NBA Color Game

[Fox]

I've had the idea to start a thread like this for a while now. This is based off of kevinmets's thread, the MLB Color Game.

The general idea is, you give every team in the league a unique color scheme. I loved the idea, and have been using this system for my MLB series. The idea has begun to catch on, as a few others are using the system for their series too.

The main difference between the color schemes for this one and Kevin's MLB thread is that I did not use brown for the NBA, but I did use grey/silver for it, unlike his MLB thread. Grey is silver, powder blue is sky blue, red is brick, kelly green is lime green, etc.

I was a bit more selective in which color schemes I deemed acceptable. ***If there are any color schemes that you think I missed that you would like to see me add, post it and I'll likely make the change. So here are the color schemes:

and here are the color schemes that I chose for each team:

Explanations for each team:

No-Brianers/Unchanged

Celtics

Knicks

Pistons

Cavaliers

Lakers

Warriors

Suns

Trailblazers

Nuggets

Pacers

Getting Creative/Needs Some Explaining

76ers- Wanted to keep them red/blue. Since royal was already taken by Detroit, I decided that powder blue would look good for them.

Raptors- Loved the set when they used purple.

Bulls- Was torn between Portland and Chicago when it came to which team would be red/black. The difference-maker for me? The Bulls set would look good with white used more than black, while the Blazers would not. All this move would require likely is inverting white and black on the Bulls roads and dropping the black jersey.

Bucks- They look great in green and red.

Heat- Red and orange, colors of fire.

Magic- Love current set, but I don't like how much black is used. If it were up to me, they'd be a predominantly blue and white team with black trim.

Wizards- The new unis look great in navy and red.

Bobcats- I've always thought that black and orange would be a great color scheme for them.

Thunder- Why the Thunder didn't choose black and yellow as a color scheme will never make sense to me. Great color scheme which in nonexistent in the NBA. Would be PERFECT for a team called the "Thunder." Make it happen.

Hornets- While their current shade of blue is nice, I didn't know what to call it. Yellow and teal is an incredibly underrated color scheme and would look great with the Hornets current graphics.

Spurs- Didn't know whether I should define their current look as black/white or black/silver. I chose black and silver. Also, I think a silver alternate would look awesome for them.

Timberwolves- Black and kelly would look great for them IMO.

Jazz- Green and yellow is my favorite color combination in sports. But now that the Sonics are gone, it opens the door for Utah. Would look better than the current set with too much navy IMO.

Grizzlies- While the current colors do look nice, what do they have to do with Grizzlies. I would use the current graphics with a unique color palette. Giving a nod to their past, I would make them mostly teal, with a little bit of maroon and a little bit of black.

Tough Calls/Needs a lot of Explaining

Nets- With a move to Brooklyn coming and a team name that lends to a limitless set of possible colors, I chose navy and silver. It would give the two New York basketball teams essentially the colors of the two New York baseball teams and it would feature blue, a color used by the Nets over the years.

Hawks- While I love the idea of the Hawks going back to red and yellow, I just thought of something that would be even cooler. Current fonts without 3D, Wilkins-Era stripe on front of jersey, royal/lime color scheme. It would be a combination of three different eras with potential to rock. If fans don't want to see lime green, then kelly green would do the job as well. Not only did this seem like a great idea, but it opened the door for another possible red and yellow team.

Rockets- I love their red and yellow alternate jersey. Great color scheme for them.

Mavericks- With royal/kelly taken by the Hawks, I liked the idea of combining colors from two different eras. My proposal is the Mavericks use a navy and kelly green color scheme.

King- While the current black and purple color scheme was not taken, I chose gold and purple because it gives off more of a "king" feel and has potential to be really unique. Still not 100% sure about this choice, though.

Clippers- This one was very tough. With a team name that lends to almost a limitless amount of possible color schemes, I wanted to use an awesome and underused color scheme in sports. I chose powder blue and dark green. This one I'm really not sure about though, and would love some input from you guys.

So now- Play along! Use the picture above of the color schemes and make your own sets of color schemes. Tell me what you think of my choices, too.

[piratesfan16]

Haha, I know absolutely NOTHING about basketball, so I don't think I could provide any help here. I will still follow this series closely.

