There's a long time between the NBA draft and the start of the regular season. In those four months, NBA writers take some time off. But they also keep writing about serious and not-so-serious topics.
Zach Lowe of Grantland has done both … but in his recent piece, he has certainly chosen the latter by compiling a comprehensive ranking of the LOGOS of all 30 NBA teams. Not the players. Not the coaches. Not the executives. Not even the uniforms. The logos.
Still, it manages to be reasonably compelling and amusing stuff. If you're wondering what Lowe — who did some homework for this, by the way — concludes about the Wolves … well, it isn't good. He puts them 27th among the 30 teams. (Image on this post is of the primary logo big, with the secondary logo inset small):
Simplicity plays better than noise, for purposes of both art and commerce. The NBA shrinks logos onto patches and tiny slices of real estate, and jumbled marks become indecipherable on a miniature scale.
There is just too much going on here for a team that already has to fit 21 letters into this mark — too many trees, too many colors, and too much dramatic shading on the wolf's face. The Clips and Pacers got away with not including their full city/state in their primary marks, and the Wolves should push to join them upon their inevitable redesign.
The easiest solution: shift a revised version of their gorgeous secondary logo, featuring a wolf howling into the night sky, onto center stage.
Your thoughts on this all-important topic in the comments, please.
