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 2015

Last fall I got angry. Like really angry. So angry in fact that I was downright peeved. About the lack of bobblehead giveaways on the Wizards' promotional schedule. Important stuff. So to relieve my pent up aggression I wrote a blog post about all the scheduled bobblehead nights on the NBA schedule as far as I could glean from checking out teams' websites and hunting for the giveaway or promotional or whatever else it was called schedule.

The intent behind that blog post was to embarrass my home team by demonstrating that successful NBA teams hand out free bobbles to their fans as a way of rewarding their support, not just as a means to get people in the door on a slow night. What it ended up being was a one stop checkpoint for serious bobblehead collectors looking to take to the road to enhance their collections. At least I like to think that's what happened. Regardless of whether that happened or not, I haven't been able to find any other nationwide current bobble list (with analysis) centered on my favorite sport so I decided this year I'd do it again. I'm hoping all franchises, not just the Wizards, take note this year.

Just like last year, I'm sure I missed some. There's only so much information I can get off the internet. Some teams just ain't telling. I know I missed the Larry Johnson bobblehead handed out by the New York Knicks last year; that can't be the only one. (And yes, as a side note, the Knicks gave away more bobbleheads than the Wizards last year; the KNICKS! The Knicks don't give away anything.) Also just like last year, if you are really using this as a guide to collect the maximum number of free NBA bobbles possible, you already missed some. What can I say? Some teams are just way ahead of the available information. Anyhow, here goes. Again. Welcome  to the 2015-2016 NBA bobblehead roundup.

October

5 San Jose Sharks Edition Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)

13 MVP Edition Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)

15 MVP Edition Andre Iguodala (Golden State Warriors)

Last year the Golden State Warriors proved they are the gold standard on the court and in terms of bobblehead giveaways, holding six bobbehead nights including two in the preseason. The preseason!!! Who does that? This year, they duplicate their outstanding effort last season and offer up another half dozen for what might be the most rabid fan base in the NBA.

And this preseason they are really not fooling around, scheduling three giveaways before the opening tip of any game that really matters. The three they are offering in October include Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala holding the Larry O'Brien and their personal MVP trophies (Steph for the regular season; Iggy for the NBA Finals) plus a Steph Curry bobblehead with a San Jose Sharks jersey on. That's right, the Dubs are so flush with bobblehead nights that they have to dress their star player in another sport's jersey to fill their slate. Impressive! The game WAS in San Jose but still...

November

4 James Harden (Houston Rockets)

Last year the Rockets gave away a James Harden / Dwight Howard combo bobblehead. This year, they can't seem to stray from that path because they are offering up both of those guys in bobble form again, although this time on two separate nights. Two things about this year's beard bobblehead: first, it's a "Stir-It-Up" bobblehead which I guess refers to the hand motion that Harden employs when he scores a critical basket. Second, there are only 3,000 of them. That's an incredibly small number. I'd have been there when the doors opened last week if I was a Rockets fan.

12 Andrew Wiggins (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Just like the Warriors, the Timberwolves have decided to get serious this year in the bobblehead department, offering up five nights of bobbles. Does this reflect the T-Wolves' optimism for the new season? Or are they hoping there is a direct correlation between bobbleheads distributed and their won-loss record? I'm hoping for Minnesota's sake that it's the former because hoping for the second one is just not smart. First up is Andrew Wiggins, the number one overall pick in the 2014 Draft and the 2015 Rookie of the Year. Not a bad place to start.

24 Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors)

Draymond Green signed a five year, $82 million contract in the 2015 off-season. This year, the Warriors' second round selection in the 2012 NBA draft is the highest paid player in his draft class. Sometimes it pays to drop out of the first round. It worked for Gilbert Arenas (also selected by the Dubs) in 2003 and it's working for Green this year (next year Anthony Davis will be the highest paid 2012 draftee). As a reward, not like he needs it, Draymond gets his own bobblehead night this year.

27 Bobby Jackson (Sacramento Kings)

The Sacramento Kings have a new owner, new general manager and new coach. Pretty soon they'll have a new arena which is pretty exciting. For this season though, Kings fans will have to settle for six bobblehead nights in the former Arco Arena for one last year. That's correct, you read that right…this year the Kings are giving away six bobbleheads. They finish tied for first in this department. They are not likely to be tied for first in any other positive category again this year.

