NBA Logo Rank 2017 Update

OK, so the regular season is over, the playoffs are done, we made it through the draft and free agency and Summer League. Now what do we do? Well if you are me, you spend your summer weeks writing about useless drivel like NBA team logos and mascots and names. Hey I gotta do something with my time between the end of Summer League and the announcement of the next season's schedule in early or mid-August. So let's go.

No mascot or team name rankings this summer because there have been no mascot or name changes in the NBA that I can see (although there have been in the D-League or I guess what is now the G-League). But there are plenty of logos to rank this summer. Let's start with the big boys and then let's tackle the G-League, shall we?

30. Los Angeles Clippers

Just like I said last year, unless the Clippers abandon their rebrand of two years ago or some other team rebrands with a worse package of logos (which quite honestly I can't imagine that anyone can do), they are going to be stuck in dead last for a while. Even Chris Paul got tired of wearing these logos and got himself traded to Houston. Still the worst look in basketball.

29. Oklahoma City Thunder

Still super boring and uncreative. Still saved from last by the Clippers.

28. Denver Nuggets

About a mile better (or maybe more accurately 4,000 feet higher) than OKC's drabness but still mired in the 28 spot. Sorry, Denver. Heed the call other teams have been hearing and go the throwback route. It's worked wonders for the Sixers, Warriors, Hawks (until they screwed it up by lack of self-restraint) and Wizards. It can work for you too. If done right.

27. Dallas Mavericks

Last year I wrote of the Mavs' 26 spot in this countdown that the only reason that they were that high was that the Piston screwed up so badly. This year, the Pistons (mostly) corrected their error. That drops the bland and unexciting Mavericks logos down to 27.

26. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have added a new secondary logo to their family of logos. It's a shield. I thought knights used shields, not cavaliers. Cleveland drops a spot in this year's ranking not because of their shield necessarily but because in my opinion 25 other franchises have a better look.

25. Orlando Magic

For me, it's all about the font. The M and the A having one square corner drives me nuts. These two letters are symmetrical; they shouldn't have rounded corners on one side and a square on one the other. Plus the middle leg of the M not dropping all the way down like the outside ones do just sucks all my focus up when I look at this logo. Other than that, I don't think the Magic's logo is that bad.

24. Phoenix Suns

Every time I see the Phoenix Suns' streaking sun logo combined with the capital S I cringe. It looks like someone took an already not attractive font and just and threw it against a wall which caused a some how uniform and singularly unattractive shattered effect. Can't stand this one. It's pulling the Suns way down.

23. Houston Rockets

An R made out of rockets. Not exciting. Not exciting at all. Now that the Rockets are up for sale, maybe they'll get a new logo look, once the new owner realizes he or she has paid north of $2 billion for a basketball team, that is.

22. Brooklyn Nets

Once upon at time in Brooklyn, Jay-Z was a part owner. An owner of a super super super super small part of the team but an owner nonetheless. He allegedly had something to do with the design of the team's image when the Nets up and moved to Brooklyn. Now he's no longer an owner. There's no need to keep most of this branding around either. Not sure what the solution here necessarily is because I don't love any of the Nets' historical logos (except maybe the Jetsons-like ball on shield in hoop logo from the last Jersey days) but something needs to change.

21. Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks are the first of many teams in my ranking who have recently looked to the past for inspiration for stuff to put on their swag. Bringing back the Pac-Man logo was great. Then they added a whole series of weird secondary logos in mostly neon yellow. Head scratcher. Hawks at 21 this year.

20. Los Angeles Lakers

By all rights, the Lakers should be one of the lowest ranked teams on this list. I mean their logo is not really that creative and it looks a little dated (I know, some would say classic; I say dated). But to the Lakers' credit, they have not gone and gummed up the works by inventing a bunch of really awful secondary logos. Their awful primary logo gets them just inside the top 2/3 of the league.

19. Sacramento Kings

As much as I love the idea of ditching the old Kings' crossed lances logo, the dusting off of the old Kansas City Kings' look is not aging well. And it's only been a year. I think it's the clumsy font and the very very simplistic crown. I have a feeling this isn't going to survive the test of time.

18. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves are the only team to undergo a complete branding transformation this offseason. No more giant wolf head staring out over a line of coniferous trees. This new package of logos is a bit of an upgrade for me.

Like many teams over the last five years or so, the Wolves have gone with a circular logo as their primary look. Their main logo isn't that much different from the one used over the past 10 years or so: it's basically a mirror image with the white and the trees gone and the North Star added in the basketball patterned sky. It's cleaner and darker. The wolf in this version is howling beneath a starry sky and not the unseen moon of the pre-2017 look.

The strength for me in this new look is the North Star and the simplicity. The alternate logos follow this theme, with a simple basketball-and-star as their best secondary logo (at the top of this post). Minnesota kept it simple here. And it works for me.

