Mar

9

The Stories Behind The Names, How Your NBA Team Got It?s Handle Part 6

Posted by Kyle Stack under Main 

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Loyal readers of SDC have become accustomed the past week to finding the NBA nickname series running on this fine Web site. I thought of this idea as a way to educate myself and you readers on an often overlooked part of professional sports. This has been a fun journey through the meanings of NBA nicknames and it now concludes with the Pacific Division. I hope you have had as much fun reading this series as I have had researching it.

Golden State Warriors: The name Golden State is perhaps more interesting than Warriors in the case of this Oakland-based franchise. Oakland is obviously a city located in the Bay Area section of California . California has been officially nicknamed ?The Golden State? since 1968. I have always been amazed that a bigger deal hasn?t been made of the Warriors being named after the nickname of their home state. Can you imagine the Lone Star State Cowboys or Sunshine State Marlins? Anyway, the Warriors franchise began in Philadelphia in 1946 with the Basketball Association of America. Eddie Gottlieb, a coach and general manager with the flagship Warriors franchise, coined the team name after an earlier professional basketball team in Philly. In 1962, the team was moved to San Francisco and then went to Oakland in 1971. The popular ?The City? retro uniforms are from the team?s San Francisco era (1962-71). That?s why the logo has the Golden State Bridge . The bridge is more synonymous with San Francisco than Oakland.

Los Angeles Clippers:The Clippers are another West Coast franchise that draws its roots from the opposite coast. They originated as the Buffalo Braves in 1970 and held that title until 1978, when NBA team owners voted 21-11 in favor of the Braves relocating. The team moved from snow Buffalo to sunny San Diego and became the San Diego Clippers.San Diego is a harbor for many types of ships, including clippers, which are fast sailing ships. The reasoning for them being called clipper ships is that they cut, or clip, through the water, much the way a basketball player cuts, or clips, through a defense to the basket.The Clippers moved up the coast to Los Angeles in 1984 and kept the name.

Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers formed as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League in 1944. They moved to Minneapolis in 1947 and became the Lakers, since Minnesota , the state in which Minneapolis is located, is the ?Land of 10,000 Lakes.? After the team moved to Los Angeles in 1960, the team kept the nickname, even though L.A. lies along the Pacific Ocean, not near any lakes. The team had already enjoyed so much success in Minneapolis , winning six NBL/NBA championships and six division titles, that the nickname ?Lakers? already carried a certain amount cache.

Phoenix Suns: Considering the Phoenix reaches 115 degrees consistently during the summer, ?Suns? isn?t a terribly difficult nickname to figure out. The team began play in 1968 and was nicknamed the Suns in a fan contest which included the following proposed nicknames: Scorpions, Rattlers, Thunderbirds, Wranglers, Mustangs, Mavericks and Cougars.

Sacramento Kings: Like two other counterparts in this division, the Kings started on the East Coast. They originated in Rochester , N.Y. as the Rochester Royals in 1945. After twelve years in New York , they moved to Cincinnati and stayed there for 15 years. They then trekked to Kansas City , where they came upon a dilemma. MLB?s Kansas City team was also named the Royals, so the NBA version switched its name to the Kings to eliminate confusion. Upon further research, I couldn?t decipher why Kings was the chosen name. Kings are powerful, prominent figures in history, so the reasoning could have been that the team itself would become powerful and dominant. That hasn?t been the case, though, as the team has failed to win a league championship since attaining the name.



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