Threading the Needle: February Uniform Review (UPDATED w/ 2nd half schedule)

JazzUniTracker brings his coverage and creativity around the Jazz’s aesthetic element to Salt City Hoops. (Graphic created by JazzUniTracker)

Halfway Point

Wow (again). I’m pretty sure last month’s Threading the Needle started out with the same interjection about how this season is going. Even with the team’s stumble into the mid-season break, I’m still in awe of how different this team looks compared to former Jazz teams in this era. And now with 3 All-Stars and an All-Star coach, it just keeps getting better for Jazz fans, despite the so called “slander” from National media. 

Lets dive right in and check out the February edition of the Uniform Recap:

All-Star Edition

With it being the All-Star break, there’s lots to tune into for Jazz fans. Originally there was some uncertainty if the game would even be played, the venue was even moved from Indianapolis to Atlanta due to health concerns.

With many of the details up in the air, it seemed that the ASG uniforms were the last of the League’s concerns. The league opted to keep the original “Pacer themed” jerseys, instead of opting to keep them in the wardrobe until 2024, the next time the game will be in Indy. It’s a bit of a puzzling decision, but a forgivable one due to the nature of the pandemic and current health situation in our country. 

One tidbit taken from this story might be that the league is getting back to location themed jerseys for the ASG, which would mean that we could see a Utah or Jazz themed jersey in 2023, when Salt Lake is scheduled to host the festivities. 

Gold Standard

Last month we highlighted the Statement Gold uniforms quite a bit, so I’ll refrain from re-hashing the same material again (though it does garner lots of clicks). I will mention that as it shows in the Uniform Recap above, the Jazz are a perfect 6-0 while wearing gold. That puts their record a solid 5 games over .500 at 28-23. Either there was no curse, or the curse has been broken by the best team in the league. 

I’ll also leave this tweet here, since receipts is what Twitter is all about right?

Green with Envy?

Back on February 22, another photo was leaked of the rumored Jazz “Earned” Edition jersey by Igor Coelho (@camisasdanba on Twitter), a pretty reputable source in the uniform world. It all but confirms (unofficially) that the jersey will be Kelly Green, akin to earlier Jazz uniforms (think 1979-84 or even the 2009-11 Sundiata Gaines shot) and will feature the J-note logo with yellow and white trim, similar to the 2018-19 darker green Earned jerseys. 

These jerseys will likely be rolled out in the second half of the season and will be used 4-5 times. The team has been pretty mum on the subject since the leaks in December. 

Curious what Jazz fans thought of the jersey, I tweeted a poll pitting the leaked 2020-21 jersey against the 2018-19 Earned Edition. The results were pretty split, with 52.7% preferring the darker green vs 47.3% for the lighter Kelly Green. My guess is that those results flip once fans see the team wearing them on the court. 

2nd Half Jersey Schedule 

The league has yet to announce a jersey schedule for the 2nd half of the season, which means jersey heads like myself are sitting on their hands a bit as we wait. My guess is that it will be soon, maybe soon, now that the All-Star Game festivities have passed and we turn our attention towards the second half of the 2020-21 NBA season.

EDIT: The jersey schedule was released on Wednesday. You can find details on my Twitter account, but here is a quick look at the schedule for Utah in each of the five Jazz uniforms.

Graphics by JazzUniTracker

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As always, #TakeNote and go Jazz.

-JUT