Ball Don't Lie - NBA



OK, we know the first decade of the 21st century doesn't really end until 2011. We think. But we also know there have been 10 full NBA seasons played since the phrase "Y2K" was on all of our lips (1999-2000), and here at Ball Don't Lie we've decided to use this as an offseason excuse to rank some of the best and not-so-brightest of the 10 campaigns in question. The result? Why, top 10 lists!

Did you like yesterday's list of the 10 best jerseys we've seen over the last decade? Did that help you through your Monday?

Well, welcome to Tuesday. And the 10 worst jerseys of the last decade.

10. That time George Karl wore this to work

George Karl was in the midst of a white-hot initial run as Nuggets coach in 2004-05, when he decided to give this look a go. Where former Denver coaches Jeff Bzdelik and Michael Cooper had gone a combined 17-25, Karl was in the middle of leading his team to a 32-8 record, working at a pace that would have the Nuggets leading the NBA in wins had he kept it for the full 82 games.

And yet, for whatever reason, Karl decided to wear this on a throwback jersey night against the Washington Wizards in March of that season. Not just the jersey, mind you, but a pair of Sharpton-esque track pants and a white turtleneck. Sure, Denver beat Washington (a 45-win team that year) by 29 points, but at what cost?

9. Washington Wizards

As hinted at yesterday, I'm not Dr. Blackwell. I know what I like, what I don't like, but sometimes haven't the foggiest about how to explain why. The Wizards? It's just not a good jersey. Not a good logo, silly font, uninspiring colors, dated appearance. Just screams "1997," which makes sense, because it was created in 1997.

8. Atlanta Hawks revisit the Mac and Me strategy

Remember Mac and Me? Luckily, even as an 8-year-old, I managed to miss it. Forgot about its existence until YouTube popped up, and creepy scenes like this and sickening turns like this started to hit the internets. The entire movie was a transparent tie-in with a famous beef burger chain that is known for putting Thousand Island salad dressing on its beef burgers. The Hawks, as pointed out by the good folks (food and fun) behind Third Quarter Collapse yesterday, briefly took to the chain's color scheme in 2004-05.



7. Charlotte Bobcats

Do you like them? Don't they seriously look like D-League jerseys? I mean, these honestly, actually, look like NBDL jerseys. The orange, man. The orange. And while the Bobcats are still royally screwed in terms of future prospects, they haven't exactly been Grizzlies-bad since debuting in 2004. They've won, a couple of times, nearly half their games in a season. This isn't a nasty won-loss record tainting a good scheme. It's the scheme, man, that's off.

6. Chicago Bulls and their ruddy pinstripes

What's Kirk Hinrich(notes) all emo about today? Well, he's being forced to play basketball in a pinstripes-laden Chicago Bulls jersey that originally debuted in 1995-96. Wasn't that the year the Bulls won 72 games? Sure, but they also lost 10 games in the regular season, with five of those losses coming in the 10 games Chicago sported the jerseys. To recap: 67-5 in the regular home and away jerseys, 5-5 in pinstripes. Seems pretty disproportionate, no?

5. The West Lafayette Wizards

It could work. I'm not exactly entirely opposed to two-toned jerseys, but look at the picture above. Neither the referee nor Mo Williams(notes) can keep their eyes off how ugly these duds are. And do we really need to remind people of what the Purdue Boilermakers play in?

4. Philadelphia 76ers

Also debuting in 1997, this busy, pointless jersey was worn by some very good 76er teams that were on national TV quite a bit due to their good-ness and the presence of Allen Iverson(notes). Sadly, these jerseys also included the presence of a dreadfully ugly logo and color scheme that made little sense. The horror ended last May.

3. Golden State Warriors

Another winner from 1997, the Warriors' new logo and color scheme was rightfully introduced to the nation around the same time that Latrell Sprewell decided to assault P.J. Carlisemo, and things didn't exactly get better from there. And because these are the Warriors, the team hasn't exactly done much besides slightly modify this mess. This officially licensed mess.


2. Houston Rockets in their jammie-jams

Only Moochie Norris (pictured, above) could be happy in threads like these. Debuting in 1995 and lasting for nearly a decade, these pinstripe-laden unis aided in the destruction of the two-time NBA champions, reminded us all of bad pajamas and then outfitted an entire (rather large) nation in awful, awful threads once Yao Ming(notes) debuted in them during the 2002-03 season.

1. Detroit teals it up

Just look at it. Teal, a flaming horse, Jud Buechler. Goodness, gracious, sakes alive — what an ugly uniform.

More Top 10 lists:
 • Top 10 NBA jerseys of the last 10 years
 • Top 10 lottery busts of the decade
 • Top 10 best defenders of the last decade

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290 Comments

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  1. twilite_motel
    1. Posted by twilite_motel Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:27 am EDT

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    The gold n black wizards should have been the worst. By far the worst.
    First!
    First is the worst.
  2. Joe smitty
    2. Posted by Joe smitty Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:32 am EDT

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    Good list. Any of those jerseys with the wide shoulders screams fake wal-mart replica to me so those sixers ones were pretty bad. I agree with Pistons at one, but the 97 wizards jerseys arent bad. There is one really bad replica jersey you missed though that may even rival the pistons at one. Those odd green or blue ones the hawks sometimes wore. God-awful. Good list though.
  3. Joe smitty
    3. Posted by Joe smitty Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:32 am EDT