17. Toronto Raptors

Here's my annual plea for the Toronto franchise to change its name permanently to the Huskies, who played just one year in the BAA, which was the forerunner of the current league. The Raps have celebrated that old name with a throwback night or two recently and there's a website advocating the exact same thing I pull for every summer. Until the team decides to do that, they continue to get credit for eliminating the Barney logo a couple of years ago. They sit at 17 this year, dropping two spots due to the Pacers and Pistons trying something different.

16. Indiana Pacers

Earlier this year, Larry Bird delivered the Pacers' bid for the 2021 (!!) NBA All-Star Game to the NBA's offices in New York City. Bird delivered the envelope to HQ that day in an Indy Car, complete with NYPD motorcade, featuring what appeared to be a new secondary Pacers logo (shown above).  I love this thing. It's geography based (I LOVE maps!) and features a star right where Indianapolis is, making it place specific to the city that hosts the team with the state's name. High praise for the Pacers from me for this simple but super effective secondary logo.

But here's the problem: I'm just not sure if it IS a secondary logo or if it's just an All-Star logo in the event the city wins the '21 game. I can't find it on the Pacers' website as a logo at all that will be used in circulation. For the purposes of this post, knowing the answer here is huge and there's no definitive direction, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to guess and give the Pacers partial credit. I'm moving them ahead of the Raptors this year. If it's not official this time next summer, they are at risk of moving backwards. 

15. Milwaukee Bucks

Still can't get the image of a deer mounted on a wall as a hunting trophy out of my mind. As much as I like the Bucks' rebranding as an upgrade over their prior look, that still bugs me. Also the font is just terrible. If it turns out the Pacers' new secondary logo is legit, I'm moving them ahead of the Bucks next year.

14. New Orleans Pelicans

Logos! Logos! Logos! The Pels still lead the league in number and variety of logos. And most of them are pretty good. Except the one that they use the most. While that one is totally New Orleans, it's still too dated for my taste.

13. Philadelphia 76ers

With the exception of the Charlotte Hornets at 9, the Memphis Grizzlies at 4 and to some extent the Washington Wizards at 3, the top 13 spots in my ranking are occupied by teams that have either (a) found something a long time ago that worked and are sticking with it or (b) have figured out what they had a while ago worked really well and have brought the old logos back. The Sixers resurrected their old look (mostly) but are the sitting a the 13 spot because they couldn't leave well enough alone and invented a Ben Franklin dribbling a basketball logo which just doesn't work for me.

12. Detroit Pistons

Last year the Pistons were 27th in my ranking. This year they are 12th. Something big happened here. And what happened was the Pistons looked to their competition for inspiration.

In 1979, the Detroit Pistons unveiled what I consider to be their classic logo, a stylized red basketball inside a blue circle with the words "Detroit Pistons" in simple block letters in the center of the ball. It was a variant of a logo that went all the way back to their move to the motor city. It was simple, it was clean, it was effective. 

Then in 1996 they decided that awesome look wasn't good enough so they switched their logo to some kind of flaming horse with tailpipes and accented the whole thing in some sort of dark aqua. They also switched their font to some sort of thing that has some letters with pointed ends now and then. Terrible stuff. Unbelievably, it lasted nine seasons before they switched it back to a red, white and blue basketball logo, albeit with the terrible font intact. That basketball though was rotated from the old logo and the words were curved.

So now things have come full circle and the Pistons are back close to the 1979-1996 look. Mostly. The font is still a bit different and there's silver border around the whole thing. I'll take it. I actually like the silver lining and the font's not that objectionable when the letters are small.

In case you are wondering why the Pistons (and all these other teams that are adopting something close to their past branding) don't just go back to what they had, they can't. All the retired logos belong to the NBA's Hardwood Classics brand and they don't let teams reappropriate them once they give them up the first time. That's why the Pistons, Hawks and Sixers all have logos that are 95-99% (but not 100%) identical to past logos.

11. Utah Jazz

Speaking of awesome reinventions of the past, I love the Jazz logos. I just don't love them at all in Utah. Please find another name for this team.

10. Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers have one of the most unusual logos in professional sports. It's an abstract representation of a five on five basketball game that could only have been cooked up in the late 1960s or early 1970s. And I love it. The Blazers have tweaked the original version a couple of times and they have done it again this offseason. Gone are the tapered ends to the swirl lines (I just made that term up) which is an upgrade for me. Also gone is the lines dying into the other side of the swirl. Not sure that change works better or worse for me. Still one of my favorite logos out there. Just got good enough to move them inside number 10 this year.

9. Charlotte Hornets

8. Miami Heat

7. Golden State Warriors

6. San Antonio Spurs

5. New York Knicks

4. Memphis Grizzlies

3. Washington Wizards

2. Boston Celtics

1. Chicago Bulls

So the top nine in my ranking last year did something smart: they didn't change a thing, although the Knicks did roll out a 70th anniversary logo that is super sharp. And that means that this year's top nine is the same as last year's. I still think the Hornets and Dubs have too many choices in their logos but honestly the secondary logos are in many ways better than their primaries. I still hate the fact that the Heat are in the top nine and my growing distaste for the Celtics had me for a minute considering sliding my beloved Wiz ahead of them before realizing I have absolutely no good reason for doing so.

