The Toronto Raptors need a change of identity

[IceCap]

I can't believe so many people are okay with the contrasting back panels. Those were terrible.

That was definitely the set's drawback, but as far as gimmicky basketball uniforms go it was pretty tame. Plus using two dark colours lessened its offensiveness.

I'd like to see that road set with black side panels and purple fronts and backs though.

The Seattle Cavaliers has a better ring to it.

Seattle is the seat of King County, and the Cavaliers are named after the supporters of the King during the English Civil War. It definitely works

[CrazyAnna]

The Seattle Cavaliers has a better ring to it.

No thanks. We want our Sonics back.

[Ark]

I can't believe so many people are okay with the contrasting back panels. Those were terrible.

I actually really like those. They are very unique and would only work with sleeveless basketball unis to begin with. Maybe an all-purple set would be better, but the contrasting one would at least be a good alternate.

[IceCap]

The Seattle Cavaliers has a better ring to it.

No thanks. We want our Sonics back.

I don't know, this doesn't look to bad

[TFoA]

Make the back on the road jersey purple and the problem is solved.

[geoffrey]

The Raptors name has now been around for over 15 seasons and even though to some it is associated with Jurassic Park, it has grown on most of the fans. The only other name that would be suitable is the Huskies, but to me it sounds too much like a college team (though you might say that they certainly play like one these days).

They should use blue more prominently and get rid of the black. Blitz posted a blue/white/red version of the current Raptors logo in the City/State Color Schemes thread that looks just awesome. If they were to change the colours to that scheme I'd be a happy camper.

[O.C.D]

The NBA doesn't need another red/white/blue team.

[CS85]

Purple needs to be re-invigorated into their look somehow. Their jersey style I feel is pretty solid. They just need to reacquaint themselves with their roots, embrace what they are.

[OnWis97]

The Raptors name has now been around for over 15 seasons and even though to some it is associated with Jurassic Park, it has grown on most of the fans. The only other name that would be suitable is the Huskies, but to me it sounds too much like a college team (though you might say that they certainly play like one these days).

They should use blue more prominently and get rid of the black. Blitz posted a blue/white/red version of the current Raptors logo in the City/State Color Schemes thread that looks just awesome. If they were to change the colours to that scheme I'd be a happy camper.

I did not know that it's grown on the fans in Toronto, but it's kind of how I feel. I HATED the name when they were clearly riding the Jurassic Park wave, but now that that wave is long dead, it's not a bad name. It's unique without having to resort to "Heat", "Magic", or "Wild". Therefore, I hope they keep the name.

[Jer15]

One my biggest beefs with the Raptors is in regards to the color scheme. Red, Black and Silver? You mean like the Blazers? You mean like the Rockets? Red and Black like the Bulls? I don't think we need another team in the NBA with such overused colors.

You can say what you want about the original unis, but they were certainly unique:

I have 5 of those old jerseys that I still wear to the games on a regular basis today. I get so many people coming up to me and saying "awesome man!" or "those were the best jerseys" (unless I wear my V.C. one that is).

The look was original, it was unique in terms of the colours for the NBA (Yes I know they aren't the only team to use purple primarily) and although I'm sure we can all agree the look was typical "90s" it still was different. I miss that look so much.

[CrazyAnna]

The Seattle Cavaliers has a better ring to it.

No thanks. We want our Sonics back.

I don't know, this doesn't look to bad

Noooooo!!

[Bleujayone]

Well, if the Raptors had to ditch the nickname and logo for something new, I think I'd go for something that would be less fad and more local flavored. So here's my crack at it;

Toronto Towers

The CN Tower is an iconic part of the the Toronto skyline, and especially tall basketball players are often referred to as "towers".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower

For a logo, have a stylized CN Tower with a basketball replacing the "pod" section of the tower.

As for the colors, I'd keep the pallet as it was originally (Scarlet, Purple & Black) and have a slightly recolored Toronto city flag (purple for blue) as a secondary logo.

I'd use the white stripes from the flag as the uniform's side trim. on both the jersey and shorts. And yes I would keep the red Maple Leaf on the uniforms as they are currently the only Canadian team in the NBA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_Flag.svg

[Morgan33]

How is Raptors outdated? It's a unique name which embodies a very ferocious reptile from way back in the day. Associating it with Jurassic Park is kind of a lame excuse for why it should be changed. You should associate it with the extinct reptile.

If they do rebrand they should go with a more ferocious approach for their name. Bring in new meaner looking logos.

This

There is simply no reason to change this team's identity at this point and the idea the franchise was named after a 90's box office draw is ludicrous. If they must be unique they could always add some minimal purple accents but honestly I see nothing wrong with what the team is currently wearing

[CrazyAnna]

How is Raptors outdated? It's a unique name which embodies a very ferocious reptile from way back in the day. Associating it with Jurassic Park is kind of a lame excuse for why it should be changed. You should associate it with the extinct reptile.

If they do rebrand they should go with a more ferocious approach for their name. Bring in new meaner looking logos.

