Just a few more player comments....
ESPN story"I just think people should be able to express themselves. I know they took out the doo-rag stuff; I understand that. As far as guys wearing what they want to wear, I am all for that. Who really cares about what they wear from the bus to the locker room?"
-- Nets swingman Vince Carter, quoted in the Oct. 19 New Jersey Bergen Record
"What they do, just like anything, they go to the extreme so they can get what they really want. It's like any negotiation. You ask for something completely outlandish, knowing that we'll meet you halfway when halfway is what you really wanted."
-- Nets forward Richard Jefferson, quoted in the Oct. 19 New Jersey Bergen Record
"I have no problem dressing up ... because I know I'm a nice-looking guy. But as far as chains, I definitely feel that's a racial statement. Almost 100 percent of the guys in the league who are young and black wear big chains. So I definitely don't agree with that at all."
-- Pacers swingman Stephen Jackson, quoted in the Oct. 19 Indianapolis Star
"I thought it was funny they can't wear any of the jewelry and stuff like that. That's stricter than the dress code in a lot of office buildings."
-- Heat head coach Stan Van Gundy, quoted in the Oct. 19 Washington Post
"No it's not a big deal, not to me. Sometimes you feel lazy and you don't feel like putting some clothes on, but this is a job. We are going to have fun, but this is a job and we should look like we're going to work, that's the way they feel."
-- Cavs swingman LeBron James, quoted in the Oct. 19 Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Personally, I like it. I like to dress up. I kind of came in [the league] when it was ... sort of an unwritten code or law or whatever, that you look nice. It even got to the extreme, with guys [who] would go all out with the designer clothes and so forth. It was a little weird, the NBA turned into a fashion show. But I think it's good."
-- Magic forward Grant Hill, quoted in the Oct. 19 Washington Post
"I mean, it's cool. It's not real harsh. It just changes the image a little. Guys just got to grow up I guess. They're just trying to exclude some things. It's simple to me. Guys need to go out and buy some clothes and start something new.''
-- Celtics guard Ricky Davis, quoted in the Oct. 19 Boston Herald
"You knew it was coming in. I've got a couple of suits in the closet I've got to dust off. Hey, they make the rules; you've got to abide by them.''
-- Celtics swingman Paul Pierce, quoted in the Oct. 19 Boston Herald
"The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it's like gangster, thuggery stuff. It's time. It's been time to do that. But one must remember where one came from. I was wearing bib overalls when I was a player one time. But I wasn't going to the games or events in them.
-- Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, quoted in the Oct. 19 San Gabriel Valley Tribune
"I don't have that many suits; I may have to recycle. I can't go to Men's Wearhouse because my arms are too long. I can make it work, though. If you've got 10 suits, you've really got 30. You just have to mix and match 'em right."
-- Bucks guard Desmond Mason, quoted in the Oct. 19 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"I think anything you impose on players, the first reaction is going to be, 'Nah, I don't want to do that.' We fight a little bit about change. But in the end, when it all settles, and you start to realize why, and guys will come in and they'll feel good about how they're dressed and things like that, hopefully they'll start to embrace it."
-- Knicks forward Antonio Davis, quoted in the Oct. 19 New York Times
"As far as when we're traveling, I don't see that as being necessary. We're the first ones at the arenas so no one sees us and then we're out of here and on a plane where no one sees us so why does it matter what we're wearing?"
-- Wizards forward Antawn Jamison, quoted in the Oct. 13 Washington Post
"If you want to cut the jeans out, I think that's fine. I just don't think you should have to wear a suit and tie all the time, especially [on] plane rides."
-- Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince, talking with FSN's Detroit Sports Report this week
"I think they're coming on way too strict. Movie stars in L.A., they're not always in jackets and ties, and they're setting trends, and we're looked at in the same light."
-- Timberwolves forward Wally Szczerbiak, quoted in the Oct. 7 Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"There is no GM dress code. We're not on the bench, luckily. I think if we were, I would have a problem."
-- Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe, telling the Rocky Mountain News on Oct. 7 about failing Doug Moe's dress code back in his playing days
"Sometimes, getting on the plane, with the distances we fly, you need to be comfortable. I think there is a way to be classy and dress up. I think the dress code should strictly [enforce] what guys wear on the bench when they are not playing. That is when guys are most visible. But when we are on the plane, that is when we are most leisurely. I don't think that should matter. Wearing a sweat suit with a team logo on it? What sense does that make?"
-- Sonics guard Ray Allen, quoted in the Oct. 18 Tacoma News Tribune
"I don't think it's quite comfortable, but it's probably reasonable because NBA is a big organization around the world. We're like businessmen, and businessmen wear coats and suits."
-- Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, Salt Lake City Tribune on Oct. 18
"I'm a dresser, so it's not going to be that much of a change for me."
-- Raptors guard-forward Jalen Rose, quoted by the Canadian Press on Oct. 6
"I'm actually glad they're doing it because some people come to these games looking wrong." -- Bobcats forward Melvin Ely, in Charlotte Observer Oct. 7
"You get into a city at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning off a back-to-back, you don't want to have put all of that stuff on."
-- Magic guard DeShawn Stevenson, who recently wore a shirt to practice featuring the image of bikini-clad Halle Berry. This garnered approval of teammates, according to an Oct. 7 Florida Today story.