What makes the Kings bobblehead lineup special is that there's a theme. Each bobble represents a celebration of an important event in franchise history. Some of these are pretty special. I love the DeMarcus Cousins All-Star bobblehead available on December 15; I also like the February 19 date, which has Reggie Theus scoring the first Kings points in California. But the first one's a bit of a dud; it's a Bobby Jackson bobblehead celebrating the time he dove into the crowd during a playoff game and got smooched on the head for his effort. I have no issue with Jackson getting his own bobblehead but I'm not sure we need a story like this concocted to justify its existence.

December

8 Joe Johnson (Brooklyn Nets)

After trying and failing miserably to buy an NBA Championship with one of the largest payrolls in NBA history and not being able (I'm totally guessing here) to spare some cash for the occasional bobblehead night, the Brooklyn Nets are all in this year, offering up three separate nights where bobbleheads of their remaining halfway decent players are distributed  at the door. First up is Joe Johnson, who's making a cool $25 million this season. Nets fans finally get a piece of Johnson's action. He may be worth about as much as a bobblehead as he is on the court at this stage of his career. Can you say overpaid?

14 Brook Lopez (Brooklyn Nets)

Is Brook Lopez a Star Wars fan? Or actually a Jedi knight? Or just the victim of the latest professional sports' Star Wars night? I have no idea which one but he shows up in a box for Nets fans on December 14 holding a light saber in his Nets warmups. Perfect Christmas gift for the die-hard Brooklyn fan who can't make this one.

15 DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings)

The second of the Kings' six bobbleheads this season has Cousins in his 2015 All-Star duds (see below). I think this is terrific. What a great way to celebrate DMC's accomplishments last year. Too bad for newly minted Kings fans that this is the only date of six that gives fans a bobblehead featuring someone actually on the team's roster this year.

23 Shaun Livingston (Golden State Warriors)

Livingston was drafted with the fourth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. In his third season, he suffered one of the most gruesome injuries ever seen in the NBA when he dislocated his left kneecap and pretty much destroyed every part of that joint. By every account, it looked like his career was done. No way does someone recover from this sort of injury. But Livingston did, making his comeback with my own beloved Washington Wizards during the 2009-2010 season. The Wizards lost Livingston after that season and he won his first NBA title last year with the Warriors. If I had unlimited funds, I'd fly out for this one. There's a soft spot in my heart for Shaun. He's the first of two former Wizards this year to receive bobbleheads.

26 Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Minnesota has the 2014 Draft number one overall pick in Andrew Wiggins and the 2015 Draft number one overall pick in Karl-Anthony Towns. As of this writing, it appears Towns is the only 2015-2016 rookie to get his own bobble. I guess being first has its privileges. Overall, this is a strong second of five bobble from the Wolves.

30 Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls)

Jimmy Butler seems like the least obvious guy to be a star player on a successful NBA team but he is. He's basically Chicago's Kawhi Leonard: their best defender and potential leading scorer for years to come, although right now he's one All-Star appearance ahead of the Spurs' Leonard. He's almost starting to overshadow former league MVP Derrick Rose, who is NOT on the bobblehead schedule this year for a team which is not averse to giving repeat player bobbles out year after year. Well deserved here from Jimmy Butler.

31 Jrue Holiday (New Orleans Pelicans)

Last year the Pelicans handed out one bobblehead of their mascot, Pierre T. Pelican. This year, they are also handing out a single bobblehead: of Jrue Holiday. I think Holiday's an interesting choice. He's arguably the fifth most recognizable player on the roster behind Anthony Davis, Tyreke Evans, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon. But as a fan of a team who I wish would make more role player bobbleheads, I applaud this choice. Holiday was an All-Star a few years ago when he was with the Sixers but that almost seems like it didn't happen. I'd be all over this if I was a Pels fan.

January

4 Thaddeus Young (Brooklyn Nets)

Brook Lopez gets a bobblehead with a light saber and Jedi robe. Thaddeus Young gets a gladiator bobblehead. What the hell is going on in Brooklyn??? With an 0-7 start, Nets fans may be wondering the same thing. Show up for this one, Nets fans. Three bobbleheads may be the best thing you get out of this season.

