DukeofChutney

Last (for now) and not least, are the Leeds Force, a team that sadly folded back in '18. Of course they should be revived, so here they are.

We're now heading to the last of the teams in the division. I do have the revisions to start, plus the updates on those teams posted without shorts. As we're down to the last couple of teams, we'll have a twofer. There may even be the odd retro or fourth/limited edition jersey appear now and then. That out of the way, we have our penultimate team, the Sheffild Sharks. As with their court, I have reversed the colour blocks of their actual logo (keeping the colour pallette the same). The wave pattern comes from one of their existing sets.

Thanks! They've got one of those sets that could be over complicated, but less is more.

And now onto the Newcastle Eagles, one of the most sucessful teams in British basketball. I've tried to keep it simple with this set, just three variations of pinstripes.

Next in the divison, is another What..if? The Edinburgh Captails were an ice hockey team playing in the Scottish capital from 1998-2018. The city lost its basketball team in '02 when the rocks relocated to Glasgow. There have been attempts to revive BBL basketball in Edinburgh, but they have yet to come to fruition. So here, is a very 'what..if?' scenario of reviving both the identity and basketball in 'Auld Reekie'. I've tried to keep the set simple, just going with the pinstripes. However I've adapted the Saltire jersey that the Caps played in for a distinctive look.

Whilst I work on the udpates, I'll carry on. We now start our final divison, Northern Conference East Division. First up, the partial "what..if?" Derbyshire Spartans. They currrently play in NBL Div2, but what if they did move up to the BBL? I've added the insert for the pattern as it looked dreadful on the jerseys themselves.

Thanks for the comments and guidance. I'll start working my way through some alterations. Leicester - the gold does stand out, now you mention it, it was something the team had after their championship the previous season, (IIRC), so doesn't [i]have[/i] to be there. However they are the current champs. Royals - the double outline is something I took from their court design I did. I guess just because its on the court, it doesn't have to be on the jersey too. Bears - hands up, I have no idea quite what I was thinking about that gradient on the wordmark. And maybe I should try to update their actual-but-defunct logo, rather than using Sussex's one. Thanks for the compliments on the Lions third. I'm pleased how it turned out - even with that odd LDN secondary logo.

The last team in the divison is the Surrey Scorchers. Currently the team has shoulder sleeves on their jersey - which I couldn't quite manage to get to look right - however I've kept thier pink and blue look on the jerseys. For their third, I've gone with a checkerboard pattern, taking inspiration from the Surrey coat of arms.

Rounding out the Southern Conf. East this week we start off with the Reading Rockets. Currently a NBL Div.1 team, who have submitted a request to join the BBL soon. (A week later followed by the City of Birmingham Rockets).

Staying in Londinium we now have the second (and older) team. The London Lions go back to '77 when they were the Hemel Hempstead Lakers. moving around numerous times until arriving in London in the Olympic year 2012. Previously they used purple and gold (a nod to the Lakers nickname no doubt) however they recently rebranded to a black, white and brick colour scheme. I've kept their home and road close to their actual set, but I've gone with a brick third with a skyline relief as they previously had on their old gold jerseys. I've also added the outline of the River Thames to the shorts.

Up next, the two captial city teams. The first, from 'saaf of tha rivah' the London City Royals. A team that only played from 2018 to 2020, although managing to win 1 BBL in that short stint. I've brought them back for this project, firstly because you'd think that in a city of 9.5m people, it should be able to sustain two basketball teams. Secondly, they've got a decent idenity - perhaps with a 'love it or hate it' logo.

Up next, its the 2021/22 champions, Leicester Riders. I've gone with their mid-2010's style jersey (as opposed the all red/pinstripes they currently sport). For the third I've added the Cinqfoil from the city's coat of arms.

Starting off the next divison, the South East, we have another 'What..if' team from the Courts thread - the Brighton Bears. The real life Bears played from '73 until they folded in '06. They famously signed Dennis Rodman for three games back in their final season. I have adapted the logo of the Sussex Bears, a NBL D2 team that has aspriations to join the BBL one day (with plans for a new area proposed). Sussex have a purple and fuschia colour combination (that I could still adapt for fauxbacks or city edition) - however I've gone with a different scheme for this set.

