Shooting Sleeve Rules: Don’t Be Ridiculous

What is up with this phenomenon? Many NBA players wear a shooting sleeve on at least one of their arms. What does this do? Is it just a fashion statement or does it actually serve a purpose? The NFL’s equivalent of this is the clear visor on the helmet. Most likely pointless, but hey, it looks cool. I decided to take deeper look into the history of the shooting sleeve to try to understand why players wear them. It is almost as big as when Rasheed Wallace and Bonzi Wells made headbands cool. During my research, I found many different theories, but they all pointed to the same date of origin. In 2000, Allen Iverson wore the sleeve to supposedly protect some bursitis on his right elbow. Depending on which website you read, some will even say that he used it cover up gang related tattoos. When Iverson made his way to the Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony decided to pick up on the trend that Iverson was trying to start. Now it has exploded in its popularity and pretty much any big name player in the NBA has at least played a game with one. Even Tim Duncan tried to look cool by wearing one. Some players claim that they wear it to keep their shooting arm warm which is one of the most ridiculous theories I have read. What are they, baseball pitchers? Let’s be honest. The only reason players wear the sleeve is to look cool. However to prevent its overuse, I would like to suggest enforcing a set of rules:

1. You cannot wear more than one shooting sleeve. I am talking to you Dwight Howard. You are over-doing it with the two sleeves and now it is even worse when you have to wear the obnoxious yellow ones during home games. You might as well wear a long-sleeve shirt.
2. You can only wear them if you are a good 3 point shooter. Admit it. If you see a random player that you haven’t seen before and he is wearing a shooting sleeve you probably said to yourself, “Woah. He must be good. I can tell he is a good 3 point shooter because he is wearing a shooting sleeve”. What? You don’t say that? Oh, well I do. Zydrunas Ilgauskas wore one when he was with the Heat. I am a huge fan of his, but C’MON MAN.
3. No pick up games allowed. Don’t be that jerk who thinks he is all that and rock a shooting sleeve to a casual pick-up game with some friends. You aren’t fooling anyone and you are trying to hard. You probably suck and you cannot be on my team.
4. Just get the real thing. If you are bold enough to wear one then don’t be the guy who cuts off a sleeve from a compression shirt. If you are unable to convince yourself to spend the $10-$15 for one, then chances are you probably shouldn’t wear one.
5. If you do get one, make sure it is the one with the pad. This way you can at least say you are wearing it to protect your elbow.
6. Wear it on your shooting arm. Again, this is for the purpose of explanation. If it truly helps shooters stay warm, then you better put it on the correct arm. It’s what Iverson wanted.
7. Final rule. Only wear it on the basketball court. I once had a cashier at the McDonald’s drive through wear double shooting sleeves with his uniform instead of just wearing a long sleeve shirt. SEE WHAT YOU DID DWIGHT?

Thank god this was a trend that missed the 90’s. You know guys like Tom Gugliotta and Detlef Schrempf would have tried to pull it off. Real quick. Here are my shooting sleeve all-stars.

• PG: Russell Westbrook
• SG: Ray Allen
• SF: Carmelo Anthony (he’s allowed to wear 2)
• PF: Blake Griffin
• C: Roy Hibbert

I wish I could hit 3 pointers on a consistent basis. I would so wear a sleeve.