14 Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors)

Last year Splash Brother #1 (Steph Curry) got one bobblehead; this year he gets two. But this year, backcourt mate Klay Thompson is not left out, getting one to complement MVP Steph and San Jose Sharks Steph. Klay seems like an obvious choice for a team desperate to pump out as many bobbleheads as possible each year. Yes, I'm jealous every time I write something about the Warriors' bobble schedule.

20 Dwight Howard (Houston Rockets)
What's the old saying? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? There's a Dwight Howard bobblehead being given out by the Rockets on January 20. Second year in a row for Howard and the Rockets. That's all I have to say here. There…wasn't that nice? Not a Dwight Howard fan.

21 Peja Stojakovic (Sacramento Kings)
Peja Stojakovic is the third of six Kings bobbleheads. Peja is being celebrated by the Kings as the three point king, which he certainly was for this franchise when he played there. He's the second of four members of the early 2000s teams that were so good and so close to the NBA Finals but ultimately never reached the top. More on those teams later.

23 Zach LaVine (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Other than actually winning games, the Timberwolves had some success last year. Andrew Wiggins (as previously noted) took home the ROY hardware and Zach LaVine managed to finish first in the Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend last February. From my perspective sitting in the lower bowl of Barclays Center, I was in total agreement. Well deserved. I'm hoping the Wolves celebrate that accomplishment somehow someway when they hand out miniature likenesses of Zach on January 23.

Not this year's Joakim Noah bobblehead giveaway. Chicago's not averse to multiple issues of the same player.

February

18 Iman Shumpert (Cleveland Cavaliers)

I hate the Cleveland Cavaliers. I love that they give out bobbleheads of bench players. But I hate the Cleveland Cavaliers.

19 Reggie Theus (Sacramento Kings)
Next up for the Kings in their once a month bobblehead extravaganza is Reggie Theus, who played for and later coached the Kings for half of his three year contract. Theus is let into the almost but not quite Kings team party to celebrate his accomplishment as the first King to every score a basket in Sacramento. It's a good thing I guess that someone less meaningful to the team didn't hit that first bucket. I'd be less than thrilled with a Theus bobblehead, but then maybe I lack historical perspective for this team. I shouldn't talk smack here I guess since I've never even set foot in Sacramento. I promise I will when they move into their new digs.

20 Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Andrew Wiggins on November 12, Karl-Anthony Towns on Boxing Day and Zach LaVine in late January. Who the heck is going to pass to these bobbleheads? Well, on February 20, Minnesota fans will have bobblehead point guard Ricky Rubio to do just that. This seems like a totally logical fourth bobble giveaway from the Wolves.

21 Joakim Noah (Chicago Bulls)

For the second year in a row, the Bulls have a Joakim Noah bobblehead night. Can I just re-write what I wrote in last year's post about Noah? Since that seems like a bit of a cop out, I'll just paraphrase, which I realize is about the same thing. Noah is still my favorite non-Wizard, non-former Wizard player in the league. Need any proof? Just watch what he said about Cleveland in a post-game press conference. I've already done this like 50 times. There would always be room for a Noah bobblehead on my shelves at home, if I allowed non-Wizards / non-Bullets bobbleheads to be displayed in my home, that is.

March

11 Vlade Divac (Sacramento Kings)
Vlade Divac night in Sacramento adds more love for the team that almost won a conference championship. Why so much fuss about this team at this time? Well, maybe, just maybe, it's because Vlade's now running the show this year in Sactown. What better way to celebrate your new job than to have a bobblehead made of you and all your friends (well, not Chris Webber apparently) to be distributed to the local fans. It would work on me, for sure. I guess I can't wait for Antawn Jamison to start running things for the Wiz. I'm not picking on Vlade here. He's one of my favorite ex-players who never donned a Wizards uniform. I loved watching Vlade play ball. If there's a list of bobbles I'd travel for this year if I had all the money and more that I wanted, this one would be first on the list, even ahead of Shaun Livingston. Will Vlade be wearing his GM uniform (a suit) or his playing uni?

19 Pau Gasol (Chicago Bulls)
Pau Gasol night is the third of three bobblehead nights in Chicago this season. How did the Lakers ever let Pau get away. This guy just puts up numbers. Well deserved addition to any Bulls fan's bobblehead shelf.

