Dress code wears thin with Pierce

''Every player should have a feel of how they market their own selves. If you don't feel like you have to wear a coat and tie, you shouldn't have to. Every player is different in their own way, just like they are on the court. You look at these artists, these actors, these movie stars, they're entertainers and they have their own sense of style. It's the same with what we do. We're an industry. We should be able to dress the way we feel. This is more a freestyle, freelance business, just like acting. If you want to market yourself a certain way by the way you dress, I feel you should be allowed to."

Pierce felt like dressing in an olive brown dress casual suit with a window pane print last night. In general, his attire ranges from suits to sweaters and jeans. But he also likes throwback jerseys, bejeweled chains, and sunglasses, all forbidden under the new code.

The NBA has defined ''business casual" as long- or short-sleeved dress shirts (collared or turtleneck) and/or sweaters, slacks, khaki pants, and dress jeans, and appropriate shoes and socks. The long list of prohibited items includes T-shirts, any type of headgear, chains, pendants or medallions, sunglasses while indoors, and headphones outside the locker room, team bus or plane. Indiana's Stephen Jackson called the policy ''racist." Many young, black players have objected to the ban on ''bling." But while many Celtics players and coach Doc Rivers have accepted the dress code, Pierce believes Jackson has a legitimate point.

''In a way, I think [the code] kind of is [racist]," Pierce said. ''When I saw the rule that you can't wear chains [I thought it was]. That's just part of our culture, when we wear the chains and the hip-hop gear and the throwback jerseys. I don't know if it's racist, how he feels it is. But it's definitely something that's part of the league."

He feels that the dress code is an attempt by commissioner David Stern to placate corporate America and curb concerns about the league's image.