Slam Dunk Central

This is the fourth installment of the ongoing NBA nicknames series. The Eastern Conference has been taken care of, so now we dip into the Western Conference. We’ll start with the Northwest Division.

Denver Nuggets: The current Nuggets were established in the ABA in 1967, but were known as the Rockets. Ironically, that same year the NBA introduced the San Diego Rockets to Southern California . As the Denver Rockets moved into the mid-70s, their inception into the NBA became inevitable. Since they didn’t want to be confused with San Diego ’s franchise, they decided to change their name to the Nuggets. This change was a nod to the first Denver Nuggets franchise, which played its one and only NBA season from 1949-50. The source for the Nuggets nickname derived from the gold and silver nugget mining boom in Colorado ’s 19th century.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Minnesota was the lone Western Conference representative in the four-team NBA expansion of the late-80s. Very simply, Minnesota is not only home to a great amount of lakes, but also timberwolves. The state actually has a greater of the animal than any of the other lower states.

Portland Trail Blazers: The Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 and there was a fan contest held to determine the name of the franchise. Over 10,000 entries were entered and the first choice was the Pioneers, an ode to Lewis & Clark’s journey along the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Ocean . However, Lewis & Clark College , a small college in Portland , already claimed the Pioneers as its nickname. Thus, the second most popular nickname was declared the winner. The nickname Trail Blazers still honored the impact of Lewis & Clark’s discoveries. We can be sure that in 1970, Portland ’s fans didn’t think of the convenience of the team’s name more than 30 years later when it would suffer from its players running in trouble with the law.

Seattle Supersonics: Still one of the coolest sports team nicknames, Seattle named its new NBA team after the booming local aerospace industry. The franchise entered the NBA in 1967, at a time when a small Seattle-based company named Boeing won a competition to build the first American supersonic transport. This idea for transportation delivers its passengers to its destination at speeds greater than the speed of sound. Much the same way Shawn Kemp used to deliver his dunks.

Utah Jazz: Utah and jazz make about as much sense together as oil and water. Or mustard and chocolate. Or even Republicans and Democrats. Nevertheless, the nickname has stuck with a team that plays in what you can call a “jazz-less” region. The franchise moved to Utah from New Orleans in 1979. The New Orleans Jazz were born in 1974 and were named after the region’s influential jazz scene. After sharing its losing ways with the NFL’s Saints (ironically, the name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who founded Utah ), the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City , Utah . The team’s owner at the time, Steve Battistone, supposedly moved the team to Utah because that was his wife’s native state.

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