Thanks for the comments. Mersey - I'd not noticed that with the line weights, so thanks for pointing that out. And good spot with the white trim - that'd make it much better. Rocks - I see what you mean with the tartan. It drifts from centre on the jersey to side on the shorts. I'll revisit that one. I took the cyan cue from one of the Rocks current set. Maybe I should have gone opposide with the cyan as the main colour base of the jersey. They also had a hot pink one (sponsorship) which now I look at it, makes me think I need to do a fourth set.. Giants -Yep, reversing the side panels would be much better. As for fauxbacks... that's a good idea. I'll add it to the fourth jersey 'to do list' with the hot pink Rocks. The Riders have a Diwali night jersey which I'd love to recreate too. EDIT: Here's a update to the Giants. Three stripe side panel and more purple.

I'll round out the West Division with the Mersey Tigers. This was one of the teams that I revived for the 'What..if?' part of that project. An expansion team for the 2007-08 season, as the Everton Tigers - a partnership between Everton F.C. and the new team. The funding from the football team was withdrawn in the summer of 2010, and the team was rebranded as the Mersey Tigers. They carried on until financial problems caused the team to withdraw from the league. As with the court, the tiger pront was not subtle, and so I carried this on - at least for the third.

Thanks. I'll admit, I had to look that up.. but yeah I see what you mean.

Next up are the Manchester Giants. The have a quite simple but effective set, and for the third I've added the purple from their former logo.

Whilst I work away on the updates, I'll carry on the rest of the series. Up next, the Glasgow Rocks. The Rocks have used tartan on and off on their jerseys, (as well as going red or pink at times), so I've tried to go for a combination of their previously used sets. As with the Rocks court in the other thread, I've not been able to perfect the actual tartan pattern yet, so this is a close proximity. I've tried something different with the third, using the outline of the peaks in the Trossachs, near the city as an outline. I went quite subtle, and did this way before the Rockies released their City Connect - and quite frankly comparted to that, this is so subtle its near invisible!

Wow thanks. I had my doubts that these were any good at all.. Thanks for the comments. PLY,: Yep, not going to lie it is a very busy kit. In part I went with it, just because it is quite striking. It perhaps needs to be either the triskelion or the diamonds. I'll give it some thought and revisit that when I get to the shorts. GLO: Nice idea. I'll see if I can rustle up that alternate. BDF: It probably does need some refinement. I'd not thought of it as a barber pole striping... it reminded me of a school tie. However it's a bit unique against the others in the league(s) so I kept it, but yeah.. more tweaks needed. The 'Bradford' wordmark does look cluttered too now you point it out. SOL: I'll be honest, I wasn't aware of the Minn Utd wing kit... had to look it up. Nice call. Glad everyone likes Bristol, I'm quite pleased that the side panel worked out as well as it did. And yes, the logo still leaves a lot to be desired.

The Cheshire Phoenix are next. Their current set is pretty spot on to me, so I didn't change much. I did try and go on a different route with their third, using the flame motif from their 2012-20 logo. And, yes the team does use the 'Nix' nickname from time to time.

The next team starts off the Northern Conference West. For the thread, the Bradford Dragons are promoted from NBL Div.1. The Dragons have a striped pattern they use, which I've tried to keep here. For the third, I've tried to go with something different. On a side note, I will be adding shorts to each of the teams, and I'll go back and revisit those that have already been posted.

Well I've spent some time trying to get the shorts to work (I'm probably being overly critical), and I think I've cracked it (or not..). Here's the Wolves with shorts.

I'll be honest, I couldn't quite get the shorts template to work how I wanted.

Round out the South West we have the Worcester Wolves. Previously a member of the BBL, they had to drop down to the NBL due to financial constraints following the pandemic. Naturally, I'd love to see them return back to the top tier. Their current look certainly appears to take inspiration from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and as it works I've kept it as is. I did try to go with something different with the third going with the sash style.

Another one of the 'what..if?' teams from the courts thread. The Solent Kestrels - currently an NBL Div. 1 team, who are oft mentioned for a move up to the BBL. I've kept their current side panel random geometric pattern, which probably doesn't show up in much deatil here. I'd refer to it as "very artsy" and stylised.