The Bulls are still number one. If there's message about the value in never changing, it's the Bulls consistently being in the top spot. 52 years, one logo. 'Nuff said.

G-League logos up next. What a mess that collection is!

Bobblehead Nation 2016

It's time for my third annual NBA bobblehead roundup which I'm starting to think might be better off called the Wizards Bobblehead Collector's Lament (but we can come back to that bitterness...). This project is a labor of love each year (and I DO love bobbleheads) involving a whole lot of searching on each team's home page to find the latest and greatest promotional or giveaway schedules. Over half of the teams in the NBA have now published their list of free loot available to fans at the door, so it's time to push this thing out there.

Yes, I get that it's the second week of November and at this point some of the bobbleheads listed in this post have already been handed out. Blame the teams who are slow to post their schedules, not me. There's always eBay after all. Hopefully this can serve as a resource to NBA bobblehead collectors nationwide (or worldwide for that matter). After all, there's nothing better than holding a brand new questionable quality bobblehead handed to you for free upon entrance to an NBA arena.

There's some awfully good stuff this year, especially if you live in or around Dallas or Indianapolis. Just like the last couple of years, I'm sure there are more out there which are not yet available for amateur internet searchers like me. If I missed anything let me know and I'll correct or add a second post. For those of you in Washington, you have to wait until March for our one bobblehead giveaway. In the meantime bobblehead collectors nation-wide, let's get to the 2016-2017 list.

October 

4 Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)

6 San Jose Sharks Edition Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors)

21 Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors)

As far as I am aware (and, look I'm not necessarily that aware here), the Golden State Warriors are the only NBA team recently to give away bobbleheads in the preseason. Two years ago, it was two; last year they upped it to three; and this year they match last year's output with their current big three of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

First let me say what an incredible idea this is to get folks in the door before the real NBA action starts. I attended two of the Wizards three preseason games (which should totally be free for season ticket holders by the way) and there was barely anyone there. Schedule a Tomas Satoransky or John Wall in a Capitals jersey bobblehead and people would be lining up at the door.

Steph Curry's preseason bobblehead comes with him holding two MVP trophies from the past two seasons. You can add Klay Thompson in a San Jose Sharks jersey to match the one of Steph handed out last year. Draymond Green's is flexing, not trying to kick LeBron James or sitting in civvies in a suite at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum during game five of the Finals (which his team lost without him).

26 Bobby "Slick" Leonard (Indiana Pacers)

The Indiana Pacers are celebrating their 50th season this year with seven (!!!!) bobbleheads which I think is absolutely fantastic. The franchise has existed for parts of six decades from the 1960s to the 2010s and they are devoting one night this season to each decade or partial decade that they have been playing basketball. But before they get to giving out player bobblehead for the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, aughts and 10s, they kicked things off opening night with a Bobby "Slick" Leonard bobblehead. Slick is the Pacers' most legendary coach, leading the team to three ABA titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973 before guiding the franchise into the NBA after the 1976 merger. I love that he comes with a red, white and blue ABA basketball. I still long for a Randy Wittman Wizards bobblehead. Just saying...I'll let it go eventually, I promise. 

November
2 Calavera (Phoenix Suns)
Never heard of this NBA player with a single name? Me either. That's because he's not an NBA player but a word for one of those cool Mexican skulls used in the Day of the Dead or Dia de Muertos celebration. The Suns got lucky with this game being scheduled on November 2 which is the actual Day of the Dead. This is the first of two team issued bobbleheads across the NBA that are not players, coaches or broadcasters affiliated with the teams that are handing them out. The other is on January 29 and I can't wait to see that one.

9 Jamal Crawford (Los Angeles Clippers)
Jamal Crawford's like the fine wine of the NBA. He was selected in the 2000 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers who shipped him off to the Chicago Bulls before ever playing a minute. From there he bounced around a bit from New York to Golden State to Atlanta as a sometimes starter but mostly bench player with no All-Star appearances. Then in 2010 with the Hawks he won the NBA's Sixth Man award for the top bench player in the league. Since then, he's won it twice more in 2014 and 2016 both with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Sixers tried to steal Crawford away in the offseason. Clips fans will be glad on November 9 that they didn't.

12 Roger Brown (Indiana Pacers)
The Pacers' player bobblehead madness starts in earnest on November 12 with Roger Brown, who played with the team from 1967-1974, including all three ABA championship teams. Brown represents the 1960s for the Pacers during their anniversary season. I don't have a whole lot else to say about Brown other than he had his jersey retired by the Pacers and he's in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Maybe I need another trip to Springfield.

28 Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)
Still shaking my head about this one. Kevin Durant was the Dubs marquee signing in the offseason and he gets the team's first regular season bobblehead, signifying either he's the Warriors' fourth banana or something else or nothing at all. You don't get Durant in the preseason but you can pick him up at Oracle Arena on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

December
5 Harrison Barnes (Dallas Mavericks) / Elvin Hayes (Houston Rockets)
Raise your hand if you think Mark Cuban is the best owner in the NBA. My hand is up. If your's isn't just wait a paragraph.