23 J.R.Smith (Cleveland Cavaliers)

I still hate the Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm also no J.R. Smith fan. Having said that, I'm lining up for this one if I'm a Cavs fan.

April

5 Mike Bibby (Sacramento)

The party in Sacramento wraps up on April 5 with the release of the Mike Bibby bobblehead. Bibby's bobble celebrates his buzzer beating shot vs. the Lakers in game five of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. The Kings wouldn't win another game that season unfortunately. Bibby is the second ex-Wizard to have a bobblehead night this year, although he almost wasn't here, playing just two games in Washington during the 2010-2011 season before agreeing to a buyout and joining the Miami Heat, where he did not win a title. Yes, I'm smug about that.

10 TBD / Rumored to be John Wall (Washington Wizards)
I pleaded and begged and did everything I could to get the Wizards to make a series of bobbleheads this year, even going so far as to create some marketing materials and plan four bobbleheads for our sponsors. I guess I should feel glad that I got one in the second to last home game of the season. As of the publish date of this post, the Wizards website still identifies this giveaway as "bobblehead." The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg seems to have somehow found out this is John Wall. Again. Now I know beggars can't be choosers but I already have three team issued John Wall bobbleheads. I was really hoping for something different. Obviously. I'm hoping this will be something different than Wall in his uni. Maybe an All-Star Wall to match former Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins?

13 Gorgui Dieng (Minnesota Timberwolves)
The last free bobblehead of the season (at least right now) is up in Minnesota. It's also the most obscure. If most NBA fans were asked to identify Gorgui Dieng, I'll bet they couldn't. Hell, I couldn't even recognize him and I watch probably more than my fair share of pro hoops. I'm not even sure I really know how to pronounce Gorgui's name. This one's a bit of a head scratcher. By the same token, I love it. The deeper into rosters teams start to go to get bobbleheads to their fans, the better off we all are! Bravo, 'Sota!

So that's it. For now. I'm sure there are some others that will be snuck out there that I've missed. If you are a more serious NBA bobblehead collector than me, you can start booking your flights now. December looks like it's going to be a busy month.

I am missing some teams' schedules for the year. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Indiana, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Dallas, San Antonio, Denver and Oklahoma City fall into that category. I'm also missing the Clippers' post-November schedule. For some strange reason, the Clips are releasing their schedule month by month. I guess that gives the team an opportunity to change their direction based on pesky blog posts whining about the lack of bobbleheads league wide.

Of the teams that have published their schedules, Detroit, Milwaukee, Memphis, Portland, Utah and Phoenix are bobblehead-less so far, although I guess they could always change that now they have been called out in this blog post. Take notice teams: bobbleheads are no joking matter. Get your sponsors to commit early and often to bobblehead nights. More bobbleheads are a good thing. I'll keep an eye out through the season. Maybe I can add a few here and there.

NBA Logo Rank, Part 2

Last Saturday I posted part one of my five part ranking of NBA logos, which is serving as my distraction or methadone (whichever you prefer) for the lack of NBA activity this month. I have to do something to keep my mind occupied. I expect the NBA schedule to be released sometime in the next week or so. Until then, let's get to part two of this countdown.

24. Cleveland Cavaliers

It's no secret that I have no love for the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise, their star player, their second star player, their fans or their owner. That lack of love is not, however, the reason why I put the Cavs 24th on this list. Their logos just aren't very good. I dislike the diagonal wordmark and the huge basketball in their primary logo in addition to the sword running in the opposite diagonal direction. There's no refinement or grace in this logo and it's just too busy.

The secondary or partial logos are a little better although I don't understand how the flag is staying on the razor sharp cavalier's sword unless it's just dull. My favorite by far would be the center logo above. Without my glasses on it looks like a red cocktail onion on a miniature sword toothpick, which is an image far more appealing than anything to do with the Cavaliers, especially if I haven't drunk the martini I'm imagining the logo came from yet.

I just think the Cavaliers branding is clumsy. Better than the Clips, Thunder, Nuggets, Pistons, Kings and Mavs but that's about it. And I wouldn't blame Mavs fans for being upset that they fell one spot behind here.

23. Orlando Magic

Let's get this out of the way right away: I actually think the Magic's partial logo is OK. Maybe even more than OK. Maybe good. It's difficult to draw these non-tangible names like the Thunder, Heat and Magic so on that level, I think the folks who designed Orlando's logo actually did a pretty good job. There are some teams ranked way higher in this list who have one good logo as their saving grace. 

