Enough with forcing these kids to put on baseball hats.
I get that the league and the drafting teams want to begin the brand-association process as soon as humanly possible, selling all the good feelings and tickets and merchandise. But there have to be better ways to do it than plopping something on someone's head, particularly someone who may have spent good time and money getting that hairdo to look just so.
The whole outfit matters at what's now as much fashion show as talent disbursement spectacle, with custom suits and accessorized bling part of the fun. Let's let the player opt out of the occasionally jarring sight of the silly hat.
Coby White was selected seventh overall by the Bulls on Thursday night, after which he had to place his cap on top of his signature coif, not so much a classic afro as it is a Sideshow Bob, one that his stylist told the New York Post takes two full hours in the chair for regular care and maintenance.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images Five years ago it was Elfrid Payton needing to find a way to work his way into the hat to accommodate all the salad, too, and he had to swap his Sixers for a Magic shortly thereafter, which raises the other point: It's dumb, bad business to make a player represent a team for which he won't be playing. So figure that out, too. Have a neutral NBA version for someone known to be on the move or sell the ad space to a presenting sponsor. Wrong branding on purpose isn't good for anyone.
But allow for other sartorial choices, no matter what -- a scarf, a cape, a big lapel pin, anything.
Not to get all serious about it, but there's something symbolic about the homogenization demanded by big business literally suppressing the individual expression of other cultures, but that can be for another day. Just free these kids from the yoke of the draft night baseball hat, and take the opportunity to advertise even more cool stuff.