The Logocast Presents the NBA Logo/Uniform Power Rankings

Over the last few weeks, on the Chris Creamer Sports Logo Community and elsewhere, we have been taking lists, allowing you, the Logocast listener, to have a say in our new power rankings. And today, we’re releasing the results. For an example, look at our NHL Power Rankings from February. For this list, we are using the crowdsourced tabulation. For just the Logocast 3 and one where the crowd is a single entity next to ours, be sure to look at the bottom of the page for the infographics.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
1		3	3	4	2

GREG: Perfect. An all-time classic. The Celtics uniforms are the blue pinstriped suit of basketball. Styles come and go but the blue pinstriped suit has never gone out of style. Like the blue pinstriped suit, the Celtics look is pure class, and class never goes out of style.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
2		1	18	3	1

MIKE T: Probably the most outdated logo in basketball. It could be SO much better with a facelift, but now it looks like a sad old man.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
3		5	7	9	3

MIKE W: The Lakers, despite their terrible primary logo, have a great uniform set. They’ve managed to update classics worn since the ’60s, and do it well. Their white alternates, a relatively new addition, manage to add to the look with a great change of pace at home.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
4		4	2	1	5

GREG: Great color scheme, perfect incorporation of their logo, no “font for font’s sake.” A clean, classic look that will work forever. Another example of my “blue pinstriped suit” philosophy on uniforms. I was a little surprised that the Spurs ended up at the top of my rankings. Going in, I figured either the Bulls or Celtics would top my list. I knew the Spurs would be in my top ten, but It wasn’t until I had all 30 NBA uniforms on my screen that I realized that I liked the Spurs look better than all the others.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
5		2	1	23	4

MIKE W: A modern look that flat out looks great. Their font works, the home, road, and alternates all work for the team, and although they do go way overboard on one-offs and things like White Hot Heat, that still doesn’t detract from an overall great looking team.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
6		19	5	15	6

MIKE T: First I was’t a fan of the black-less update, but it looks really nice and classic now.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
7		10	26	5	7

GREG: Before the “homer pick” stuff starts, let me remind everyone that I’ve been a Lakers fan since 1979. Anyway…The Cavs have a great color scheme and I love the simplicity of their uniforms. The font is modern without being gaudy and the striping looks great. Of their many looks over the years, this current Cavs uniform may not be the best of the lot, but it’s certainly better than a lot of them.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
8		6	4	14	8

MIKE W: The Nuggets were one of the first NBA teams that really attached itself to the double blue color scheme, and perhaps that’s what’s helped it endure and age so much better than some of it’s contemporaries. You combine that with the best alternate in basketball and you have a great set.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
9		20	12	7	9

MIKE T: The pinwheel logo is so simple and really can’t be improved upon. The sashes also have a great history in PDX.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
10		21	16	2	10

GREG: The perfect example of a “modern” basketball uniform. A “modern” font that won’t look dated in 5 years and great use of an overused color scheme. This one will stand the test of time; and in this era of “The more bells and whistles the better”, that ain’t no small feat.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
11		7	10	13	11

MIKE W: The Nets certainly look clean, and the look has grown on me over the year. Some really great small details, like herringbone in the trim matching the court, helps to bring this set up, especially considering I didn’t care for the logos when initially introduced.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
12		8	8	6	13

MIKE T: I think this team finally found an identity. This recoloring is the best yet with the unique colors.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
13		9	24	17	15

MIKE T: Meh. Just boring and nothing eye catching.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
14		13	11	8	16

GREG: A great update of a classic look. The Sixers are a heritage team and they finally decided to start looking the part again. My only gripe is I wish they’d gone with blue instead of red as their primary road look, but that’s a very minor nitpick. This is a great looking basketball uniform. Their neighbors in D.C. would have done well to give the Sixers a call to get advice on how to update an old look.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
15		12	23	30	12

MIKE W: The Magic don’t look as good as they did in the 1990s, when they made pinstripes on basketball uniforms awesome, but it’s not a bad update. The black alternate in particular looks great.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
16		16	17	20	15

