He lost all respect in San Diego but kept the Clippers name. Basketball fans there were asked to choose a nickname for the team. 25 Interesting Historical Photos – Part 42, 25 Interesting Shower Thoughts – Part 250. I was sitting around the house, kicking these names around with my wife and three sons, when my little son Mark said, ‘Dad, that’s a bunch of bull!’ I said, ‘That’s it! The name was derived from the city’s fierce resistance to British occupation during the Revolutionary War, which prompted the British commander, Lord Cornwallis, to refer to it as “a veritable hornet’s nest of rebellion”. Deltas would've translated to Salt Lake City rather well (the airline of the same name has a hub there), while Cajuns may have been even worse than Jazz. The list included, Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs (Toronto’s nickname is Hogtown), Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, and Terriers. 10. Seattle Supersonics (duh) Louisville (or would they use Kentucky?) When asked to name the new club, SuperSonics won by a landslide. After spending some time together checking out Orlando’s attractions, Pat took Karen to the airport for her flight home. Sie gilt als die mit großem Abstand stärkste und populärste Basketball-Liga der Welt. Bobcats: “The Charlotte Bobcats team will be as athletic, fierce and hard-working as the bobcat itself,” noted owner Bob Johnson, who referred to the animal that is being used for the first time as the name of a professional sports franchise. “No one wants to meet up with a bobcat in the woods, and that’s the feeling we intend to create on the court with our team’s new identity.”, 2. Basketball team names with a professional influence are popular but sometimes work effectively. The short answer: Less than 10,000. In addition the Charlotte 49ers and Davidson Wildcats of the NCAA play annually for the Hornets’ Nest Trophy. When the Clippers moved to Los Angeles in 1984, they kept their nickname. "Minnesota is the only state in the lower 48 with free-roaming packs of timber wolves," a team official said. The team moved to Commack, N.Y., the following year and changed its name to New York Nets, after one of the most important parts of the basketball game — the net. When the team moved to Detroit in 1957, Zollner dropped his name from the nickname but retained Pistons. We’ll call them the Bulls!’ And that’s how the team got its nickname.”. “There had to be 10,000 entries at least,” he remembers. When the NBA's Buffalo Braves moved to San Diego in 1978, the owners wanted to rebrand the team with a new nickname. When the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City after the 2007-08 season, fans voted on potential nicknames from an original list of 64 possibilities. And soon, the Blazers (or Trail Blazers) became a household word in Portland and within seven years worldwide as “Go Blazers” and “Blazermania” became bywords when the city gained a major world championship in its first try. 28. the only … The Sonics were founded as an NBA expansion franchise in 1967. The name depicts energy and an omnipresent power, and brings to light what is hoped to be the wise and magical nature of the team. Tom Benson said in a statement, “The Pelican is a symbol for our city and region, and we’re excited to start a new era in Louisiana basketball history. When the team relocated to Memphis before the 2001-02 season, FedEx was prepared to offer the Grizzlies $100 million to rename the team the Express, but the NBA rejected the proposal. In October 1986, the owners of Miami's expansion franchise selected Stephanie Freed's Heat submission from more than 20,000 entries, which also included Sharks, Tornadoes, Beaches, and Barracudas. After initially tabbing “Mounties” as the team’s name, a tribute to Canada’s iconic Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the franchise instead changed the name to “Grizzlies”. When a pair of investors relocated the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League to Minneapolis before the 1947 season, they sought a name that would ring true with the team's new home. !.....Good, so are we. In 1996, team owner Abe Pollin decided to adopt a nickname that portrayed a non-violent image, and selected Wizards. The names of the 17 entrants who submitted “Timberwolves” were placed in a drawing, which was won by Tim Pope of Brooklyn Center, Minn., who received a trip to the 1987 NBA All-Star Weekend in Seattle. Klein was considering Matadors and Toreadors when his young son exclaimed, "Dad, that's a bunch of bull! Plus, the fan base would extend beyond Omaha to include Lincoln, Neb., and western Iowa. To download this Excel XLS file list of the teams in the NBA (National Basketball Association), simply right click on the link below and “Save As” to save the file to your computer. 13. Rockets was picked because it reflected the outstanding growth of space-age industries in San Diego. The nickname was unique in professional sports at the time. (Best logo ever.) Put your own spin on the name. Bucks: This team’s nickname was selected from more than 14,000 contest entries, and the winner was R.D. For my Kentucky Colonels NBA logo, I knew I had to pay homage to the classic ABA Kentucky Colonel logo used for the team from 1967-1976. Trailblazers: Just two weeks after Portland was granted an NBA expansion franchise on Feb. 24, 1970, Harry Glickman, then executive vice president of the club, announced a public “name the team” contest. What's a Zollner Piston? Nuggets, an allusion to the city's mining tradition and the Colorado Gold Rush during the late 1850s and early 1860s, was chosen via a name-the-team contest. 4. What Happened to the Seattle SuperSonics? Though the Pistons enjoyed a solid local following, their city’s small size made it difficult for them to be profitable. 18. On May 15, the team’s new moniker, the Toronto Raptors, was unveiled on national television. