Utah Jazz going green with retro unis

With no offense intended to Kermit the Frog, the jolly giant on vegetable cans and environmentalists, Deron Williams admits he's never worn as much green as he and his Utah Jazz teammates will sport tonight.

Even if it's not easy for some, he doesn't mind giving the color a chance.

In fact, Williams said he's excited to "Go green" while also going retro by wearing throwback uniforms as part of the NBA's Hardwood Classics Nights program. Utah players will don lookalikes to the duds the team debuted in the 1979-80 season, featuring the familiar Jazz musical note logo, a bit of yellow and white trim and a whole lot of green.

"It's gonna be great," Williams said. "I'm gonna feel like Incredible Hulk."

You might not like him — or Bruce Banner, for that matter — when he's angry. But Williams is pretty sure fans will like taking a stroll down uniform memory lane with the Jazz, who will wear the old alternate road gear 10 more times this season.

"It'll be fun for everybody," Williams said. "Fun for us to have some new jerseys, fun for the fans. Get into the green act."

The Jazz occasionally wore these alternative road uniforms during their inaugural season in Utah 30 years ago when, believe it or not, Tom Nissalke was the head coach, not Jerry Sloan, and Pete Maravich, Adrian Dantley and Bernard King were the team's top players.

"We're excited to wear them," Carlos Boozer said. "We don't get a chance to wear throwback jerseys too often, so we're looking forward to it. Hopefully, we can do those guys justice that wore the uniforms before."

Two nights, in particular, seem particularly fitting for the green uniforms — replicas of which, of course, are available for sale at Fanzz stores. The Jazz will wear them in New Orleans on Feb. 17 and on St. Patrick's Day — March 17 — at home against Houston.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan got into the old-school spirit a day early. At practice, he and assistant coach Scott Layden wore green polos — Sloan jokingly said they were a John Deere hue — with old Jazz logos on the front.

"I don't think I'll wear it during the game," Sloan admitted. "I'd like to. It's pretty comfortable."

Don't count on Sloan wearing a groovy outfit for throwback night, either. But when asked about leisure suits, he admitted they had their merits.