Mar

8

The Stories Behind The Names, How Your NBA Team Got It?s Handle Part 5

Posted by Kyle Stack under Main 

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Part 5 of the NBA nicknames series takes a look at the Southwest division in this piece. This has been a fun adventure researching the reasons behind each NBA team?s nickname. Although there are fairly obvious reasons why certain teams have the names they do (see Miami ?Heat?), other teams have had more descriptive reasons (see Atlanta ?Hawks?). Anyway, today is the Southwest division and soon after this, we will dip into the greatest division of them all, the Pacific division (greatest being only if you grew up in California ).

Dallas Mavericks: The franchise began play in the NBA in 1980 and was quickly named the Mavericks after the hit TV show in which one of the owners starred. Yes, James Garner from Maverick and as the ownership?s most recognizable member, determined the name of the team. The TV show was set in the Old West, so a team located in Texas had the regional authority to represent a show set in that location.By definition, a maverick is a person who operates independently, a ?non-conformist,? according to Wikipedia. At the time of the Mavericks? inception, the NBA was in dire straits. NBA Finals games were broadcast nationally on tape delay. The Magic-Bird era was just beginning, but hadn?t yet justified the hype that surrounded it. Michael Jordan was still in college. Cocaine was as much a threat to the integrity of the league as steroids would be to Major League Baseball in the ?90s and 2000s. Perhaps Dallas thought they could, in some small way, change the fortunes of the league. They would pave their own path in the NBA, essentially, and wouldn?t follow the misfortune that was gripping opposing players, teams and, in general, the league. This is just my theory, and it might be completely inaccurate, but it is a thought into the meaning of the name ?maverick.?

?Houston Rockets: The Rockets actually originated in America?s Finest City, San Diego. They were formed in the NBA in 1967 and were named the Rockets because San Diego was the city in which NASA?s Atlas Rockets were made. The rockets were used as space vehicles and satellites. In 1971, the franchise was sold to a group of investors who relocated to Houston. The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and Mission Control was situated in Houston, giving the aptly-named Rockets further meaning. Rockets are aggressive pieces of equipment that burst sharply through the air at ever-increasing speeds, much the same way a basketball team would like its players to perform.

Memphis Grizzlies: The Griz entered the NBA simultaneously with Toronto?s Raptors in 1995, as part of an NBA expansion into Canada . While the Raptors represented Canada East in Toronto, Ontario, the Grizzlies were located in Canada West, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver was originally supposed to be called the Mounties, after? the Royal Police Force of Canada. However, the Mountie’s official organization disapproved of the name and the NBA franchise had to find a different nickname. Since British Columbia is the northernmost region of the Rocky Mountains, Vancouver?s NBA franchise was a natural fit for the northern Rockies? most recognizable animal, the grizzly bear. Vancouver became the Grizzlies. As the team?s dismal play continued through the ?90s, Vancouver?s support of the team waned, relocation was considered a possibility. The team was sold to a different ownership group and moved to Memphis, Tenn. beginning with? the 2001-02 season. Even though grizzly bears fail to exist in Tennessee, the nickname stuck anyway. Considering the team?s continued poor play, the Blues would be a more appropriate name.

New Orleans Hornets :? We have reviewed the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic. The Hornets were the other team added to the NBA in the late ?80s. The franchise began in Charlotte in 1988 and played in the Eastern Conference.The team was named the Hornets in a fan contest after the name Spirit was voted down. The meaning by ?Hornets? traces back to the origin of the U.S.A. The city of Charlotte provided a terrific amount of resistance to British forces during the Revolutionary War. As British frustration mounted, the great British general, Lord General Cornwallis, exclaimed that the defiant city was ?a veritable nest of hornets.? In later years, various minor league baseball teams were coined the Hornets. Therefore, the new NBA franchise became the Hornets.After years of fighting among Hornets owner George Shinn, the NBA and various Charlotte city officials, the franchise moved to New Orleans to open the 2002-03 season. In another case of Western Conference misused identity, the franchise kept the nickname ?Hornets,? no matter how irrelevant the name is in its new city.

San Antonio Spurs :? The last of the Texas-triumvirate, the Spurs were originally the Dallas Chaparrals. The Chaparrals formed in the ABA in 1967 and by 1970 were known as the Texas Chaparrals. The franchise was sold and then moved to San Antonio before the 1972-73 season. The ownership group renamed the team the Gunslingers, an outstanding name that surely would have been renamed in the politically correct 2000’s had it made it that far. The team was renamed the Spurs before it ever played a game as the Gunslingers (or ?Slingers, as I would have called it). A “spur” is a loud, round metal tool worn on the heels of riding boots and is synonymous with the Wild,Wild West culture that is deeply apart of Texas. The functional use of spurs is to kick horses in the side as a way to increase their speed. Of course, in the old Western movies, the spur?s functionality is also as a sound device integral to the prototypical cowboy?s wardrobe.



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