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional men's basketball league, consisting of 30 teams in North America—29 in the United States and one in Canada. 17. Pittsburgh. The other finalists included Jays, Foresters, Towers, and Presidents. Treblicox of Whitefish Bay, Wis. His choice of Bucks for the club that entered the NBA in 1968 won him a new car. 8. Hornets: Originally, the new team was going to be called the Charlotte Spirit, but a name-the-team contest yielded “Hornets” as the winning choice. There are plenty of cities that deserve NBA teams. The term “trailblazing” is associated today with those on the cutting edge of discovery in such areas as space exploration, science, medicine and technology. Despite Wisconsin’s hunting tradition, the most popular entry in the contest to name Milwaukee’s NBA franchise wasn’t Bucks. Visit ESPN to view NBA team stats, schedules, rosters, depth charts and more 12. The judges overruled the public and decided on a more indigenous (and much stronger) name. The team colours were to be bright red, purple, black, and “Naismith silver” – in honour of Canadian James Naismith, who invented the game of basketball in 1891. Please let us know if you are unable to find the right list or format of NBA Teams. In 1957, Zollner moved the team to Detroit, a much larger city that hadn’t seen professional basketball in a decade. Jazz: In 1974 a contest was held to name the expansion team in New Orleans. Five thousand entries with over 500 names were submitted. Many of these settlers found homes in and around New York City, where a cartoon drawing of Father Knickerbocker became a prominent symbol of the city. 25. "The grand gamble of the pro leagues", now the idea of pro team sports in sin city is a debate in its own. In the early 1990s, Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin was becoming frustrated with the association of his team's nickname and gun violence. Kings: Were Royals in Cincinatti and Rochester. After reconsidering their first decision to call the team the Aztecs (several teams already used that name), the judges (investors and local press representatives) settled on Spurs. And Boston is full of Irishmen.”. According to Yahoo's Marc J. Spears, they "considered the nicknames Krewe (groups of costumed paraders in the annual Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans) and Brass," but settled on Pelicans—after the brown pelican, Louisiana's state bird. Knicks: The term “Knickerbockers” traces its origin back to the Dutch settlers who came to the New World — and especially to what is now New York — in the 1600s. A name-the-team contest was held and fans voted on a list of finalists that included Wizards, Dragons, Express, Stallions, and Sea Dogs. They decided on Juice, alluding to the area’s orange groves…until a team … Wizards then switched the name to the Chicago Zephyrs only after a year. It may have just been a coincidence that one of the team's main investors, Red McCombs, was born in Spur, Texas. Boston Celtics. “The predominance of bucks led us to the name.”, 3. The United States is home to 29 teams; another is in Canada. The local newspaper sponsored a name-the-team contest, which club officials monitored before choosing Grizzlies, an indigenous species to the area, over Ravens. “There were 172 people who sent in the name ‘Trail Blazers’,” Glickman said. Philadelphia 76ers. The club joined the NBA in 1949, and in 1951, the franchise relocated to Milwaukee, where the nickname was shortened to Hawks. 1. (Though Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog wrote a very detailed history of the name change, and called into question the impact Rabin's death had on the decision.). I would go with the "Las Vegas Gamblers" or the "Las Vegas Aces" (already used in Reno), but I do not think the NBA would go with those. 14. With that said, let’s look at the seven worst team names in NBA history, starting it off with a team who made a move just a few seasons ago. The Boston Celtics and New York Knickerbockers are two NBA teams that started and still play in the same NBA city and have the same team name. Donald Sterling bought the Clippers during the 1981-82 season and relocated them to his native Los Angeles in 1984. In 1970, they became a regional franchise called the Texas Chaparrals, then they relocated to San Antonio in 1973. The New Orleans Pelicans announced an expansion team in Birmingham, Ala., which will play in Erie starting in 2019-20, and is expected to relocate to Birmingham in 2022, following the renovation of Legacy Arena. Shinn decided to sponsor a name-the-team contest and had fans vote on six finalists. More than 9000 ballots were cast and Hornets won by a landslide, beating out Knights, Cougars, Spirit, Crowns, and Stars. 6 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Suns: Of course, Jerry Colangelo, then-general manager of the new franchise, went on to select “Suns” out of the 28,000 responses received in the “Name the Team” contest. The other 1,282 entries ran through a number of different categories, including animals, fish, political interests, outer space, already-existing team names, some names that had to be researched in a dictionary and a potpourri of nicknames that no specific category could claim. A total of 4,296 entries were submitted and after a committee was selected to review the entries, four names emerged as finalists – the “Heat”, the “Tropics”, the “Juice” and the “Magic”. Why is a team in Los Angeles nicknamed the Lakers, and what's a team called the Jazz doing in Utah? Die 1960er gelten heute als die Jahre der Celtics-Dynastie, da die Mannschaft der Boston Celtics zwischen 1957 und 1969 insgesamt elf Meisterschaften gewann, davon acht hintereinander. Could have been Firebirds. Also, Nets rhymed with other New York sports franchises, baseball’s Mets and football’s Jets. And, for the second time, Jazz had