This

There is simply no reason to change this team's identity at this point and the idea the franchise was named after a 90's box office draw is ludicrous. If they must be unique they could always add some minimal purple accents but honestly I see nothing wrong with what the team is currently wearing

Yea, so ludicrous that is was mentioned in the history of the Toronto Raptors on NBA.com (HERE). There is no doubt that the Raptors name was greatly influenced by the popular 1993 movie that just so happened to popularize velociraptors. Or was that just pure coincidence? <--haha

Now all that being said, the movie and dino craze came and went and the Toronto Raptors survived. Even though I really like the city utilizing their beautiful water skyline and having the team name, Toronto Skyline and having beautiful nightlife colors, I'm also ok with them keeping their current Raptors name. But they need a new look and a new logo.

[CC97]

How is Raptors outdated? It's a unique name which embodies a very ferocious reptile from way back in the day. Associating it with Jurassic Park is kind of a lame excuse for why it should be changed. You should associate it with the extinct reptile.

If they do rebrand they should go with a more ferocious approach for their name. Bring in new meaner looking logos.

This

There is simply no reason to change this team's identity at this point and the idea the franchise was named after a 90's box office draw is ludicrous. If they must be unique they could always add some minimal purple accents but honestly I see nothing wrong with what the team is currently wearing

Yea, so ludicrous that is was mentioned in the history of the Toronto Raptors on NBA.com (HERE).

Fun fact, I wrote the histories for 2002/03 (http://www.nba.com/raptors/history/200203.html) and 2003/04 (http://www.nba.com/raptors/history/200304.html -- notice all the references to the new uniform?) on that official site, during a crazy one-month stint as a web developer for the Raptors and Maple Leafs

[IceCap]

Well, if the Raptors had to ditch the nickname and logo for something new, I think I'd go for something that would be less fad and more local flavored. So here's my crack at it;

Toronto Towers

The CN Tower is an iconic part of the the Toronto skyline, and especially tall basketball players are often referred to as "towers".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower

For a logo, have a stylized CN Tower with a basketball replacing the "pod" section of the tower.

As for the colors, I'd keep the pallet as it was originally (Scarlet, Purple & Black) and have a slightly recolored Toronto city flag (purple for blue) as a secondary logo.

I'd use the white stripes from the flag as the uniform's side trim. on both the jersey and shorts. And yes I would keep the red Maple Leaf on the uniforms as they are currently the only Canadian team in the NBA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_Flag.svg

Eh, I'm not keen on naming teams after landmarks. Toronto Towers sounds just as bad as Washington Monuments in my opinion.

Either keep the Raptors name, go with Huskies, or just drop all pretenses and go with Toronto Maple Leafs BC.

[CrazyAnna]

How is Raptors outdated? It's a unique name which embodies a very ferocious reptile from way back in the day. Associating it with Jurassic Park is kind of a lame excuse for why it should be changed. You should associate it with the extinct reptile.

If they do rebrand they should go with a more ferocious approach for their name. Bring in new meaner looking logos.

This

There is simply no reason to change this team's identity at this point and the idea the franchise was named after a 90's box office draw is ludicrous. If they must be unique they could always add some minimal purple accents but honestly I see nothing wrong with what the team is currently wearing

Yea, so ludicrous that is was mentioned in the history of the Toronto Raptors on NBA.com (HERE).

Fun fact, I wrote the histories for 2002/03 (http://www.nba.com/raptors/history/200203.html) and 2003/04 (http://www.nba.com/raptors/history/200304.html -- notice all the references to the new uniform?) on that official site, during a crazy one-month stint as a web developer for the Raptors and Maple Leafs

Cool. So Shania Twain helped introduce the red alternate? Yikes.

[IceCap]

Make the back on the road jersey purple and the problem is solved.

Sweetness.

[Morgan33]

How is Raptors outdated? It's a unique name which embodies a very ferocious reptile from way back in the day. Associating it with Jurassic Park is kind of a lame excuse for why it should be changed. You should associate it with the extinct reptile.

If they do rebrand they should go with a more ferocious approach for their name. Bring in new meaner looking logos.

This

There is simply no reason to change this team's identity at this point and the idea the franchise was named after a 90's box office draw is ludicrous. If they must be unique they could always add some minimal purple accents but honestly I see nothing wrong with what the team is currently wearing

Yea, so ludicrous that is was mentioned in the history of the Toronto Raptors on NBA.com (HERE). There is no doubt that the Raptors name was greatly influenced by the popular 1993 movie that just so happened to popularize velociraptors. Or was that just pure coincidence? <--haha

Now all that being said, the movie and dino craze came and went and the Toronto Raptors survived. Even though I really like the city utilizing their beautiful water skyline and having the team name, Toronto Skyline and having beautiful nightlife colors, I'm also ok with them keeping their current Raptors name. But they need a new look and a new logo.

Well... I stand corrected. I had no idea the team name was influenced by the popular movie, guess if the Mighty Ducks could do it...

[Funkatron101]

The biggest flaw in the logo is that evidence suggests that Raptors had feathers, but updating the logo to reflect that would be silly. The Secondary logo is solid enough to be used for most things. I doubt there will be a name change any time soon.

The contraction/moving talk is stupid and offers nothing to this discussion.