Take It or Sleeve It

When the Golden State Warriors unveiled their new alternate uniforms recently much was made of the fact that the jerseys had sleeves. Whilst not rare in the college ranks, sleeved basketball jerseys are almost unheard of in the pros - but are the Warriors really the first NBA team to use a sleeved jersey? Let's take a brief look back at the history of professional teams wearing sleeves...

The Sheboygan Redskins played in the National Basketball League from 1938 until 1949, when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America to form the NBA. The Redskins wore sleeved jerseys from 1940 until around 1942, but by the mid '40s had switched to the standard sleeveless jersey, which they wore during their only season in the NBA.

The Boston Celtics wore sleeved jerseys for their inaugural year in 1946-47 - these lasted a single year before switching to a sleeveless jersey that, with a few minor changes, endures to this day. With rumours flying around that more teams will be introducing sleeved jerseys in upcoming seasons, it might be nice to see the Celtics break these unis out again.

Finally for now, we come to the St. Louis Bombers. Whilst the Bombers used standard jerseys from 1946-49, for their first (and only) season in the NBA they deployed a pair of sleeved jerseys which, it has to be said, look more like cheap T-shirts (great for a DIY project!). Interestingly, the Bombers used the same red shorts both at home and on the road.

So there we have it - the Warriors might be the first modern NBA team to wear a sleeved jersey, but they're not the first overall - the St. Louis Bombers has them beat by 64 years! It remains to be seen whether sleeves will catch on - although with the twin behemoths of Adidas and the NBA behind it I wouldn't rule it out.

Added March 18, 2013:  Posted today in the Uni Watch ticker -- "Major, major find by Paul Dillon, who came across a photo of the Knicks playing the Baltimore Bullets in 1954, with the Bullets wearing sleeves! This contradicts the recently established narrative of the Warriors being the first NBA team to wear sleeves (yes, the Celtics wore sleeves in 1946-47, but that was before the NBA’s founding). It also shows once again how little we know about NBA uni history."

So it appears that the Bullets in 1954 may be the most recent team to wear sleeves in the NBA until the Warriors donned them this season.  

Which 2012-13 Team Pages Next? [POLL]

Okay everyone, as you know we have been adding teams' 2012-13 Team Pages to the site one-by-one. I'm trying to add a new one every day or two.  The following are have been done:  Bobcats, Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Thunder, Rockets.  I just added the Bulls today, and am working on the Clippers now.

Hopefully I have them all done in the next three to six weeks, but I will add them in order of whichever teams you want to see next.  Please vote in the following poll to help me decide which team to add next.  You can vote more than once.

Which team should be added next?
	Spurs
	Nuggets
	Jazz
	Suns
	Sixers
	Trail Blazers
	Knicks
	Magic
	Hawks
	Pacers
	Grizzlies
	Pistons
	Mavericks
	Cavaliers
	Nets
	Warriors
	Bucks
	Timberwolves
	Hornets
	Kings
	Raptors
	Wizards
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Gearing up: Changes for 2013

We're getting ready to debut 2013, but where not quite there yet, so here's a sneak peak at some of this year's changes:

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More Cats, Less Bobs.

The Bobcats have debuted new uniforms and the BUD is proud to bring you the newest jerseys in the NBA:

Welcome To The Basketball Uniform Database

On behalf of Tim E. O'Brien, Jim Vilk and Matt Beahan, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Basketball Uniform Database.  A couple of things I'd like to mention that were not in the Uni Watch article, as of 6:55 AM EST this morning, we are still completing the 2011-12 team pages, so yes we are aware that some of them aren't complete.  If you'll notice all of the 2011-12 graphics use the number, that is because Tim, who has designed our graphics has decided to use the year number in all graphics, so a Lakers "87" is from the 1986-87 season, and a Bulls "96" jersey is from the 1995-96 season.

This is a different numbering convention than the Gridiron Uniform Database uses; all of Bill Schaefer's graphics use the number 11, not because we launched the GUD in 2011, nor did he use 11 just for 2011's teams, he chose 11 for both the continuity and uniformity of using the same number for all graphics, as well as the ease of the number 11.

And that's okay, not everything here at the Basketball Uniform Database is going to be like the GUD.  Things will be a little different, for instance you'll notice the yearly graphics all have the text in the BUD's colors instead of individual team colors like the GUD's have.  You'll notice the spacing of some of those is a little different to.

We know that Uni Watchers have an eye for detail, and you'll pick up on little things like that, but we wanted to let you know up front that there are little things like that that we are aware of.  The BUD is going to have its' own style separate from the Gridiron Uniform Database, and we hope you'll enjoy looking around on our site and stay with us as we add older NBA team graphics, and if you have some photographs (preferably sourced and dated) that can help us with the research, that you'll share them in our forum.

By the way, who you got in tonight's game 7?

Season 2012 Done

117 jersey combos and counting. That's 234 individual images + 30 full team images (plus duplicates for all 16 playoff teams, so some of those have yet to be finished). I'm taking a few days off before I get to 2011.

This has been fun so far, if a bit tiring.

New Banner?

I thought of this while creating an old school template for when we get into the '70s and whatnot...