been born in New Orleans. Sonics/Thunder : The nickname for this franchise, which entered the NBA in 1967, was inspired by the Boeing plant in Seattle. The SuperSonics had been named for the Supersonic Transport (SST) project, which had been awarded to Boeing. The team was nicknamed the Blackhawks, who, like Chicago's hockey team, were named after the Sauk Indian Chief Black Hawk. Springer, a freelance writer, said the nickname "represents the independent, flamboyant style of the Dallas people. New Jersey Nets. Upon moving to Kansas City, changed name to similar “Kings” to avoid confusion with Royals of baseball. The choice could have been much worse: Skunks was among the other entries. A group of San Antonio investors purchased the Dallas Chaparrals from the American Basketball Association in 1973 and decided to hold a public contest to rename the team. When the team relocated to the Motor City, the name Pistons was still appropriate in the nation’s automobile capital. Mavs: A Dallas radio station sponsored a name-the-team contest and recommended the finalists to team owner Donald Carter, who ultimately chose Mavericks over Wranglers and Express. Of the more than 10,000 entries, Pioneers was the most popular, but was ruled out because nearby Lewis & Clark College was already using the nickname. “It really wasn’t very popular when fans first heard it, but of course we all know that changed,” Glickman remembers. The ownership group of Toronto's prospective expansion team conducted extensive marketing research across Canada in 1994 and held a nationwide vote that helped team officials come up with a list of potential nicknames. Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez of the Brooklyn Nets | Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images. The 41 fans who suggested Mavericks each won a pair of tickets to the season opener and one of those fans, Carla Springer, won a drawing for season tickets. Here's the story behind the nicknames of all 30 teams. If the NBA is ever serious about expansion, these eight cities should be at the top of the list. (Locations taken from Wikipedia.) Yamhill between 5th and 6th Avenues. In 1948, the team dropped “Zollner” from the name and became the Fort Wayne Pistons, competing in the Basketball Association of America. Rockets was chosen via a name-the-team contest and was a reference to the city's theme, "A City In Motion. Nuggets: The franchise was known as the Denver Rockets when it entered the American Basketball Association in 1967. 27. After seven seasons, and with entry into the NBA looming, Denver team officials renamed their club. Specifically, it refers to the style of pants the settlers wore … pants that rolled up just below the knee, which became known as “Knickerbockers,” or “knickers”. The NBA originated in 1946 with 11 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions and relocations currently consists of 30 teams. The franchise relocated to Brooklyn in 2012. While the group pondered which one of the finalists would be selected, Williams’ 7-year-old daughter, Karen, paid a visit to her father from the family’s home in Philadelphia. Magic: So a contest was held with the Orlando Sentinel for fans to submit their picks for the name of the future team. The team set sales records for the first day after the nickname was revealed. Previous nicknames for the franchise when they were still in Chicago include Packers and Zephyrs. The same year, an NBA expansion franchise named the San Diego (now Houston) Rockets began play. I also think that Tampa deserves a team, and if it were to have a name … Wizards: In 1946, the Baltimore franchise was nicknamed Bullets after a nearby ammunition foundry. All Rights Reserved, Advice: How to get people to take your authority seriously. San Diego (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) When Vancouver was awarded an expansion franchise in 1994 to begin play the following season, the team's owners had tentative plans to name the team the Mounties. Other entries included Floridians, Juice, Orbits, Astronauts, Aquamen, and Sentinels, but the panel of judges, including Orlando team officials who reviewed the suggestions, decided to go with Magic. Where did Hornets come from? Nets: The New Jersey Americans were charter members of the ABA in 1967. When the original investors agreed to start a team, they were dining in a posh club called the Chaparral Club. They rendered their decision and only one task was left: to determine the winner of the contest. 21. In this tutorial you'll find out how to do that. The Top 5 Cities for the Next NBA Relocation or Expansion Team. Cavs: In 1970, Cleveland’s newspaper, The Plain Dealer, held a contest to name the city’s new basketball club. According to Michael Leo Donovan's book on team nicknames, Yankees to Fighting Irish: What's Behind Your Favorite Team's Name, the Pacers' nickname was decided upon in 1967 by the team's original investors, including attorney Richard Tinkham. 16. The one-syllable directness of the Bulls was also in line with Chicago’s other team nicknames—Bears, (White) Sox, Cubs, and (Black) Hawks. "It sounds like a girls' softball team to me," Steve Kerr told reporters at the time. The Philadelphia Warriors, named after the 1920s team that played in the American Basketball League, won the championship in the inaugural 1946-47 season of the Basketball Association of America. Packs of timber wolves, ''  Steve Kerr told reporters at top. Are n't many good nicknames left nba expansion team names be a special time for the first expansion... Pistons primarily for car, truck and locomotive engines rich harness and auto racing history name should get... From Denver that played one season ( 1949-50 ) in the Seattle Area to California in 1985 the Golden Warriors... An apt description for current team owner Mark Cuban Detroit, a type! 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