Pistons despite having a great name that ties in w the city have had pretty meh graphic design for a while. The classic Bad Boys era unis are legit but it is weird that there’s 0 reference to a piston mascot anywhere on the uniform or the logo? And the logo was literally just a ball w letters on it? Is there some low key Expos/Brewers thing happening that I just don’t see?
Anyway, at least the teal horse and the DP w flaming exhaust is trying. Maybe not exactly succeeding but it seems to understand the prompt.
Pistons have consistently had some of the worst branding in the NBA throughout the years. It’s been bad…always, and it’s only gotten worse in the past 10 years. The positive reaction to the teal jersey just goes to show how hungry Detroit fans are for literally anything slightly different, even an exact replica of a teal jersey that wasn’t even popular during its time.
A lot of the Nike MLB & NBA alt unis have been pretty meh but they clearly give design the room to be fun. I think eventually we’ll see one or another catch on and become the new main uni. That’s a big improvement over a lot of what you get these days, imo. MLS is suuuper boring under Adidas, college sports tend to get various colors ways of some boring or worse design, etc.
Would love to see Nike take a crack at Michigan basketball along these lines. Maybe solve the font size problem while they’re at it.
I really like the DC Cherry Blossom uniforms. Could have been cutesy but I think it is perfectly executed local flavor and the grey is homage to the old Negro Leagues franchise the Greys (which should have been the name instead of Nationals).
However, I wish they had gone w/ front letters DC or airport code DCA or even WDC instead of WSH, which is really pretty lame.
The way that franchise is going, referencing the worst airport in the US would be appropriate.
On another note - yeah I like many of the city connect and people uniforms, but clearly sometimes decisions got left to the teams too, and the more venerable/older teams either resist something new or get lambasted for doing it. Like the Dodgers just took their uni and put “Los” on it, a nice nod to the Latino neighborhood they bulldozed to build Dodger Stadium. The Cubs just make a solid color uni of their blue and put “wrigleyville” on it. Boston got weird and everyone hated it.
