An NBA team for Pittsburgh. Hockey Week's first basketball concept

[hockey week]

Now that Cleveland has actually won something in the NBA, I'm insisting it's only because there isn't a Pittsburgh team to beat them every year.

 

I also see far too many Cavs hats and shirts here in Pittsburgh. I don't care if they're the closest team, it's Cleveland, and we Pittsburghers are supposed to hate Cleveland. It's in our blood!

 

So, it's time for Pittsburgh to finally have an NBA team. It's not usually my thing, I'm not a big basketball fan, but I studied what goes on with basketball jerseys, paid attention to a lot of the standard practices and what makes them good or bad uniforms, and went from there.

 

The name:

Pittsburgh Iron

This is a league where oddball names thrive. Heat, Magic, Jazz, Nets. Iron is not completely off the mark, and if anything, fits in. Pittsburgh is the Steel City, but Iron is the basis of steel, and falls within naming situations like Iron Man races and is synonymous with toughness. Building into bigger names like Iron Men gets all sorts of awkward. Leave it with Iron and be happy with it. Pittsburghers already refer to Iron City Beer as an "Ahrn", and this team would affectionately see that as well.

 

The logos: 

Wordmark:

The light gray is meant to be a shiny, metallic silver color. Considering what was done with the NFL's Super Bowl 50 patches, I have full faith that this can be done. 

 

Secondary logo: 

A P was a necessary addition. Inside is an iron smelting bucket pouring molten iron into a trough that looks like a basketball court.

 

Primary Uniforms:

The sidepanels are a smokestack, a symbol of Pittsburgh's glory days, and the gray shoulder stripe is stylized smoke. It's meant to be subtle, yet stylish. Again, the lightest gray is meant to be a reflective silver. This includes the outline on the numbers. 

 

Alternate Uniforms:

There have been concepts around here highlighting a connection to the Penguins. I don't think that's the right team to draw influence from, as it's rare for hockey fans to be basketball fans and visa versa, in my experience. 

The first alternate is based on the Pirates' 70s pinstripes. Pinstripes have a long history in basketball, and these pinstripes are so intense that they deserve some use. The I of the PIT is meant to look like an I beam, but anything beyond the shape was too much for the look.

 

The next alt is a little more Steelers-esque, it's what almost everyone insists on doing in their Steelers concepts, it's Diamond Plate.

 

Finally, a sleeved jersey that is influenced by Cleveland's big-logo version, and is influenced by the Penguins

 

It's about paying homage to all the teams and making things interesting.

 

So, thoughts? C&C? Would it work in Pittsburgh?

 

[hockey week]

Over 100 views and nuthin'. Is it that bad? Am I that misguided? At least tell me it sucks.

[n312rb]

Your primary is in the right vein... but its not "irony" enough.  

 

If your team is called Iron, you better back it up with a tough industrial look.  

 

Everything looks good, the font you used for the P would be the direction I would go with the primary.

 

Solid concept!

[Morgan33]

Getting comments on concepts is like pulling teeth lately.  I think your "P" logo is extremely clever.  It just needs to be refined and simplified a bit.  The word mark and uniform design is solid.  The only thing straight up not working is the metal textured alternate.  A simpler number font might rescue it but as it stands, it's too complicated.

[Frenchie]

A few comments from me:

-I don't understand the name Iron. I don't know the history of Pittsburgh, but if iron was ever a big industry, it must have been replaced by steel a long time ago

-I don't know why (and don't like) a different colour for the first letter of Iron.

-I really like teh "trim" of your uniforms.

-As someone who like "out there" concepts, I love the idea of hte extruded metal texture look, but that's too much. Maybe it should be used in side panels, or striping, lettering, etc. but not as a full background.

 

[Krz]

This would work in the early 2000's, good job

[~Bear]

I'm not a fan of the wordmark, so I would make the 'P' the primary and make the current primary/wordmark all one color. I like the home and away jerseys, but I'm not feeling the all-grey iron-looking alternate and the pinstriped one. But overall, not a bad job. 

[scottyeagle]

11 hours ago, Frenchie said:

A few comments from me:

-I don't understand the name Iron. I don't know the history of Pittsburgh, but if iron was ever a big industry, it must have been replaced by steel a long time ago

From OP:

17 hours ago, hockey week said:

Pittsburgh is the Steel City, but Iron is the basis of steel, and falls within naming situations like Iron Man races and is synonymous with toughness.

 

 

But I'm also not a fan of the name "Iron".  Sure, as you say, the NBA has team names like the Magic and Heat, but those names are generally reserved for newer Sun Belt markets as opposed to a city firmly in the Rust Belt like Pittsburgh.  While I'm not from Pittsburgh, I feel like Pittsburgh would use a pluralized name consistent with other more "traditional" markets.  That also may be my personal preference for pluralized names speaking, so you can take that however you like.  As for the rest of the concept:

 

-The Iron wordmark looks kind of like Word-Art, which isn't exactly something to strive for.  Like n312rb said, it needs a tough, industrial look.  The current wordmark doesn't convey that image.  Something blocky or a slab-serif type font would work well here. 

-I like the P logo.  It's inventive, retro, and fun.  I don't really think you need the basketball court at the bottom, however; I didn't notice that it was a basketball court until you said so. 

-If, as you say, the pattern on the primary uniforms is meant to be subtle yet stylish, it comes across as anything but.  It screams 90's (minus the teal and/or purple) and, again, I don't think that jives with the identity of Pittsburgh.  When I think Pittsburgh, I'm thinking of a simple, no-frills type of uniform set.  I would make the "smokestack" on the shorts diagonal like they are in the Penguins alt, shorten the stripe on the jersey, and bring the "smoke" from the top of the stack  to the armhole like a traditional side panel.  I think that would make the smokestack image much more subtle without punching you in the face with it. 

-As a nod to the city, the triangle on the collar should be yellow; that would also add more consistency to the collar since the trim is primarily yellow anyway. 

-The pinstripes are a fun idea.  Not sure how I feel about seeing "Pit" on a jersey, however.  I guess two T's would probably look like the university though, so I'm not sure what to do about that.  I really like the I beam as the I here, but in other settings it should be more subtle.  And the diamond pattern is a bit much for me on the second alt. 

 

Overall, this can be pretty good with some adjustments.  Not bad for your first basketball concept

[hockey week]

These are all things I can work with. I like C&C. I'll get thinking and drawing and see what I can come up with. Clearly the logo needs some real changes and the diamond plate alt needs to go...maybe not the entire idea, but at least as it is now. 

 

Thanks guys. Any other ideas, please throw them my way.