NBA players will have to count on talent, not bling, to shine

Bling will be no more in professional basketball.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced plans to enforce a new dress code for its athletes. Coinciding with the leagues new “NBA CARES” Global Outreach program, the NBA will enforce a dress code policy making the players wear business casual clothing while engaged in team or league business.

The move to make the players more professional in appearance is a wise move by NBA commissioner David Stern, as the league's image has taken a bit of a beating in recent years.

After incidents like the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills last season and countless run-ins with the law by numerous players, the NBA needed to make some changes and they have done so admirably.

Through NBA CARES, the league, teams, and players will contribute $100 million for charity, donate over 100 million hours in volunteer time, and help build over 100 facilities around the world in the next five years for children to participate in basketball.

These initiatives will not be led by individuals who sport baggy jogging pants hanging to the floor, pounds of gold forcing their necks to hunch over, and head phones blaring out repetitive hip-hop beats. The new NBA dress code will put a stop to this nonsense, and force players to not wear sleeveless shirts, shorts, chains, pendants, medallions, or headphones.

Although most NBA players can see the rationale behind the move by Stern and the NBA, others, including Indiana Pacers forward Steven Jackson, do not agree fully with the move.

“I just think that's attacking young, black males,” said Jackson in a SI.com article. “The part about wearing suits, I think we should dress up. A lot of guys have gotten sloppy with the way they dress and I have no problem with that. But the chains, that's going a little too far.”

These comments raise the issue of whether the NBA was racially motivated to make these changes.

One thing is clear — the Mark Madsen's and Luke Walton's of the NBA are not the players in the league that wear the gold chains or baggy clothing; it is predominately the black athletes.

Although I personally feel that the players and league should represent themselves in the utmost professional manner and dress accordingly, I can see Steven Jackson's point of the NBA's white collared executives taking aim at the black players in the league.