Best logos – NBA playoff edition

• CELTICS
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  • A few reasons to love the Celtics brand: unique, tied to the Irish history of Boston.  Great simple clover logo.  Great mascot, lucky the leprechaun.  Cons: simple color scheme.
  • Grade: A-
• CAVALIERS
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  • Nice design, particularly the unique “C” font.  But not a unique name, and not sure what ride horses has directly to do with basketball or with Cleveland.  I like their 1980’s logo even better.  The new logo is a little too trendy.
  • Grade: B-
• HAWKS
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  • The Hawks are another team that had a cool logo in the 1980’s but has since updated it and it is too trendy.
  • Grade: C
• MAGIC
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  • Magic is a odd name, but it is unique.  It is not plural, a characteristic it shares with only a few other pro sports teams.  It of course is a nod to the Disney “Magic Kingdom.”  But it has little or nothing to do with athletics- and for the same reason I find the Washington Wizards to be a bizarre name.
  • Grade: C+
• JAZZ
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  • The Jazz is a great name – for a team from New Orleans.  For a team now in Utah, it is strange.  The logo is very nice, incorporating music, mountains, and hoops.
  • Grade: B.  Would be an “A” in New Orleans.
• LAKERS
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  • Another team name that is a victim of relocation.  The Lakers name was a good unique fit for Minnesota.  It has nothing to do with L.A.  The logo is really just a nice font and a basketball.  Not real creative imagery.  Pros: little change of the year and much success has made the logo somewhat iconic.
  • Grade: C+
• SPURS
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  • Great branding.  The name is unique and fits the San Antonio location.  The colors fit too.  The logo is nice and incorporates the U in SPURS.
  • Grade: A-
• SUNS
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  • Nice logo and colors.  Fits the desert in Arizona.  The name doesn’t exactly fit a sports team – it doesn’t show toughness or aggression but otherwise is solid.
  • Grade: B+

Overall, I give the Spurs and Celtics the highest grades among the playoff teams remaining.  Note that I really like several of the non-playoff team logos as well (in particular the 76er’s, Nuggets, and Piston are all great, unique and fit their population base).  Because the Spurs fits perfectly for Texas and their name, colors, and design fit together seamlessly, I give San Antonio the nod as the champion brand among the remaining NBA playoff teams.

What is your favorite NBA brand?