After missing out on a few top tier free agents this offseason, the Mavericks settled for offering the Warriors' Harrison Barnes a dumptruck full of cash. It worked and Barnes became a Maverick. About a month and a half later with his new team, he gets a bobblehead. And he's not the last one. Barnes is the first of 12 (not a typo - 12!!!!) bobbleheads to be handed out by the Mavs this year. That's like one every three and a half home games. Basically if you were in the NBA last year and are playing for Dallas this year, you get a bobblehead. The only three guys on the roster who don't are their three rookies. Hands up if you think Mark Cuban is the best owner in the NBA now. Just ignore their current record when you think about that.

Elsewhere in Texas, the Houston Rockets have four bobbleheads on their slate of giveaways this season and they are all retired players from the team's past. They start with Elvin Hayes who won an NBA Championship and had his number retired right here in Washington. So why is he getting a bobblehead in Houston? Well, Hayes was selected by the Rockets (albeit when they were in San Diego and played for the team for about four years before being traded to the Bullets. After Abe Pollin had the big E lead the team to a title in '78, he sent him back to the Rockets to close out his career. But as much as Elvin may have contributed to Houston's pro team, he was perhaps more important as a college ball legend at the University of Houston, averaging 31 points and more than 17 rebounds per game while also breaking the color barrier on that school's basketball team (along with Don Chaney). Important stuff there, folks.

7 Brook Lopez (Brooklyn Nets)
For the second straight year, the Nets are giving away a Brook Lopez Star Wars bobblehead. What's up with that? Is Lopez a big Star Wars fan or did not enough people show up to any Nets game last year so they can afford to give the extras away this year? I guess we'll find out December 7. The picture above is Lopez with last year's bobble.

10 Mel Daniels and George McGinnis (Indiana Pacers)

The best thing about the Pacers' seven bobblehead giveaways? One is a double, which I assume means there are actually eight bobbleheads to be handed out in Indy this season. Both players are Pacers legends. Daniels won three titles with the team and McGinnis was around for the last two. In a decade when the Pacers were dominant (the 1970s), I wondered how they would accommodate both Daniels and McGinnis. Now I know.

18 Devin Harris (Dallas Mavericks)
Mavericks bobblehead night number two. Harris has to be the only bench player to get two bobbleheads of himself handed out over a three year period right? If you miss this one, Mavs fans, don't worry. There's another one in a couple of weeks.

20 Nate Thurmond (Golden State Warriors)
The Warriors become the third team this NBA season to roll out a retired player bobblehead. Nate was drafted by the Warriors (then the San Francisco Warriors) in 1963 and played for the team until 1974, the year before the franchise's first title. Thurmond's number 42 is retired by both the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers (who he played less than two seasons for) and he entered the Hall of Fame in 2006. This one should be a little poignant for Warriors fans. Nate passed away in July of this year at the age of 74.

21 Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)
The Phoenix Suns are handing out three bobbleheads this year. Two are not players; this one is. After a promising rookie season, I've seen second year man Devin Booker's name on a lot of preseason Most Improved Player lists so it seems right that the Suns would hand out bobbleheads of Booker. 

January
2 DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers)
DeAndre Jordan was one of 12 NBAers to head to Rio this past summer and grab himself an easy gold medal. The Clippers are celebrating that feat by making a bobblehead with Jordan presumably wearing his medal in his number 6 USA jersey.

5 Deron Wiliams (Dallas Mavericks)
Mavericks bobblehead night number three. After years of rumors and speculation, the Mavs finally got Deron Williams into a Dallas jersey in the 2015 offseason, a move that represented a homecoming of sorts for the three time NBA All-Star. The problem for the Mavs? Williams is not really that good anymore. Still, he's on the roster so this year he gets a bobblehead.

7 Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls) / Chuck Person (Indiana Pacers)
Did you miss out on Jimmy Butler bobblehead night last season in Chicago? If you did, don't worry because they are handing out a Butler bobble again this year. Butler's sort of the last man standing for the Bulls. Over the last two years, Chicago's handed out Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah (twice) bobbleheads. Those guys are all gone now and Jimmy's left in Chi-town. Don't worry, Bulls fans, there's a couple of other All-Stars that the team has added to the roster who are getting celebrated in bobblehead form.

The Pacers are celebrating the 1980s with a Chuck Person bobblehead and here I'm going to have to go both off script and into spoiler alert mode. I'm not sure I agree with this selection. When I look at the Pacers' all time leaders, I see Rik Smits second in games played, minutes and points and third in rebounds. Yet no Smits bobblehead. Smits played from 1988 to 2000 so the Pacers really had two credible options: make him the 1980s or 1990s bobblehead. The chose neither. I'm sure Chuck Person's a good guy and if I were a Pacers season ticket holder I'd take it. But I'd want Smits more.

