Logo Talk

With Wednesday’s announcement of Oklahoma City’s team name and accompanying logo, it lead me to think about the logo universe, or, more specifically, the solar system of logos, if you will, of the NBA.

Which are the best? Which are the worst? And, what is the best way to go about ranking them? These are the questions, dear readers, which plague the mind of a man writing for a blog devoted to a team which no longer exists.

And so, I put pencil to paper and roughed out a plan. I thought of how I used to draw logos on my notebook as a kid, and what was it that made one logo better than another. With that in mind, I came up with four categories for rating the logos. They include:

1. Colors
2. Lettering
3. Image (e.g., the Wizard in the Wizards’ logo)
4. Uniqueness

Then, I graded each logo on a sliding scale (5 for excellent, 0 for horrible) in each category. After totaling the numbers, I split the logos up into four categories:

LOTTERY TEAMS – The worst of the worst
.500 CLUBS – Better, but not high art
CONTENDERS - Good, but not perfect
CHAMPIONS - Everything a logo should be

(If you’d like to play along, you can see a full page of NBA logos here, and the rankings here.)

LOTTERY TEAMS
Detroit, Lakers, Orlando, Sacramento, Charlotte, Miami, New Jersey, Phoenix, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Clippers.

The Clippers were the worst performer, rating only 4 points out of 20, and they were the only team to score a 0 in multiple categories (image and uniqueness). The only reason the Lakers fared any better than their neighbors was they at least at the idea first. Granted, the idea sucked, but they came up with it. Suffice it to say that writing your team name on the front of a basketball isn’t going to cut it in this system (I’m looking at you, Detroit). Sacramento’s logo is too purple for my tastes and a bit garish, Miami’s is boring, Phoenix’ looks like something from a European volleyball team circa 1985, San Antonio’s has possibilities but lacks excitement, and Charlotte’s is straight out of first-year graphic design. The less said about Oklahoma City’s logo the better. Did I forget to mention Orlando and New Jersey? That tells you how inspiring their logos are.

.500 CLUBS
Portland, Atlanta, Houston, Memphis, New York, Toronto, Utah.

These weren’t horrible, but they weren’t exciting, either. I love Utah’s lettering, but the lack of any image at all bores me. Portland’s colors are great, but does anything else about that logo stand out? The Hawks mediocre logo is saved by the Hawk design, which at least gives the viewer something to hold onto, unlike the Knicks, who sabotage their unique colors and strong lettering with a boring background. Houston gets points for the Asian-styled lettering, but not for much else. Some people really like the Grizzlies’ bear, but I think it looks like it came out of Microsoft Clip Art. Likewise, Toronto’s design gets more dated with each passing year.

CONTENDERS
Dallas, New Orleans, Washington, Chicago, Denver, Indiana, Philly, Cleveland, Minnesota.

Now we’re talking. The first five-pointers of the rankings begin to show up, including New Orleans and Washington (Who loves the Wiz? I do!) for their images and Denver for its lettering. In fact, I could be persuaded to move up the Hornets to the top tier if I looked at their logo long enough. I’m not as enamored of the wine and gold Cavaliers as others, but it’s still a nice piece of work. The Bulls strong colors keep them close to the top, and I’ve always been a sucker for that Indiana P: Stylish in its very simplicity and retaining the ABA flavor without getting too retro about it. Philly’s bold styling gets noticed here, and Minnesota’s combination of an average image and above-average lettering vaults them to the upper class. Dallas’, though, is the best of this grouping, because it manages to be strong and new, but not garish.

CHAMPIONS
Boston, Golden State, Milwaukee.

Many will disagree with me, but I love the Milwaukee Buck. The purple is annoying, but you don’t get as much of it in the logo as you did on the jerseys. Plus, the lettering is pretty solid. I’ll admit it, it’s not as great as their old logo, but it’s still better than 90% of the competition. Face it, when was the last time you saw a pro sports logo that looked like it belonged at a state park?

As for the Warriors, the blue man logo is solid, the colors are great, and the lettering for “Warriors” is fantastic – classic and modern all in one go. Yet another reason why I’m beginning to think that – were I to follow the NBA this year and abandon my plans to stalk David Stern – I would follow the Warriors.

The ultimate champion, though, has to be the Celtics. First of all, the leprechaun is completely unique and well designed and the colors are, well, they’re classic NBA colors, right? The Celtics are the Yankees and the Packers and the Dodgers – they transcend mere sporting art and are part of our national heritage. And that is why the Celtic logo is the preeminent logo for the NBA.

NBA Tube

Terrific video from half-time of a playoff game in 1987, which includes, among other nuggets:

- A young James Brown channeling his inner Billy Dee Williams

- A lengthy profile of Bernie Bickerstaff

- Update on the draft status of Derrick McKey and Vincent Askew

- Larry Brown's new contract with Kansas

- An ongoing cocaine/gambling investigation involving Dennis Johnson (!), Jack Sikma (!!), and Paul Mokeski (!!!)