MIKE T: The primary logo is clean, but the jerseys need work. Too many outlines. If only Lob City got a Lebron-style rebrand before they became contenders.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
17		14	19	11	21

MIKE W: The Bucks, after spending a too long messing around with purple and green, are back in their rightful colors. The home and road uniforms are good, and the retro-styled alternate with the script Milwaukee is great.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
18		17	27	12	17

GREG: I’ll give them an A for effort in their attempt to incorporate the past into a new look. I like the idea, but the execution fell a little short. There’s a lot to like here – the logo on the jersey, incorporating the numbers into the logo – but there’s just a little too much going on and everything looks a little too small. The result is all the elements get lost in the shuffle. Not bad, but could have been so much better.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
19		15	9	16	22

MIKE W: The Wizards had a great idea when they modernized. They just fumbled the execution a little. The silver around the numbers makes it too hard to see on the jerseys, and doesn’t give them the pop a white outline would. This is still a extraordinary upgrade over their gold, black and blue nightmares.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
20		23	13	18	20

GREG: There is nothing terrible about these uniforms. But there’s nothing great about them either. The Hawks have a perfectly generic look to go with a perfectly generic color scheme. While these are certainly a huge upgrade over those awful giant bird jerseys of the 90’s, they don’t come close to the Dominique Wilkins era uniforms or what I consider their all-time best look, the Pete Maravich era green and blue uniforms. Do an update of the Maravich era uniforms and we’re in business.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
21		11	21	29	19

MIKE T: One of the best logo sets in the league brought down by gaudy pinstripes and side panels.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
22		22	29	19	18

GREG: This uniform can’t seem to decide what it wants to be. The stripes are kind of cool but the font looks more Flintstones than it does Redstone. (Redstone is a rocket for those who may be wondering) Not terrible, not great. An average NBA uniform.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
23		26	6	27	23

MIKE T: So under appreciated. The bear is rendered great with good secondaries, and jerseys that get the job done.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
24		25	22	24	24

MIKE W: The Mavericks have looked out of place ever since they went to double blue. Their uniforms template feels extremely dated, the fonts are hokey, and while the logos are well rendered, there is nothing else good about this set.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
25		27	14	21	26

MIKE T: The T-wolves would be higher if they had the green in the jersey like their last set, but the primary was a great update to the KG-era look.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
26		28	15	28	25

GREG: The bright side? Well, there isn’t some stupid looking cartoon dinosaur on the jersey any more. Umm…what else? OK, that’s about it. Bland color scheme + bland modern font = bland basketball uniform. Anyone else wonder if this team would like to take a mulligan on their choice of a name for this team? A perfect example of why, when you want to brand your team, it’s probably a bad idea to chase whatever is “hot” at the time. If there is a team in professional sports more in need of a rebrand, it’s the Charlotte Bobcats, but the Raptors are second in line.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
27		18	25	26	27

MIKE W: The Kings aren’t that bad. Their template is nice, and while they seem to have sewn their home numbers on their road jerseys and vice versa, they are another team that has an alternate that is far better than their every day set.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
28		30	28	22	28

MIKE W: The Suns are the worst looking team in basketball. Whatever they go to this offseason will have to be an upgrade, if only because all indications are the gray heavy features of their set will be gone. Whoever decided to mix the names Suns with the color gray made a terrible decision.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
29		24	20	10	29

GREG: I ranked the Thunder in the perfect spot to catch hell in both directions. I’ll either have them way too high or not high enough. I really like their color scheme, they took a dumb name and did the best they could with it, and they have a killer alt. Yeah, their logo is stupid but the uniforms look pretty damned good. It’s a clean and classic look that’s not in danger of looking dated in two years.

RANK	TEAM	MIKE W	MIKE T	GREG	CROWD
30		29	30	25	30

MIKE T: The latest edition in the saga that is the Bobcats took all the personality out of the previous sets with the orange cat. I don’t mind the logos themselves, but just get the colors right.

Here is an infographic of just the way the hosts vote.