But for me and the Magic, I just have one question: is that it? I mean all you have is a shiny basketball with a swooshy looking lightning bolt thing with three stars. Really? That's all you got? I need more out of my basketball team logos. I'm sorry but I just do.

I'm also offended by the font in the primary logo, especially the word "Magic". Where did they find these letters? I'm especially irked by the middle leg of the "M"; why isn't it as long as the other legs of the letter. I'm disappointed by the lack of complexity here. Good effort but it's like getting a naked hamburger patty when I really want a complete sandwich complete with all the trimmings.

22. Phoenix Suns

Why the Phoenix Suns roll out the logos above when they have one of the best NBA logos of all time stashed away in their closet is beyond me. But let's imagine I let that go and evaluate the collection of images based on their own merits relative to the offerings from the rest of the teams in the league.

I'm actually OK with their primary logo. The suns have been using some variety of the streaking skyward basketball sun for a while now and I think it works. I'm not sure I'd put it in the sort of leaning parallelogram with two rounded corners but it's still alright.

It's the other two logos I have a real issue with. The design on the right is especially awful. The colors are terrible (yes, I know they are the Suns colors), the shape of the logo is weird and the negative space sun looks like the logo has been scratched and bitten my some hideous unseen monster. It reminds me of the really really really bad Syracuse University "Artsy SU" logo that the school adopted in the early '90s which most students compared to a stylized dollar sign, which is all the University seemed to care about back then.

Finally, I have to take issue with the "airport code" logo. The graphic of a basketball on fire with a phoenix rising from the image of the flames is I guess acceptable. But an airport code? Really? The concept makes me shudder, especially when I think about the YYZ Raptors or the MSY Pelicans. Not sold. Please, Wizards, never adopt a DCA uni, although I guess it would be better than IAD.

21. Houston Rockets

The Rockets are a team that's suffering from the same sort of malaise that the Magic are suffering from: one logo recycled over and over again, only they do it just a little bit better, even if it's just in the font that they chose. I think the primary Rockets logo is actually fairly pleasing. Depending on the day, I either see the design as two rockets shooting towards space or one rocket on the rise with the scaffold holding it in place next to it.

For those of us who can remember back this far, this Rockets logo replaced one of the worst logos in NBA history, the vicious cartoon rocket racing around a red basketball Earth. Sort of creepy. For that fix alone, the Rockets deserve the 21 spot, no matter how inventive or un-inventive they are. The logo was created when Houston was anchored by Chinese star Yao Ming, which explains the sort of Chinese calligraphy feel to the letters spelling out the name of the team.

If the primary logo here is a success, the secondary or alternate logo is a bit of a fail. The three rockets in the "HR" logo look more like a bank of surface to air missiles ready to shoot down an aircraft invading whatever airspace they are protecting. Good to have in real life maybe but I can do without them in my hoops branding.

20. Minnesota Timberwolves

When I was a kid, I used to spend hours in study hall, mostly in sixth grade, drawing sports logos, mostly football and hockey. Back then, it seemed like all the logos were fairly easy to draw which made them appealing as simple expressions of something that could bring fans together. 

The Minnesota Timberwolves logos are the exact opposite of those logos I used to draw as a kid. How can any 11 or 12 year old possibly draw these things? Just look at how complicated they are. For that reason and that reason alone, the Wolves are relegated to 20th place here. I admit, I'd struggle as a budding architect with some drawing ability to hand sketch the Cavaliers primary logo or the Phoenix Suns airport code logo, but I know I could take a shot at the cocktail onion on a sword shaped toothpick or the ugly Suns graphic pretty easily.

There's nothing necessarily that wrong with Minnesota's logos, they are just too complicated for kids to draw. OK, so I really don't like the wolf howling at the basketball moon. I'm just not into it. Can't quite explain why. Next!

19. Brooklyn Nets

If the Timberwolves logos are too complicated, here's some relief: Brooklyn's ain't. These things in fact might be a little too simple. But somehow they work well enough to crack the top 20 on my countdown.