Remember when half-time meant one guy giving highlights, and did NOT mean four people trying to speak as loudly as possible while still managing to not utter anything of importance?

Yeah, I miss those days, too.

Thunder

According to an OKC sports blog, the new logo for the ex-Sonics is ... this.

I suppose one could make a comment regarding the quality of the logo, but, honestly, anything I say regarding this is just going to come off as sour grapes, regardless of the merit of my opinion.

So with that in mind, permit me to make one positive comment about the logo (assuming, of course, that this is indeed the actual logo and not just something cooked up at a factory outside of Beijing): It is very easy to draw, and, if life has not changed too drastically since I was in grade school, there will be many Pee-Chees adorned with this logo in the great Oklahoma City area this fall. For all the 8-year-old boys, who, like me, spent the greater part of fifth grade drawing various professional sports logos on their schoolwork, today is a good day.

So it's got that going for it, anyway.

A Year in the Life of Howard Schultz

Click to enlarge.

Mini-Hiatus

The Supersonicsoul Worldwide Headquarters is observing an extended pre-Labor Day break this week and shall return next Tuesday. See you, as they say in this biz, "after the jump."

Reign Forecast for Seattle

As first reported by Brian Robinson at sonicscentral.com, Shawn Kemp will make a - albeit brief - return to KeyArena tonight at 7:30 pm as part of the 3BA basketball league.

Founded by AC Green, the league shrinks the team size from 5-on-5 to 3-on-3 in an attempt to provide fans with more offense and excitement.

(As I recall, this is similar to what happened when Alton Lister and the Sonics used to battle Moses Malone and the Hawks. Those big fellas would often gather for a little confab at one end of the court while the other four players on their respective teams would battle on the other. No sense breaking a sweat if you don't need to, right?)

Anyhow, as I was saying, Kemp will join the roster of the Seattle team tonight against Portland. Alongside the Reign Man will be, among others, Donald Watts and Jamie Booker, while Portland features David Lucas and CJ Miles (Gary Washburn has the full story here).

The game will also be broadcast on FSN on Sunday at 6 pm on a tape-delayed basis. Tickets are available at the stadium, or online here, and range from $4 to $23. Considering the situation, it is about 100% likely this is the last chance anyone will ever see Shawn Kemp play a competitive game in uniform in Seattle. That, to me, despite the odd style of play and the semi-pro atmosphere of the league, makes this a pretty big deal.

Marshall Waived

That's Donyell, not John, in case you wondering. As the headline from cavsboard.com put it, "The Sonics would have traded us Wally and Delonte for some cardboard boxes."

Yes, but only if the boxes had those little holes for you to put your hands in on the side. Otherwise, it would have been no-deal.

SSS HOF #5: Nate McMillan

He came to Seattle as unheralded as an autumn rain, a point guard from the other side of the country, plucked from the second round of the 1986 draft by a team fresh off consecutive 51-loss seasons.

That two decades later he would be one of the most, if not the most, beloved players in team history was not just unexpected, it was impossible. What was it about Nate McMillan, a player who never averaged more than 7.5 points in any season, a player who started fewer than 400 games in his dozen-year career, what was it about this man that made him such an essential part of the Seattle Sonic basketball experience?

I’m reminded of a passage from Roger Angell’s “Late Innings,” wherein he tried to explain what made Willie Mays such a joy to behold. “You can take apart a watch, but not a sunset,” Angell finally concluded, leaving the reader to imagine him casting his hands into the hair.

McMillan was no Mays, to be sure, but he was as integral to the Sonics’ success for the 12 years he spent in Seattle as any player in team history. Mac-10 was the ultimate glue guy, the consummate teammate, the type of player any coach in the league would have relished seeing in the locker room before a crucial game.

Twice named to the 2nd-team All-Defensive Team, it was on that end of the court upon which McMillan made his mark in the league. At 6’5”, he could defend either guard – and many small forwards – with ease. To cap off his brilliance as a defender, in 1993-94 McMillan would lead the entire league in steals, averaging three per game.

Even that accomplishment was understated, for a closer look at the top five that season shows just how unbelievable his accomplishment was. The four players who ranked behind Nate that year, starters all, averaged 2,800 minutes apiece.

McMillan played 1,800.

That’s how he was, though, and that’s why we loved him. Other players would have bemoaned their fates after seeing the parade of replacements brought in for him – Sedale Threatt, John Lucas, Avery Johnson, Gary Payton all donned Sonic jerseys during his tenure – but McMillan soldiered on. With the arrival of Payton in 1990, McMillan never again started more than 30 games in a season, and injuries further curtailed his minutes.