9 Rajon Rondo (Chicago Bulls)
If you are a Bulls fan, I told you so. The Bulls made two marquee free agent signings this offseason: former Celtic / Maverick / King Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade, who after being shorted on salary so his friends could play with him for years finally got sick of that treatment in Miami and took his talents to the Windy City. They both get the bobblehead treatment this year in Chicago. If I were a Bulls fan, I'd be longing for a Taj Gibson bobble. No such luck this year. You are stuck with Butler (for the second year in a row), Rondo and Wade. At least you get three.

10 Andre Iguodala (Golden State Warriors) / Calvin Murphy (Houston Rockets)
Last year Warriors fans got an Iggy NBA Finals MVP bobblehead in the preseason. This year he's back in bobblehead form just after the new year in a virtual reality golf pose. Maybe I don't understand technology but I just don't get this one. However, there's a lot of things I don't get in this world, like how the Wizards ever made a Jarvis Hayes bobblehead. Sure enough, Jarvis is on my shelf at home. If I were a Dubs fan, I'd be at the game early on January 10 for a golfing Andre bobblehead.

In addition to Iggy in Oakland on January 10, Rockets fans in Houston get handed a Calvin Murphy bobblehead complete with San Diego Rockets apparel. Murphy spent his 13 year entire career with the Rockets, earning one All-Star appearance over that span of time and having his number retired after he hung up his sneakers. He still works for the Rockets organization today as a television broadcaster. At just 5'-9" tall, Murphy is the shortest player ever inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

13 Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
I'm not sure I'll ever get the spelling of Giannis' last name down. I have to look at the right way to spell it every time I write it. Fortunately, I don't have many occasions to write his name. For the second straight year, the Bucks hand out a Giannis bobblehead. Not arguing with the selection but can't teams dig a little deeper into their rosters more often? In Brooklyn, there's Brook Lopez two years in a row, in Chicago it's Jimmy Butler, now Giannis. I'm still showing up for this one if I'm a Bucks fan. After all, I have four different John Wall bobbleheads on my shelves at home here near DC.

15 Jeremy Lin (Brooklyn Nets)
The Nets tried and failed on a couple of restricted free agents this offseason after signing both Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson to offer sheets only to see the Trail Blazers and Heat respectively match their offers. As a result they ended up with Jeremy Lin as their top free agent signing, which I guess should probably clue you in on the Nets' prospects for success this year after finishing towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference last year. Nothing against Lin; I think he had a terrific year in Charlotte last year and wish the Wiz could have taken a look at him. But if you are a bad team and Lin's your best free agent signing, maybe your expectations are pretty low this year too. If I'm a Nets fan, I'm probably more excited about three bobblehead giveaways on the schedule more than I am about the team's hopes for the playoffs.

22 Salah Mejri (Dallas Mavericks)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number four. I have to tell you, I couldn't pick Mejri out of a crowd 7'-1" Tunisian guys if you asked me to. However, he's in the right place at the right time for a bobblehead of himself. What the Mavs are doing this year is awesome. This would be like us Wizards fans getting handed a Jason Smith bobblehead. And yes, Wizards fans, I'd see that as a good thing.

25 J.J. Barea (Dallas Mavericks) / Matthew Dellavedova (Milwaukee Bucks)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number five. Wait a second, didn't they just have one of these? Yep. Like three days ago. Two bobbles in four nights?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Barea is probably a more celebrated pickup for fans than Mejri because of his role in the team's 2011 championship.

The same night the Mavs hand out J.J., the Milwaukee Bucks hand out their big offseason acquisition Matthew Dellavedova in bobblehead form. Dellavedova definitely hit free agency at the right time. He's set for life with that Bucks contract. As scrappy as he is and as much as I hated Delly with the Cavs, I wish the Wiz had have picked him up this past offseason. I'd be out front early for this one in Milwaukee.

29 King Cake Baby (New Orleans Pelicans)
Of all the bobbleheads being handed out in the NBA this year, I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing this one more than any other (yes, even more than Kelly Oubre, Jr.). I can't imagine what this thing is going to look like. A King Cake is a part of New Orleans' Mardi Gras tradition and inside each cake is a little plastic baby which symbolizes Jesus. Whoever gets the baby in their slice is supposed to have good luck. I see this thing as a creepy pink naked baby with an oversized head (actually aren't all babies' heads oversized?) or a pink baby emerging Alien-like from a multicolored slice of cake. Can't wait for January 29.

February
1 Andrew Bogut (Dallas Mavericks)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number six. Think January was a big month for Mavs fans on the bobblehead front with three? Think again because the Mavericks are handing out five in the shortest month of the year. They start with Andrew Bogut on the first of the month, whom they acquired in a salary dump from the Warriors in the offseason. If you are an Australia basketball bobblehead fan, you have to be thrilled at the possibility of Delly and Bogut in one season.

5 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Brooklyn Nets)
The Nets third new bobblehead this year (assuming the Brook Lopez Star Wars bobblehead isn't a liquidation of last year's leftover bobbleheads) gets handed out on February 5 and it's second year man Hollis-Jefferson after averaging 5.8 points per game as a rook.

