At the risk of getting this guy in trouble at his NBA RETAIL JOB in ORLANDO, I'll keep this guy's identity and place of occupation annonymous. Suffice to say, it's his job to contract with the league to keep his establishment stocked with NBA apparel. LOTS OF IT.
So he tells me he's seen the new Magic jersey... and he doesn't like them. But, the players love them.
Next year, four teams will have new jerseys, Orlando, Sacramento, Minnesota and he said Charlotte, but I'm wondering if he didn't mean New Orleans (Hornets). Then the following season, 8 teams will be getting new jerseys.
The new jerseys were shown to him and some of the players quickly on a table by the designers. The Magic players there were big fans.
They are, according to his description, white for home, blue for road and both pinstriped. HOWEVER, the pinstripes on the jersey, as they hit the logo in the center of the chest, they slant outwards towards the shoulders. He made the drawing motion to show how they start straight until mid chest then sort of follow the neckline/collar and slant away over each shoulder. He didn't like it. Sounds funky to me, but the idea is starting to grow on me. The originals were pretty wacky and flashy after all.
I asked if they are changing the actual Magic Logo, he said he didn't see the full Magic Logo, but said they cleaned up the "ball" alternate" logo to remove the stars behind it, or otherwise "Clean it up" as he said. I asked if the words Magic and Orlando will be written in the current block lettering, or be changed. At first he wasn't sure, but then later seemed sure that it was written in the Magic chalkboard writing used in the logo now and on the front of the dazzle fabric jerseys. (The arched "Magic" lettering.) I asked why no black road jersey. He said the league is prohibiting any team from going black... too gloomy. I didn't mention San Antonio because it made sense anyway.
Word is that Magic Management is now against a new jersey. They have a stockpile of current jerseys that aren't selling and they want to clean out that inventory first. They started to complain about the new design Adidas and the NBA came up with, but he believes the real reason they are moaning is because they want to unload the current overstock. This guy agreed and hoped they wouldn't get new ones until the new arena was done because he has so many current jerseys in stock. He said the shorts were nice, pinstriped, no other specifics. I asked if they had the large star on the side like the originals. He said they did not.
He said Adidas wants these done because they have a new lightweight, sweat-wicking fabric they want to employ that is all their own. Reebok reinvented jerseys when they were the official outfitter as well. No word if that means some kind of funky new collar like the Lakers and Heat got or what. That's it. This man was legit, that's all I can tell you. He's in charge of supplying a LARGE NBA apparel establishment in the CITY. The brief showing was for Magic managment, a few players and two retailers, he being one of them, so that they are in the loop and presumably, so that tweaks can be made. He sounded like this was pretty much it though, and that they would ultimately move forward since the public is already expecting new jerseys and Adidas wants the sales jump.
Based on this description, I tried to recreate what it might look like. This is by NO means based on anything other than exactly what I have written above. I welcome eveybody to give a shot at interpreting this guys description. I don't know if the number is block like the current J's or will be chalkboard to match the lettering. I left it block out of laziness. I don't know if the stripes will be thin and blue or thick and black. Just my stab at it....
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