But you never heard a peep from him. Like the rest of us, Nate suffered while the Sonics flamed out season after season in the playoffs. Living in Southern California in 1995, I can still painfully recall seeing him with his head in his hands after the Sonics fell to the Lakers in the first round, another 50-win season tossed in the garbage. His angst needed no commentary, his grief at seeing the dying embers of his career smoldering right in front of him needed no explanation.

Living on borrowed time as an NBA player, McMillan had to know time was growing short on his shot at a title. With the Sonics’ ascendance to the promised land in 1996, it should have been his chance to show the rest of the country why Nate McMillan was every bit the defensive player we believed him to be.

Sadly, it was not to be. Waylaid by injuries once again, McMillan watched from the sideline for most of the series. His emotional return to the floor in game four was the impetus behind Seattle’s victory, and I can still hear the standing ovation he received from a delighted KeyArena crowd that night. The Sonics’ failure to capture the title that season was almost secondary, from my viewpoint, to McMillan’s failure to play up to his abilities on the national stage.

At this point, a writer would turn to numbers to aid him in painting the greatness of the one whom he profiles, but going into statistics to explain McMillan’s place in team history is a fruitless task, because his greatness to us belied his numbers. For the same reason Yankee fans loved Phil Rizzutto and Celtic fans loved John Havlicek, Sonic fans loved Nate McMillan, unconditionally and devotedly.

Asking me to explain my affinity for McMillan would be like asking a child why he likes a parade or asking a mountain climber why he likes to stand on a summit. It is a relationship built upon years of successes and failures, upon memories of alley-oops and picked pockets, upon flat-top haircuts, hiked-up socks, and furrowed brows.

Quite simply, I like Nate McMillan because to not like him would never occur to me.

Ridnour Relocation

For the entirety of his Seattle Sonic career, Luke Ridnour bore the designation of "bad defense."

Merited or not (and, towards the end, it's safe to say that his poor defensive reputation began to become a bit overdone), ask any Sonic fan which player - Earl Watson or Ridnour - deserved to be the starting point guard, and the answer invariably came back "neither." Instead, we wanted a hybrid of the two: Watson on defense and Frodo on offense.

So, it was with a chuckle that I read this quote from Scott Skiles in the aftermath of Milwaukee's acquisition of Ridnour last week. When asked how the former Sonic will impact the Bucks, Skiles said:

"One way or another, we are going to be a much better defensive team."

Really. I'm not making this up. You can read the whole story here, courtesy Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

It's slightly stunning, to say the least. Acquiring Ridnour for his defense is a bit like buying a Hummer for its gas mileage or marrying Kim Kardashian for her high moral values.

Or, looked at another way, just how bad was Mo Williams on defense that Luke Ridnour is an improvement?

Local Updates

The Howard Schultz lawsuit against PBC has now been set to begin June 15th, 2009, according to the Seattle Times. Given that that date is still 10 months away, there's plenty of time left for all sorts of emails to surface, on both sides of the courtroom.

In other news, the 3 season ticket holders suing the PBC have turned to an innovative solution to the situation - free tickets to see the Oklahoma City Thunderballs. As reported by Greg Johns in the PI today, the three wish to retain their "priority seat" number, and as the expense of traveling to OKC is greater than the value of the tickets, they want free ducats from the PBC.

If his hair were long enough, I'd bet Clay Bennett would want to pull it out after hearing this latest ploy.

Il Uomo di Reign

After weeks of rumors and speculation, Shawn Kemp officially became a professional basketball player - again - on Sunday, signing with Italian team Premiata Montegranaro to a two-year, 1.5 million hamburger contract.

A few quick notes about Premiata Montegranaro:

1. Team photo here (and, guys, that look was old in 1987)
2. In addition to Kemp, the Montegranarians have also signed former Duck Bryce Taylor
3. Kemp will wear number 40
4. The team's first game will be October 5th against Bologna
5. The population of Montegranaro is about 12,000, a number which may increase exponentially with Kemp's arrival, given Italy's views on birth control
6. Montegranaro is about 2 1/2 hours south of Bologna and 3 hours north of Rome

Hey, the Sonics are gone, is it really that bad of an idea to visit Italy and get a chance to see Kemp dunk for one last time?

"Honey, remember how I was always promising you a trip to see Rome and Florence? Well, let's do it!"

That's Not What We Mean by Fiddling

There are bad off-seasons, then there are Vincent Askew off-seasons.

On the heels of Askew's on-again, off-again, on-again coaching tenures in the ABA comes word that the former Sonic has landed in hot water in Miami.

Askew, 42, was arrested by Miami-Dade police on Wednesday and charged with three counts of sexual battery. He is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl at a hotel in Florida.

No word on how this will affect Askew's coaching career, such that it is, but I'm guessing his chances of joining his former coach and fellow CBA veteran George Karl on the sidelines (if there were ever any to begin with) went from exceedingly unlikely to Mitt Romney-Duet-with-50 Cent unlikely.

Dare I say, Vincent's off-season has gone slightly askew?

(Hat tip to Hacksaw for the link).