It’s been a big summer for NBA uniform changes. So far, we’ve seen new duds from several teams, with the Hawks, Clippers, Bucks, Raptors and 76ers undergoing complete overhauls. Several other teams (Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Charlotte) have unveiled some minor tweaks along with some new alternates. Now, we can add the Rockets to the latter group.
The team hosted an unveiling event in downtown Houston on Tuesday evening, during which they revealed two new kits to be worn next season, and one to be debuted in 2016-17. Let’s take a look (via @HoustonRockets on Twitter):
So we’ve got a “Space City” black alternate (for the 2016-17 season), a sleeved, grey alternate, and a “Clutch City Pride” sleeved, red/yellow one.
Black alternates seem to be sweeping the league, and (mercifully) the Rockets have chosen to give us theirs sans sleeves. I’m a fan of the red/black combination, though the checkered pattern down each side seems a bit random. And dumb. Definitely dumb. Bonus points to Sam Dekker for unleashing his Blue Steel look in that photo, though.
The grey one is OK, but the sleeves drag it down considerably. Grey also just seems like a bland color to have on a basketball uniform, too. Baseball? Perfectly fine. Basketball? Why? This one also appears to have the strange checker pattern, which…meh. Though they’re still a bit better than the greys they wore on Christmas Day a couple of years ago, I think.
The “Clutch City” one is also marred by sleeves (and a weird, new font), but otherwise it’s solid enough. The Rockets can pretty much give me anything with the ketchup + mustard color scheme and I’d like it, though. Just bring it back full-time, already.