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    Good list. Any of those jerseys with the wide shoulders screams fake wal-mart replica to me so those sixers ones were pretty bad. I agree with Pistons at one, but the 97 wizards jerseys arent bad. There is one really bad replica jersey you missed though that may even rival the pistons at one. Those odd green or blue ones the hawks sometimes wore. God-awful. Good list though.
  4. TT
    4. Posted by TT Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:40 am EDT

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    'Michael Redd' isn't possible anymore so i'll go with 'Kobe T-shirt'
    http://unlocked.footlocker.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/nike-kobe-puppet-four-rings.jpg
  5. The Wiz
    5. Posted by The Wiz Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:41 am EDT

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    How did the grizzlies first uniform not make the list? The Hawks jerseys is not that bad, also.
  6. ROY4MVP
    6. Posted by ROY4MVP Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:43 am EDT

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    I agree with everything on this list except maybe for the Bulls' pinstripes. Those are cool. The Hawks yellow might be good if not the color scheme.
    But..
    the Bucks, dude, the Bucks. I haven't seen anyone anywhere besides Milwaukee wearing one.
  7. J.E. Skeets
    7. Posted by J.E. Skeets Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:43 am EDT

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    What about the Lakers' short-shorts "experiment"?
  8. Tom
    8. Posted by Tom Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:47 am EDT

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    F that, those bulls jerseys are bomb. Just get an authentic Jason Caffey one.
  9. Jon at MVN
    9. Posted by Jon at MVN Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:47 am EDT

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    The West Lafayettes look like they let the cheerleaders dress the ballplayers. By the way, Merry Christmas to all the Bucks fans. Your unis are ugly.
  10. Jon at MVN
    10. Posted by Jon at MVN Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:50 am EDT

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    The Wiz is right. Vancouver Grizzlies all the way. And the Kings purple road jerseys with "Sacramento". Putrid.
  11. the REAL Headless Chicken
    11. Posted by the REAL Headless Chicken Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:51 am EDT

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    What about the hair in Jud's armpits? Worse than the jersey.
  12. CB
    12. Posted by CB Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:52 am EDT

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    despite the bad record you cant tell me that those bulls pinstrip jerseys are not sweet. good luck at trying to find an authentic bulls black pinstrip jersey.
    i also think the cavs gold throwbacks should have been on this list and not the best list.. maybe thats because they wear they throwbacks entirely too much.
  13. th866451
    13. Posted by th866451 Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:52 am EDT

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    i like the gold and black wiz unis
  14. C
    14. Posted by C Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:55 am EDT

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    No Cleveland Cavs and all their stupid jerseys?
  15. Ol' Leather Pumpkin
    15. Posted by Ol' Leather Pumpkin Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:57 am EDT

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    shawn kemp era cavs anyone? is it a wave? is it a wide lightning bolt? i don't know, but it's giving me a migraine.
  16. MaxHuang24
    16. Posted by MaxHuang24 Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:58 am EDT

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    what about the 93 raptors one i think?
    the one with a real raptor as the logo
    that was dead ugly
  17. Nano
    17. Posted by Nano Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:59 am EDT

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    Dwyer, you're not even trying.
    Where are the clippers and vancouver grizzlies jerseys?
  18. curtis
    18. Posted by curtis Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:01 pm EDT

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    The Rockets jerseys were absolutely disgusting. We need to go back to the classic look that saw us make 4 trips to the NBA Finals in 25 years compared to 0 in the 15 since we dropped them.
  19. Lukasz K
    19. Posted by Lukasz K Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:02 pm EDT

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    The gold and black wiz jersey combo is sick. The best jerseys in the NBA at the time. A lot of people agree with me as well. They looked great on that fun wiz team.
  20. Ricky-Sixers4guidos
    20. Posted by Ricky-Sixers4guidos Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:04 pm EDT

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    dead on again, completely agree with the Charlotte/DLeague comment.
    Sixers could be Top 3 easily but I realize I am biased.
    only one Q: when did the horror in Det end? The Jud Buechler pic looks like from around 1995, also judging from that Sonics jersey... when did Pistons get rid of those fugly uniforms?
  21. Hernán
    21. Posted by Hernán Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:18 pm EDT

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    The Hawks and Bulls unis aren´t bad. The Sixers unis after Barkley left were ugly. I think the best unis were those used in the 80´s, i don´t understand why some teams had to changed them.
  22. Don Killuminati
    22. Posted by Don Killuminati Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:23 pm EDT

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    I actually don't have too much of an issue with the Bulls' pinstripes or the Bobcats' original jerseys. Although I agree the orange was overdone (especially on the shorts), it wasn't THAT terrible.
    Agent Zero's ugly-ass uniform should be way higher imo.
  23. gaborik10m
    23. Posted by gaborik10m Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:25 pm EDT

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    How is that Hawks jersey any different than the Cleveland one that was one of the 10 Best?! Yellow with Red...except a cursive font from, oh, i don't know, 1970. How is that NOT outdated (See: Worst Jersey #9: Wizards)? I think the font ATL used on that jersey was nice, working the hawk beak into the lettering.
    If the only reason that Bulls jersey is up there is because they lost 50% of the games played when wearing those IN '95-'96, well then what does that have to do with the 2000's? Inconsistent. Besides, those are not bad jerseys to begin with.
    And by the way...that Nuggets Jersey, that you think is better than 9 other jerseys...It looks like a blind kid WITH Down's put that together while drinking a fifth of vodka.
  24. shendrickson
    24. Posted by shendrickson Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:28 pm EDT

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    yee
  25. rawbert
    25. Posted by rawbert Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:28 pm EDT

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    uhhh... Oklahoma City Thunder? Horrible colors and a more horrible horrible logo to match.

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