When I've assembled these lists of mascots, names and logos over the past two years or so, there have been some teams in whichever countdown which move around a lot from their initial placement. Brooklyn is that team in this ranking. I initially had the Nets placed at 27th, but the more I look at these designs, the more I'm convinced that simple is OK here.

Don't get me wrong, the shield shaped logo is poor at best and there's no way any of these things work if they are represented in any colors other than just plain old black and white, but there's an appealing straightforwardness to the "B" in the ball with or without the text ring around it that seems to represent what Brooklyn is all about. And I love the fact that the text in the center logo says "Brooklyn New York" rather than "Brooklyn Nets." It's all about the simple blue collar borough here. It works well enough to place 19th, which in reality is not that much to be proud of.

NBA Team Name Rank, Part 2

Two weeks ago, I posted Part 1 of a promised three part series about NBA team names. Gotta do something to keep my mind on the NBA in August. Here's Part 2.

Category Five: Not Relevant But Alliterative

I can just hear the cries of woe coming from Cleveland now. Yes, the next two nicknames are not relevant and are also incredibly boring, just like the Cavaliers. And yes, the Cavaliers name is alliterative and the Kings name is not. And why am I even separating boring non-alliterative names from boring alliterative names? All good points and questions, but it's my blog and the Cavs ain't going in the same category as the Wizards. No way, no how. And let's face it, nobody from Cleveland is likely to read this anyway.

20. Sacramento Kings

The NBA traces its history back to the 1946-1947 season when the league began life as the Basketball Association of America or BAA. By the start of the 1949-1950 season, the league had been re-named as the National Basketball Association and the Kings, or Rochester Royals, as they were named at that time, were aboard as part of the partial merger with the National Basketball League in 1948. Since they joined the now-NBA, the Kings have had more names than any other franchise except one, mostly due to their continual movement west. Their evolution starts with the Rochester Royals and continues as follows: Cincinnati Royals, Kansas City-Omaha Kings, Kansas City Kings and finally the Sacramento Kings.

As a nickname, the Kings is OK, sort of middle of the road but not relevant at all, especially since the Kings have never been Kings of the NBA (the Royals were once, in 1951). The Kings come in at number 20 only because their name used to be alliterative in Kansas City and to tweak folks in Cleveland. I'm not sure their original name, the Rochester Seagrams, named after the company they played for, would rank any higher on this list, although it's certainly less generic. Shaquille O'Neal famously referred to the franchise as the Sacramento Queens but we won't go there here.

19. Washington Wizards

I see the Wizards placing 19th on this list (as opposed to first on last year's mascot rank) as proof that my rankings on totally subjective NBA issues don't always favor my beloved D.C. hoops team, although placing them this high is probably a little bit of a homer pick. I just finished writing about how the Kings are the second most named franchise; the Wizards finish first in this category and they blow the Kings away in terms of nicknames. Not sure that's a good thing; I'm just saying.

The Wizards joined the NBA for the 1961-1962 season as the Chicago Packers. A year later, they changed their nickname to the Zephyrs. One year after that, they moved to Baltimore and re-named themselves the Baltimore Bullets (they were the second Baltimore Bullets franchise to exist). The year 1963 often appears on Wizards merchandise as the team's founding year, especially when Abe Pollin ran the team. From there, a little nickname stability kicked in, although the team moved. The team was re-named the Capital Bullets for the 1973-1974 season after a move to Landover, Maryland and a year later they became the Washington Bullets which stuck until 1997 when they became the Washington Wizards. Phew! Glad all that's over.

As a name, Wizards honestly is not very good. The name was chosen in one of those oh-so-brilliant public contests (see Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavalier in Part 1 of this ranking) that NBA franchises sometimes participate in and so something like Wizards was really to be expected. The name beat out Dragons, Express, Stallions and Sea Dogs. Honestly, I sort of feel lucky we ended up as the Wizards. At least it's alliterative. Let's move on.

Category Six: Relevant But Blah

So finally we are into franchise names that are relevant in their current locations (other than the Milwaukee Bucks which were covered in the first part of this series). From here on out, there's some good stuff and it gets better with each team. Unfortunately, the first two relevant team names are a little uninspired. The worst of the best, if you will.