9 Justin Anderson (Dallas Mavericks)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number seven. At this point, I'm getting tired of writing about Mavericks bobbleheads. Anderson was  the Mavs' first round draft pick in 2015. He averaged 3.8 points per game in the regular season last year as a rookie. This year, he gets a bobblehead.

11 Quincy Acy (Dallas Mavericks) / Mario Elie (Houston Rockets) / Reggie Miller (Indiana Pacers)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number eight. February 11 is one of two three bobblehead nights across the NBA and of course both those nights feature a Mavs bobble. The only thing I have to say about Acy is that he got ejected on Christmas Day 2014 for throwing a punch at John Wall. Acy's not a favorite of mine. Let's move on.

February 11 is Houston Rockets throwback bobblehead night number three, this one celebrating Mario Elie and his Kiss of Death shot against the Phoenix Suns en route to the Rockets' second NBA title in 1995. The shot came with 7.1 seconds remaining in the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals to put the Rockets up three. Right after the shot, Elie blew the Suns bench a kiss. Then he took the Rockets into the NBA Finals for a second straight title while Michael Jordan tried to play baseball down in Alabama.

The Pacers celebrate the 1990s with Reggie Miller. As a former Knicks fan, I am officially obliged to type I hate Reggie Miller. But there's no other choice here. Reggie's the greatest Pacer ever. I'm standing in line early for this one if I'm a Pacers fan.

13 Seth Curry (Dallas Mavericks)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number nine. Two years ago, we saw two brothers in Markieff and Marcus Morris get bobbleheads in Phoenix. This year, the Curry brothers get one each in Golden State and Dallas. Congrats, Seth!

26 Miles Plumlee Bobblehead Toothbrush Holder (Milwaukee Bucks)
Every so often there's an NBA giveaway item that is so amazingly profound as an idea that it deserves some special attention. If there's one this year, it's the Miles Plumlee toothbrush holder which features Plumlee in bobblehead form standing next to your favorite toothbrush. And it's no surprise that it's a product of the awesome NBA marketing geniuses in Milwaukee. How could this not get you off to a good start every day to brush with a bobblehead? I'd consider flying to Milwaukee for game day just to get one of these things. Although if I wanted it that badly, I'm sure it's cheaper to find one on eBay. As for the meaning behind Plumlee being on this one? Well, who cares? It's a freaking bobblehead and toothbrush holder for crying out loud. I expect households all over Wisconsin will have these in place by the morning of February 27.

27 Wesley Matthews (Dallas Mavericks)
Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number ten. Matthews and DeAndre Jordan were supposed to be the two players to take the Mavericks back into the NBA elite last year before Jordan reneged on his verbal commitment and bolted back to the Clippers. This year, Matthews joins Jordan on the bobblehead list for their respective teams.

March 

3 Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks) / Al McCoy (Phoenix Suns) / Kelly Oubre, Jr. (Washington Wizards)

Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number 11 (!!). Powell was filler in the Rajon Rondo to Dallas trade a couple of years ago. I honestly had to look up something to write about Powell and that's all I got. Just one more Mavs bobble to go and you might be able to guess who that is.

When the Suns first released their promo schedule this year, they had a WeArePHX Mystery Bobblehead on this date. I see now that they have changed this date to Al McCoy, who will be inducted into the Suns' Ring of Honor on March 3. Who's Al McCoy you ask (as did I)? Well, he's the radio broadcaster for the Suns and has been since 1972, having missed only a single game in the last 44 years. Well done and well deserved, I'm sure. That kind of dedication and loyalty is impressive.

Finally on March 3, Wizards fans get their annual lone bobblehead of the season when second year man Kelly Oubre, Jr. gets handed out in poorly painted resin form. This one should be cool: Kelly's hair is going to be more difficult to model and paint than the typical generic bobbleheads we sometimes see at the doors of Verizon Center and I'm dying to know if they are going to put him in short shorts. Guess we'll find out for sure on March 3.

8 Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)
While not so interesting as the King Cake Baby bobblehead the Pels are handing out January 29, I'd be stoked for an Anthony Davis bobblehead if I were a Pelicans fan especially if the team's 1-9 start is any indication of how the season is going to go down in the Big Easy. By the time we get to March 8, this 'Brow bobblehead may be the best reason to show up to the Smoothie King Center.

10 Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks)

Dallas Mavericks bobblehead night number 12 (of 12!!). The Mavs saved the best for last. As a Mavs fan, I'd be ecstatic on this night as I added Dirk to the 11 other bobbles from the 2016-2017 season on my bobblehead shelf. This truly is an embarrassment of riches. I'm jealous.

11 Jabari Parker (Milwaukee Bucks)
The fourth and final bobblehead in Milwaukee this year is a letdown in terms of genius level because it's not also a toothbrush holder but an upgrade in terms of players because Parker's just better than Plumlee. And it's sort of been a long time coming for Parker even though it's only been three years. If Milwaukee's going to get good any time soon, Parker's likely a key piece of that puzzle. 

