If you didn’t know better, you would think the Miami Heat were playing outdoors this season, or at least somewhere a bit further north.
Because there on the layup lines are James Johnson, Udonis Haslem and other teammates with hoods over their head, the NBA’s newest fashion statement.
As part of the league’s switch from Reebok to Nike as apparel partner has come the Nike Therma Flex warm-up jacket. Suddenly, the entire league can become Hoodie Carmelo Anthony.
Towel over your head on the bench? Old school.
The hood is now the rule.
“It keeps you warm,” Heat forward James Johnson said. “You come out of the game, especially in Miami, it gets a little hot, so we have the air conditioner up in the gym. You’ve got sweat on your head, sweat on your neck, it keeps you warm. It’s the same thing as putting a towel over your head.”
And yet, for an indoor sport, a decidedly different look.
“Style will constantly change around the world,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And whenever there is changes in style, usually it makes people uncomfortable at first, and then it becomes the norm.”
Among the reasons for the change was input from the NBA about the previous look of players wearing towels over their head, a common practice for years, for the Heat dating to Alonzo Mourning glaring from beneath one on the Heat bench,
Now with a flick of the wrist, there is uniform uniform continuity.
“I’m cool with it,” Heat forward Udonis Haslem said. “When you’re sitting there on the bench, focusing on the game, it kind of helps you stay focused on what’s going on.”
And here’s the thing — it’s not as if it allows players to tune out teammates or their coaches. Built into the design is a mesh material that acts as ear slots.
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“That’s a great touch,” Johnson said. “But when the coach is speaking, you shouldn’t have the hoodie on anyway.”
To coaches, little can be as infuriating as turning to see a player lost beneath a towel on the bench. It led to many a moment between coach and seemingly disinterested player.
“Towels and being disinterested on the bench for your teammates is something different than style,” Spoelstra said.
Kurt Parker, Nike’s vice president of apparel design, said amid the release of the warm-ups that the hood was taken into particular consideration with the NBA game in mind.
“We learned that most guys prefer to wear a hood up, but it impedes the way they can see and hear, it moves around and it can get really hot,” he said.
So Nike designers placed mesh over the ears, to allow communication and venting. The hood opening is carved out at eye level, allowing for greater peripheral vision. And there are no draw cords, which players said they found distracting, with an elastic edge on the hood instead.
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Because the look is so new, and because players have been traveling for years in team-logo hooded sweatshirts, Heat guard Josh Richardson at one point thought he had forgotten about an impending trip when he saw teammate Goran Dragic at a recent practice.
“I saw Goran walk into the training room the other day with a warm-up on and I told him it looked like he was about to get on the plane,” Richardson said. “I think it’s different. I like it. I think Hoodie Melo started it.”
Richardson admitted he didn’t know what to make of it at first.
“I think it’s different,” he said. “I’ve never seen it, so it’s kind of weird for me.”
The ear vent, Richardson said, is particularly innovative.
“You know I noticed it, but I didn’t know what it was for,” he said. “That’s pretty practical. I like that. The NBA is clever.”
For Haslem, there still are times he finds himself reaching for towels as headgear after workouts.
“I used to put the towel over my head. They don’t want that,” he said. “They’re staying on top of the game. So I guess everybody gets what they need, the best of both worlds. So everybody is happy.”
And of course, Nike is making replicas of the NBA hoodies available for fans to purchase, complete with ear mesh.
When it comes to NBA fashion, Spoelstra said he appreciates the need to adapt, joking about how even short shorts are making a comeback, West Palm Beach Cardinal Newman product John Collins offering that throwback statement when his Atlanta Hawks visited AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday night.
As for whether all is good in the hood, Spoelstra said, “They’re not wearing them during the game. I haven’t notice it where it affected anything I need from them.”
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iwinderman@sunsentinel.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman
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