18. Dallas Mavericks

So Texas has cowboys, right? And cowboys ride horses, right? And everyone loves cowboys, right? Well, maybe not everyone but enough to base a team name on, right? All that is true, but horses is sort of a weak name so Dallas decided to use the name Mavericks, which is really in the truest sense of the word a name for a stray cow. I'll give the Mavs the benefit of the doubt and say their name is relevant. But it's bottom of the barrel relevant.

17. Minnesota Timberwolves

Just like the Mavericks name is OK because there are horses in Texas, the Minnesota Timberwolves name is OK because there are wolves in Minnesota, although wolves are actually pretty darned fierce so the name qualifies on the intimidation / I'm afraid of the actual thing that you are named after scale. The team name (again) was the result of a public contest and Timberwolves beat out Polars (thank God!). Kudos for the Timberwolves for not adopting either of the city's two ABA franchise names, the Muskies or Pipers. Timberwolves is much better.

Category Seven: Singular Plurals / Weather Related

I hate singular team names; just don't like them at all. It's a personal preference but I've known other people who have felt the same way. Oddly enough, two of the NBA's singular team names are weather related. I'm not sure why, but since there's another sort of weather related team name out there, I've put all four of these into a single category. I just feel the need to categorize, I guess.

16. Orlando Magic

Take one guess how the Magic got their name? That's right, it was a contest, this one sponsored by the Orlando Sentinel. The name beat out Heat, Tropics and Juice. You have no idea how much I long for the Orlando Juice. Can you imagine how ridiculous a Juice home game would be against the Washington Sea Dogs or the Minnesota Polars. The juice would have to have orange uniforms, right?Anyway, as a nickname for Orlando, I guess the Magic name ain't bad. There is allegedly no connection to Disney World (aka the Magic Kingdom) but, come on...really? Who's kidding whom here?

Honestly, I got nothing here. How do you show a picture of thunder?

15. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder popped up on the NBA nicknames list in 2008, when the team bolted Seattle and left the Supersonics name behind. Good move, here. The Supersonics, named after Seattle's proximity to Boeing's headquarters, doesn't work in Oklahoma. The name was chosen because of the vicious storms the state experiences yearly but also because the United States Army's 45th infantry division, also known as the Thunderbirds, resided in Oklahoma City from their founding in 1920 to their deactivation in 1968. That last part is really awesome, actually.

14. Miami Heat

I get it...Miami is hot. Hot = Heat. Cool!

I still think the Suns should change their mascot to the Jimmy Dean Sun. Just saying...

13. Phoenix Suns

The Suns finish at the top of this category, if only because they do not have a singular nickname, which I've already expressed some disdain for. Oh...and it's hot in Phoenix, just like it's hot in Miami. I guess the Sun is hotter than heat (although that could honestly be debated) and Phoenix is hotter than Miami so that works too.

Category Eight: Accidentally Relevant

Sometimes franchises move from one city to another, refuse to change their nickname and end up with a moniker that makes no sense for their current location (see Category Two in Part 1). Other teams get luckier. With no intent in mind, these franchises moved and somehow the names worked better than in their original cities.

12. Detroit Pistons

So the Pistons are named for the automotive industry that has been the calling card of Detroit for decades, right? Detroit is the "motor city" after all. Well, that's true but the Pistons name has nothing to do with Detroit. The Pistons were named after Fred Zollner's company, a Fort Wayne based outfit which happened to manufacture pistons for automobiles and trains. The team began play in the NBL way back in 1941, initially as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, although by 1948 the Zollner part of the name was gone, shortened simply to the Fort Wayne Pistons. Zollner moved the team to Detroit in 1957 and impressively, gave the team name some thought. Ultimately, he decided the team name worked in Detroit, which it most certainly does.

11. Houston Rockets

OK, so we were wrong about intuitive thoughts on the Pistons name, but the Rockets have to be named  after Houston's prominent role in NASA's space flight programs going all the way back to the Mercury program, the program that featured the first American manned space flights, right? Ummm…no! Like the Pistons, the Rockets are transplants (this time from San Diego) who retained their original name because it just worked. The original name selection was based on the local (San Diego) development of the Atlas rocket; obviously the name worked even better in Houston. The Rockets beat out the Pistons for 11th in my ranking because they are just way more impressive. I'm not really confident I could draw a piston; I know I can draw a rocket.

So that's it. 11 through 20 done. Only the top ten remain. You'll have to wait a week for that.