12 Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers)

I saw the Pacers going one of two ways on their aughts bobblehead: Jermaine O'Neal or Danny Granger. Ultimately the Malice at the Palace was probably too much for the Pacers to bear to roll out a Jermaine O'Neal bobblehead for their golden anniversary. If the Wizards ever celebrate their past in bobblehead form, I assume Gilbert Arenas will lose out to Antawn Jamison for similar reasons.

24 Dwyane Wade (Chicago Bulls)
Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo, the other two Bulls bobble handouts this year, get distributed in back to back games in January. Bulls fans have to wait until late March to get their hands on returning hometown guy (and Marquette product) Wade. There's a ton of enthusiasm for Wade returning to Chicago for these next two years. No doubt he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. As a Bulls fan, I'd wonder how much he has left in the tank over a full NBA season while happily getting my paws on this gem.

April

4 Channing Frye (Cleveland Cavaliers) / Paul George (Indiana Pacers)

Frye is one of those guys who was just in the right place at the right time. After nine and a half seasons with New York (zero playoff appearances); Portland (one playoff appearance); Phoenix (one playoff appearance); and Orlando (zero playoff appearances), Frye got traded to the Cavaliers for Jared Cunningham (who?) and a second round pick. Cunningham never suited up for the Magic and is now in China; Frye is an NBA champion and has a bobblehead of himself.

Paul George is the eighth and final Pacers bobblehead this season. What a rush. Wish I was a Pacers fan for this reason and this reason alone. Although honestly if we are talking bobbleheads, I'd rather just be a Mavericks fan this year. There was no other choice here for the Pacers to celebrate the current decade. 

5 Tracy McGrady (Houston Rockets)

The last currently announced bobblehead in the NBA this year is on April 4 with the fourth of four retired player bobbleheads in Houston. T-Mac spent five and a bit seasons in Houston before stints with the Knicks, Pistons and Hawks. It's amazing to me how I lose track of former All-Stars' teams after they fell from grace. I still struggle to remember Patrick Ewing played for the Seattle SuperSonics and that Gilbert Arenas and Allen Iverson played in Memphis. I couldn't have told you McGrady played in New York, Detroit or Atlanta. McGrady's best years were in Orlando, but he managed three All-Star appearances in Houston which ain't bad I guess. 

This wraps the list for this year. Or at least my initial crack at it. There are 48 bobbleheads out there this season (49 if you count Mel Daniels and George McGinnis as two) which ain't too bad at all. This list is based on 17 of the 30 NBA teams publishing promotional giveaway lists for this year. The 17 are the teams who have bobbleheads listed above plus the 76ers, Hornets, Grizzlies, Jazz, Trail Blazers and Lakers, all of whom have decided to forego bobblehead handouts this year. Although it should be noted that Utah has three TBD dates on their schedule and the Charlotte Hornets are giving away Starting Line Up figurines. Not bobbleheads so not on this list.

There are also other bobbleheads out there to be had. The Denver Nuggets (as shown at the top of this post) are making a Dikembe Mutombo bobblehead available to fans purchasing a certain ticket package and the Washington Wizards have a really strange Bradley Beal bobblehead as part of their Kids' Club package. More on that when I get my hands on one of those. In the meantime, have at it NBA bobblehead collectors. Happy collecting.

I'm missing lists from the Celtics, Knicks, Raptors, Pistons, Magic, Heat, Hawks, Spurs, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Thunder and Kings. If any of those teams make their lists available anytime soon, I'll add theirs to this list.

NBA Logo Rank, Part 3

Part three of my logo rank represents the halfway point of this journey. While we have seen some pretty good designs once or twice before this, I'm astonished by the overall lack of stellar designs produced for the tons upon tons of money that I am sure was paid from the teams to their graphic consultants. I'm not sure my opinion of all that is changed much by this post. Let's keep going.

18. Atlanta Hawks

Alright, Atlanta, I admit it…the Pac-Man logo (top left above) is awesome and its return to the Hawks family of logos has to be welcomed with open arms. It's slightly different than the 1970s version and looks quite honestly less like Pac-Man eating a dot than its predecessor but it's still an awesome design and conjures up memories of Dominique Wilkins battling Larry Bird in an epic 1988 playoff series. Kudos on the retro re-brand introduced earlier this year.

But what was the club thinking with the rest of these logos and these absolutely hideous colors? Yep, the Pac looks great in traditional team colors red and white, not so much in putrescent green and black which makes me think of Mr. Yuk more than Atlanta hoops. And we already know how I feel about airport codes in team branding from my rant about the Phoenix Suns in part two of this countdown; at least the Suns logo surrounding the airport code is reasonably attractive. What's the deal with this crazy wordmark? Is there some sort of subtlety that I'm missing?

Finally, I'm also not a fan of the golden snitch logo (top right). I get it's a basketball with bird wings but the truncated top of the teardrop shape is awful and it really does look like Harry Potter should be racing to grab it ahead of Draco Malfoy. Quidditch anyone?

