Hayward in these when we trade for Myles Turner.
15. Charlotte Hornets
I wasn’t a fan of these when I first saw them. Actually, I was quite confused with how to feel about them. But the gradient with the hive effects have grown on me a little. And if I was taking courts into account, this might be first because we will be playing on our legendary 90’s Hive courts with these. What hasn’t and won’t win me over is the font. I just don’t like it at all.
14. Milwaukee Bucks
This is yet another jersey that looks really tidy but doesn’t have too much going on. It is an improvement over the last couple of efforts, and I like the inclusion of the purple down the sides. These could grow on me.
13. New York Knicks
A Knicks uniform with no blue is kind of weird at first but I gotta be honest, I dig these. The black and orange works really well. As you will see with my next pick.
12. Orlando Magic
I like that they stick with the orange theme (being from the Orange state) with the city jerseys, and linking it to one of the greatest uniforms of the 90’s is just smart business. Having the full Magic written on the front adds a nice nostalgia buzz.
11. Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are synonymous with the purple and gold, so whenever they stray away from it, it stands out. Granted last season’s City jerseys strayed further (and were better overall), I really like using the powder blue from the Minneapolis days and combining it with the Lakers purple. This is tidy but I wonder if you reversed the two colours if it’d look even better…
10. Cleveland Cavaliers
I am so glad the Cavs bounced back after last season’s dogshit City jerseys. These are really nice. Going with the Wine and Gold is a nice little throwback and this is one of the circular logos that I like.
9. Philadelphia 76ers
Like the Hornets, this is a jersey that’d be even higher if I took the courts into consideration because the court they showed for these jerseys is beautiful. That being said, I really like this. It would’ve taken a lot for me to not clamour for the Iverson black jerseys, but this did it.
8. Brooklyn Nets
I believe I am in the minority in saying that the light blue Drazen Petrovic Nets jerseys are one of the more overrated in league history. However, these take the essence of those jerseys and give it a nicer blue colour, with the red stripe down the side. It looks 100 times better.
7. Washington Wizards
This is a nice throwback to the old Bullets jerseys and eliminating the white from them makes them stand out even more in my opinion. A serious upgrade over the last couple of season’s efforts.
6. Denver Nuggets
From here on up is my top tier. These pay homage to the 80’s Nuggets jerseys with the font and the rainbow colour on the sides. I don’t have much negative to say about these. They’re top notch.
5. Los Angeles Clippers
These last few, I really don’t have much negative to say. I like the colours here and the throwback to the 90’s with the font choice. Also the sails on the shorts help determine what a Clipper actually is, because it took me way too long to learn.
4. Memphis Grizzlies
Man, Memphis keep on killing it with their jerseys. They probably aren’t 100% in their franchise history but they have to be hitting like .800 which is pure insanity. Always putting out fire.
3. Atlanta Hawks
Using the font from the Pistol Pete green n blue jerseys with the base being another of my favourite jerseys from the 90’s is the way straight to my heart. I don’t know if it would’ve been better but I would love to see this style with the blue and green colours.
2. San Antonio Spurs
For the second year in a row, the Spurs, a team known for the same, boring-ass jerseys since forever ago, finish second in my rankings. Someone (I forget who) said before these were revealed that people who liked the Fiesta jerseys would love these even more. I’m not quite there but these are bomb.
1. Minnesota Timberwolves
I don’t know what to say about these really. They’re fire. Taking from one of the greatest jerseys of all-time. Sure, they don’t really change much but they didn’t need to. These are awesome.
There are my rankings but keep in mind, seeing them in action, or on their specific courts can easily change my mind on them. For example a couple of years back I hated the Utah sunrise jerseys, until I saw them with the shorts on the court, then I loved them. But enough ranting, here’s my rankings.
PEACE!