Knicks Uniform Update: Why is the franchise messing with the color orange?

Once again, friend of the site and Knicks fashion historian Robert Silverman has found some inconsistencies with the team’s new duds.

Like many of you, I spent a good chunk of the day filled with effervescent, giddy anticipation. Not only was BASKETBAWWWWW back, but we’d get our first--save for a janky Facebook feed of a kinda/sorta energetic scrimmage--glimpse of Frank Ntilkina, and Swole Kristaps and SuperCoolBeas and whatever un-geometric offense Hornacek planned to roll out. Yay!

But during the first quarter, I noticed something odd about the Knicks’ new Nike-fied uniforms. They looked… I dunno, different. Then it hit me. BREAKING NEWS: (must credit me) The orange in is definitely lighter and more neon/highlighter-ish this year, like a radioactive Skittle. There were hints earlier on Tuesday that a change might be afoot when ESPN sports uniform impresario Paul Lukas posted some before and after photos, comparing their spiffy new duds to last year’s set.

Take a look:

The same is true for both the home and road versions. The orange in Derrick Rose’s jersey looks darker than it does for Frankie Smokes. When I first spotted Lukas’ tweets, I’d dismissed it as the result of lighting differences in the photo shoot for our noble and fine new point guard versus that that of an in-game shot. That was Lukas’ theory as well.

But check out the logo on the shorts. The orange appears to be identical, amirite? Which wouldn’t be the case, unless some photographer’s assistant positioned the in-studio lighting directly at Frank’s chest, such that the “NEW YORK,” the waistband, and the number were subtly changed while the orange in the shorts remained a more reddish hue.

During the preseason game, I started yakkin’ about this on the Electric Twitter Machine with @basquiatball, and he did some sleuthing of his own. If a rogue photographer had screwed around with the lighting or even engaged in some sub-par color correcting, it wouldn’t be visible in the official team logos, right?

Lo and behold, what do we have here?

Well, Bob, you might ask, doesn’t the darker background create the illusion of a lighter color? Why yes. It does. It ain’t so, and @basquiatball was once again on the case:

Friends, you’re going to be shocked but... I do not like this. No sirree. Not one jot. The orange and blue should correspond to that used by the flag of the City of New York, full stop. (Moreover, as Judd Greenstein pointed out, I am absolutely siding with TRADITION and RESPECT for the flag. These are strange days indeed.)

There’s no way of knowing whether the aesthetic brain geniuses at MSG were for some reason were compelled to dial up the orange or the Nike template spat out a brighter tone whether the Knicks wanted it or not, the result is the same. It’s kind of cartoonish and lacks oomph, what with all the blasted gray that already makes the wordmark look blurry to begin with.

In case any of you had something better to do tonight, which, puh-leeze, peep this photo I took of my teevee:

And here are some images from the New York Knickerbockers’ official Twitter account, if you need more visual evidence:

Compare those to a gif of our old pal and current Oklahoman, Carmelo Anthony, also via the Knicks:

Anyway, the Knicks have a terrible sense of design and don’t seem to possess even a basic knowledge of color theory, flaws that are the hallmarks of a highly dysfunctional and perpetually doomed pro sports franchise.

So in sum, breaking Knicks uni news (must credit me, America’s Preeminent Knicks Uni Historian, Bobby Silverman), the Knicks have (probably) made a change in their home and road uniforms on par with giving Malibu Stacy a new hat. It’s an abomination.