The Hawks are 18th because of the Pac. Nothing else. Could have been way lower.

17. Toronto Raptors

If you had asked me before I started this ranking how the Toronto Raptors were likely to place among the 30 NBA teams, my answer would likely have been "not well" or something to that effect. This team has a huge image problem in my opinion, mostly due to their absolutely incomprehensible nickname. I'm still pushing for a Huskies name change.

But lo and behold when I started looking at all the current NBA logos, I found that the raptor imagery, which started out as a less cuddlier version of Barney, has mostly gone away and the Raps have focused their branding around a basketball which looks like it's either held by or has been slashed by a velociraptor. No more cartoon dinosaurs, no more logos dripping blood, no more fossil imagery and thankfully no more purple. And thumbs up to all of that.

Now, let's remember this is still just one logo repeated three times and the font is terrible and it is only in 17th place, but it's actually a decent design and it's not cluttered with inferior secondary and alternate logos. Well done, Raptors. Never thought I'd write that.

16. Utah Jazz

Put the franchise name out of your minds, folks. I know jazz doesn't belong in Utah. This is not about the name; it's about the logos. And talking about the logos is pretty simple.

I hate the Jazz primary logo on the left above. It embodies Jazz in absolutely no way whatsoever, unless you are going to make the case for the "J" being a stylized saxophone. I think the mountains are great for Utah but for me this thing is a dead loss.

The musical note "J" logo however is a freaking work of art. I love the simplicity, clarity and genius of this logo. It screams jazz and basketball at the same time and it's absolutely brilliant. The Jazz re-introducing this look a couple of years ago was a huge step in the right direction of branding this franchise. But there's still that pesky Utah disconnect.

There's so much potential here but ultimately it's about the entire collection of logos, not just one. And, yes, I can't put the franchise name out of my mind. Rename this team. PLEASE!!!

15. Los Angeles Lakers

I love tradition. I love consistency. I love simple clear designs. The Lakers have all three. Their primary logo on the left above is uncomplicated and dates back to the franchise's move to Los Angeles in 1960, albeit in slightly different tones. And in that time the Laker tradition is probably unmatched in the NBA, even by the Boston Celtics.

But graphic mediocrity had to catch up with the Lakers sooner or later and it does so at number 15. This logo is of another time, and I don't mean that as a compliment. It's a basketball with the team name in front and some movement marks on the name to give the illusion that the name is moving really fast. There's just not much here and despite its simplicity and consistency of message over the last 45 years, it's just not very inspiring.

The Lakers introduced the way clunkier and not graphically attractive at all secondary logo (above right) in 2001. While it makes their original logo look sleek and sophisticated, it doesn't help out the Lakers brand at all. Let's move on.

14. Indiana Pacers

Combine the Raptors (recycling one logo into three separate logos) and the Lakers (simplicity and tradition) and you get the Pacers. And in my countdown, they end up ahead of both. They finish ahead of the Raptors because the logo they are using is better than the logo the Raps are using; they finish ahead of the Lakers because they were wise enough to not introduce a terrible secondary logo which makes their brand worse.

The Pacers started out in American Basketball Association with an abstract "P" (for Pacers) logo made up of an arm and hand shooting a basketball. They adopted the current look in 1990 and have refused to change it since. It's a testament to how poor the NBA family of logos is overall that Indiana can finish this high in my ranking with so little imagination.

I do like the center logo above, by the way, a lot. It has a high school or collegiate look that somehow feels very appropriate for a team representing the state of Indiana. If the Pacers ever re-brand, I'd keep that one as an alternate or secondary logo for sure.

13. Milwaukee Bucks

In this offseason, there have been two teams that have undergone significant re-branding. The Clippers look like they rushed the whole thing and were rewarded with a set of logos nobody has claimed to like which got them the number 30 spot by a mile in this ranking. The other franchise was the Milwaukee Bucks, whose new set of designs is both pleasing and a HUGE upgrade over their prior look.

There are a number of things I like about the new look Bucks. First off, the green, blue and beige colors are way better than the green and burnt orange they had last year and way way better than the green and purple they had before that. I hesitate to compliment any color scheme that features beige as a primary component but this is truly a color upgrade.

The second thing I like about the new Bucks logos is the connection to the state of Wisconsin. I don't know that I've ever seen the state of Wisconsin extracted from the rest of the United States but I think it works to smartly connect the city's team to the state with two borders less than an hour's drive to two other NBA teams.

I also love the basketball imagery in the lower points of the Buck's antlers (on the left) which is re-iterated in their third logo (on the right). It almost makes the dot after the "EST" and the awkward looking "M" in that logo palatable.

There are a couple of negatives for me. First, the font is horrible, although considering the "antler" font the Bucks had before this, it's a big improvement. Finally, I can't get over the fact that their primarily logo looks like a hunter shot their mascot and mounted its head on the wall of his basement den as a trophy. Maybe I don't get the idea of a deer being ferocious. Wouldn't be the first time I've offered that opinion.