[primusge]

spam

[Discrim]

I would've gone maroon/orange for the Heat, for a better contrast. Likewise, I'd have taken the opportunity for the Hornets to return to teal/purple. I'm also thinking royal/black or powder/black could've worked for the Magic...and now my mental fatigue tells me to wrap it up.

[lightning25]

Kings would look absolutely amazing in those colors. Curious to see what the Magic would look like in blue and white instead of blue, black, and silver as well.

[rsaline]

I don't see how the Nuggets are a no-brainer, personally I think their best jerseys are the navy blue ones. I think their are so many better combinations for them as well. The one I want to see the most is the Thunder. I think that their identity gives them a lot to work with and I totally agree with your reasoning.

[Fox]

I think the main idea that most people don't understand is that this chart is not necessarily limiting a team to those two colors. It is just making them the two main colors and colors after that tertiary. For example, if it were up to me, the Orlando Magic would still have some black and silver trim, it is just that white would be more of a team color than those two. Likewise, powder and yellow for the Nuggets DOES NOT mean no navy. It really just means that it would be the same as the current scheme, which I consider the two main colors to be powder and yellow.

And to limit confusion, I changed the heading from "No-Brainers" to "No-Brianers/Unchanged"

[Discrim]

alright, I see now.

[DPV713]

It took me about 7 takes to try to insert text onto the image Fox posted, so I said "screw it" and used Excel. No disrespect to you or your template Fox, I know it's me being too lazy to work with it; it's great.

So, taking into consideration that no two teams have the same color scheme, here's what I came up with. (Note - in my mind, the fill color is the primary, text is secondary.)

Explanations:

Atlanta: They would use yellow as an accent, and IMO red/black/yellow was their best color scheme.

Boston: If there is any color that can be used as a secondary for the Celtics, it should be gold. Green/white is too plain for my liking.

Charlotte: No navy. I hate how orange was reduced to a small accent, so it's brought back as primary, and the accent silver becomes secondary.

Chicago: Only color/white combo there, mainly because red/black was taken.

Cleveland: The colors tie to their beginning, and there's great contrast between the two colors.

Dallas: Combination of current/past color schemes.

Denver: I love the navy jersey, and I think powder/yellow is too bright for me.

Detroit: Only color scheme acceptable for Detroit IMO.

Golden State: see Detroit.

Houston: The red/yellow alternate is great, so red/yellow would be used throughout the color scheme.

Indiana: With Denver taking navy/yellow, the Pacers would relegate navy to an accent. Bright as hell, I know, but it is what it is.

LA Clippers: One day I was playing around with Clippers schemes, and maroon/orange really stood out to me. So it stays.

LA Lakers: see Detroit.

Memphis: Maroon to better depict an actual bear, powder because light blue has been used in their scheme since their inception.

Miami: With no red/yellow left, red/orange is the next best thing. Greatly represents fire.

Milwaukee: It was between this and forest green/kelly green, but I thought this popped better.

Minnesota: Their original color scheme was the best IMO.

New Jersey: I like the way Fox explained it.

New Orleans: Sorta lost after choosing teal. It was either green or yellow, and I thought yellow was too bright.

New York: see Detroit.

Oklahoma City: Trying to depict a lightning storm. I was going to use a carbon-like color instead of black.

Orlando: Only scheme I can tolerate the Magic in.

Philadelphia: With red/royal taken by Detroit, red/teal was the next best thing.

Phoenix: see Detroit.

Portland: Red/black was taken by Atlanta. I figured they already use silver now, why not bring it in as a secondary?

Sacramento: Purple and gold are the two colors I best associate with a king.

San Antonio: see Detroit.

Toronto: I didn't like purple/black. I hated red/black. So maybe I can stand red/purple?

Utah: Great contrast, bringing a little New Orleans Jazz colors together with modern Utah Jazz teal.

Washington: I always loved the fact that the Wizards never forced themselves to use the generic R/W/B D.C. scheme. So I'm bringing it back.

[Fox]

Giving this a little bump. Also, this is what I had in mind with the Hawks (recolor of an old concept)

What do you think?

[Cody21]

not bad. it looks cool. needs something though.

[raysfan24]

I like that the Grizzlies colors are like colors they had in Vancouver. I loved those colors. The Hawks uniforms need something. They seem empty. That is just my opinion

[Fox]

1. are you and Cody the same person?

