Slam Dunk Central

This is the third part in my NBA nicknames series as well as the final version documenting the Eastern Conference teams. There have been some great stories thus far behind the names of the Southeast and Central teams, but I am looking forward to the following teams.

Boston Celtics: The team which has won more NBA titles than any other (16) was created in 1946 in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and joined the NBA three years later after the BAA and National Basketball League (NBL) combined forces. There are two parts to the naming of the Celtics. The first part comes from the Original Celtics, a barnstorming basketball team of the 1920s based in New York City . Although the team?s overall record is unofficial, they finished one year with a 193-11-1 record. Evidently, they traveled up to 150,000 miles per year and played 150-200 per year. The American Basketball League (ABL) practically forced the OCs into joining the league in 1926. The team, and the league, disbanded by the 1930s but the team as a group was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959. This is a long-winded way of saying the Boston Celtics owners wanted to re-create the dominant attitude of the Original Celtics on their own team. The second part is a bit more confounding. The Celtics, or Celts, were a people that inhabited many different regions of Europe throughout the first millennium. In modern times, the term Celtic was used to describe the languages and cultures of many northern Europe countries, including Ireland . Since Boston has long been a destination for Irish immigrants, it became a sensible name for a team. It was as much a marketing ploy to attract fans to games as anything else.

New Jersey Nets: You must be thinking that this nickname is as simplistic as any, especially after that Celtic explanation. After all, basketballs are shot at basketball hoops, which have nets! So Nets is a reference towards the team putting the ball through the net, right? The more a team scores, the likelier they are to win, thus attracting more fans, correct? Well it is not even that complicated. The Nets formed as the New Jersey Americans in 1967 as part of the American Basketball Association (ABA). After the Americans moved to Long Island from New Jersey for their second season, the team name was changed to the Nets so that it would rhyme with the NFL?s Jets and MLB?s Mets, both of which also played on Long Island.

New York Knicks: This is a fun one. The name Knick is short for Knickerbocker. Knickerbockers were a style of pants (rolled up to just below the knee) that Dutch settlers wore when they first inhabited New York in the 17th century. As history wore on, and the Dutch continued to reside in New York , knickerbockers became a recognizable part of New York City culture. In fact, a fictitious character, named Father Knickerbocker, became a symbol for New York City in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Additionally, there was a baseball team formed in 1845 in New York City which took on the Knickerbockers as the team name. It was a Manhattan-based team which became the first organized baseball squad in the sport?s history. When the BAA granted a franchise to New York City in 1946, Ned Irish, the club founder, thought it would be appropriate to call the new basketball team the Knickerbockers. The team name was shortened to the Knicks and it has stuck ever since.

Philadelphia 76ers: This franchise was originally formed as the Syracuse Nationals in 1939, making them the NBA?s oldest team. The Nationals joined the NBL in 1946 and then the NBA upon the league?s inception in 1949. Syracuse was the hometown for the team until 1963, when the team was sold and moved to Philadelphia . A name change was instituted, and in a fan contest, the 76ers name held the deepest meaning. Philadelphia is obviously the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. As a patriotic salute to the city?s impact in the United States of America?s?history, the 76ers name stuck.

Toronto Raptors: Toronto was awarded a franchise in 1993. The irony was that Toronto had a team, the Huskies, which formed in the BAA in 1946, but folded just one year later. When Toronto was offered a second chance at a professional basketball franchise, there was a nationwide push to nickname the new team the Huskies, in honor of the old team. However, the leaders behind the new franchise thought it would be too difficult to design a Husky logo that would be noticeably different from the Minnesota Timberwolves? logo. Thus, another community wide voting contest ensued. The contest was narrowed to ten names: Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas and Terriers. Vancouver , the other newly minted franchise at the time, was the more sensible choice for Grizzlies. The team settled on the Raptors, since this contest took place right after Jurassic Park had riveted moviegoers around the world. Remember, kids love dinosaurs. Dinosaur mascots are easily marketable to youngsters and businesses love any kind of product that kids adore, since parents are so eager to entertain their kids. Much like the Washington franchise changing their name to the Wizards because of the obvious marketing appeal to kids, Toronto had similar dollar signs running through their heads. Thank goodness Tarantulas was never chosen. Can you imagine