Jerseys unveiled

They’re here. On the official website, you can see Earl Watson, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Nick Collison modeling them. And here’s a video of them modeling as well. I must say, Jeff Green, Heidi Klum would be impressed.

There’s not too much to complain about, except for the black in the stripes. They are extremely New York Knick-looking, which is fine, seeing as the Knicks have classic unis. Come to think of it, they’re really New York Knick-looking.

It’s a relief to not see the logo on the jersey displayed prominately. I must say, my initial reaction is “Well, that’s not so bad.” And I think that will be the overall reaction. The logo appears to have been a bust, but the duds don’t look like they’ll be a dud. They’re very safe and neutral. Nothing outlandish. No huge font or huge picture across the front. It’s clear they went for a streamlined and classy look.

Like I said in another post, I wanted “Oklahoma City” to be over and under the number. I also was hoping for the neck-line stripe and lines down the side to be orange-white-blue. No black. Where did the black come from? So now there’s five colors? Blue, orange/red, yellow, dark blue and now black? Geez. The baselines on the Ford Center court will probably be green just for good measure. The sidebar is orange-blue-white but the neck has black. Lose the black.

My initial reaction is 7/10.The score is that high because I have to take into account what they had to work with – a crappy logo and a pretty weird color scheme. We all know that within five years the jerseys will change, along with the logo too. I have to say the road jerseys are better than the home though. I dig the Oklahoma City font and I just love seeing Oklahoma City on a professional sports jersey. Also, kudos for not using the block letter “OKC” that was on the logo in a big, bold way on the front of the jersey. They worked with what they had and made the most out of it. It’s not exactly how I would have designed them, but I don’t think anyone will be snickering when we take the floor against them.

EDIT: One comment pointed out that it may be the dark “Thunder” blue that’s lining the trim. If that’s so, then I’d be much more happy with the unis. I watched the video much more closely and on the zoom-in on Collison, I do think that may be blue too. Once I get my hands on one, I’ll know for sure. And I agree, who else can’t wait for digusting alternate jersey night at the Thunderdome? There could be some crazy uni combinations with all four/five colors.

(Also, random thought: How long until we can have throwback night in OKC? The Lakers toss out those sweet old school Minneapolis jerseys from time-to-time and everyone loves them. So when do we get to trot out some old school Seattle SuperSonics jerseys? Boy, that would really set some people off…)