2. What do they need?

[DustDevil61]

Bumping the thread:

I tried the closest approximation to a given team's colors. For example, I selected orange for Oklahoma City, but it's the closest to the red-orange they have.

No Brainers/No Change:

--Boston

--Chicago (I see them as mostly red/white)

--Portland (See them as red/black)

--San Antonio

--Detroit

--New York

--LA Lakers

--Indiana

--Denver

--Golden State

--Phoenix

--Washington

Considered Something Else but Stayed the Same:

--Milwaukee: considered Light Green/Dark Green

--New Orleans: considered Teal/Purple, but Teal/Purple is more reminiscent of the Charlotte Hornets, and the New Orleans Hornets have always seemed more of a Teal/Gold team to me.

--Orlando: Considered Blue/Silver but Blue/Black are unique and fit the Magic.

--Cleveland: I'm fine with Wine/Gold, but Cleveland could pull off having all their teams wearing Brown and Orange (which wasn't available).

Return to Old Colors:

--Toronto: Purple and Red was unique and it fit the Raptors.

--Houston: I'm OK with what they have now, but the Rockets should be Red/Athletic Gold IMO.

--Miami: The Heat wore Red/Orange early in their history (though Orange was trim), and emphasizing those colors only fits their name and their locale.

Changes:

--Charlotte: The Bobcats could pull off being the Orange/Black team of the NBA.

--Atlanta: Remember those Gold alternates? I think that the Hawks would be a good Black/Gold team, with Red trim, of course.

--New Jersey: Considered Navy/Silver but becoming a Red/Silver (or gray) team with navy trim wouldn't be a big change.

--Minnesota: With so many NBA teams going one form of blue or another, the Wolves could stand out by going Black/Light Green.

--Oklahoma City: A Dark Gray/Red-Orange color scheme with some Strong Blue trim would fit an Oklahoma-based team named the Thunder well. That said, Black/Athletic Gold/Dark Gray would look pretty slick, too.

--Philadelphia: With a history of one Philly team wearing Powder Blue, the 76ers wouldn't look too out of place wearing Red/Powder Blue. I was on the fence between whether they or Memphis wore Light Blue/Red and Light Blue/Maroon, and went with this.

--LA Clippers: For something different, the Clippers could've tried their 1993 color change to Teal/Orange/Black.

--Utah: The Jazz' Hardwood Classics of a few years ago stood out in a league of blue, and their modern Green alternates are a refreshing change of pace. (Side by Side here) Behind the defunct Supersonics, Utah makes the most sense going Green/Gold full-time, though going Green/Purple isn't a bad idea, either.

--Sacramento: From the old Kings Purple/Metallic Gold alternates, that color scheme wouldn't look half bad, though Purple/Black and Purple/Silver aren't bad, either.

--Memphis: When the Grizzlies went from Teal/Red/Black to their Dual Blue/Gold, I really wished that they'd replace the Gold with Red; it seems to fit a Tennessee team better (Oilers/Titans layover notwithstanding). Maroon could be more of a Brick Red, and the colors are somewhat reminiscent of the team's origins.

--Dallas: With so much blue (again), the Mavs should bring green back and pair it with navy. Perhaps they can use Lime Green/Navy, or return to Kelly Green/Navy.

[Magnus]

[Cody21]

1. are you and Cody the same person?

2. What do they need?

showus the back and maybe a alternate logo for the pants on the third jersey? btw, that guys not me.

[GangGr33n FTW]

I can play too. Most interesting color scheme- Magic (Teal and Pewter).

Goes by division from east to west if you cant read font.

Celts, Nets, Knicks, Sixers, Raptors, Bulls, Cavs, Pistons, Pacers, Bucks, Hawks, Bobcats, Heat, Magic, Wizards

Mavs, Rockets, Grizz, Hornets, Spurs, Nuggets, Wolves, Trailblazers, Thunder, Jazz, Warriors, Clips, Lakers, Suns, Kings

[Cody21]

Teams that need to change:

Grizzlies: They had one of the best colour schemes before. teal and pewter would work.

Raptors: Cant stand Red and Black. Purple and Silver would work

Hawks: Blue and Kelly

Trailblazers: red and grey beacause the bulls had it before they did

Hornets: gold and Black