The Miami Heat have plenty of alternate jerseys, but haven’t been one of the teams to embrace the new sleeved models just yet.
Every team playing on Christmas Day will be giving the new-look tops a try, however, and that includes the Heat. But LeBron James said that the team’s shooters are worried about how the sleeves may affect their performance, and that’s obviously cause for concern from the team’s best player.
From Joe Goodman of the Miami Herald:LeBron said in pregame that the Heat’s shooters “are already upset about” the Christmas jerseys.
LEBRON: “I can’t have my shooters out there worrying about some sleeves and not shooting the ball.”
To be fair, from what I understand the folks at adidas have been more than accommodating during this process -- not only providing samples for players to practice in, but also providing custom fitted jerseys for players concerned about how the fit may affect their shot.
If players are discussing it, though, then it’s at least a little bit of an issue. I have a feeling that for one game it isn’t likely to matter all that much, especially against a Lakers team that will be without Kobe Bryant and that is dealing with a whole host of additional injuries.