New Orleans Hornets Will Rebrand as Pelicans in Time for 2013-2014 NBA Season

[AAO]

3 things:

1) The wordmark. It is arced, not arched, in a way no other type in their whole identity is. And obviously is entirely too small. why is it so small? The size gives it a rec/summer league feel. Would have looked better with the bolder, arched type from the primary. Would have been more consistent also. This knocks down the whole appeal of the uniform by 30% since the wordmark essentially makes the uni.

2) The collar is one-colored and not tapered, with no armhole trim. They did not pull it off properly; the Clippers, Pacers, Kings, Magic have pulled it off because they tapered the collars, and they are multi-colored, and/or have a logo at the base of the neck. This makes it work. Here, for the Pelicans it looks bulky and bland.

3) THE NUMBERS ARE HUGE

NEW ORLEANS

23

The Pelicans logos are an improvement. The old Hornets' unis were nicer IMO, but glad to see that identity return to Charlotte.

[frosty06306]

The font size wouldn't be as much of a problem if there was some sort of underlining or something to go along with it. But just the word, it's too barren.

[hawk36]

Not there yet but better?

[SCL]

Not there yet but better?

New Orleans with a semi circle

[suns1977]

Not there yet but better?

MUCH better.

[Billy B]

I actually really like these. There are a few things I'd change, but I like the general idea and love the use of the color scheme. The biggest issue is the size of the wordmark. It's just too small and looks even worse with those big numbers. They also should have gone with Pelicans on their home jersey. You just changed your name, put it on the uniform! I think the collar would look better with some red in it too. I love the side panels. Going with navy as the primary, gold as the secondary, and just a touch of red looks great. Speaking of that, I wish there was some red on the front/back of the jersey. It would look horrible to just double outline the wordmark with how small it is, but that's just another reason why it should be bigger. I love the logo, so I'm glad to see it's on the bottom of the shorts. These are simple but not boring in my opinion.

[CrazyAnna]

Very simple design, looks good with the exception of the wordmark. Not much can be done about that, though. They'll look sharp on the court.

I agree. I like the simplicity of these uniforms. They look sharp. I was worried they would try too hard and end up with something hideous like the Atlanta Hawks' uniforms. "PELICANS" would've been nice on the home white jersey and of course I wish the font was bigger (Adidas' fault?), but overall these are great.

Not sure why some are calling these boring, what did you want? Something complicated? Something over the top? A simple uniform such as the Bulls, Celtics, Spurs, Cavaliers, Nets, Knicks, and etc look very professional. Pelicans took the smart approach.

[Rockstar Matt]

I actually like these. They're simple and they work. Sure, they are some improvements that could be made, but overall they're not bad.

[GeauxColonels]

Not there yet but better?

MUCH better.

I completely disagree. "New" and "Orleans" should be the same size. But I still think there was the opportunity to make the text bigger on the jersey fronts and I'm not really sure why they went so small.

Here's a shot of the "NO" logo on the front of the shorts:

[Xist2inspire]

Not sure why some are calling these boring, what did you want? Something complicated? Something over the top? A simple uniform such as the Bulls, Celtics, Spurs, Cavaliers, Nets, Knicks, and etc look very professional. Pelicans took the smart approach.

I wouldn't say that. My old AAU uniforms resembled these, and "professional" is not the word I'd use to describe AAU uniforms. You can look professional without looking like you didn't try, and these look like they didn't even try.

With this rebrand, they did the bare minimum. When rumors of the change began to swirl and then were confirmed, there were no contests, no fan interaction, none of that. It's almost like Benson realized he owned the rights to the Pelicans name and went "what the hell, why not." Even the leaked names that they submitted to the NBA (at least I think they were leaked, I remember hearing something) were so ridiculous (Rougarou? Mosquitoes?) that it just seemed like they didn't even try.

And then here come the jerseys. No flair, no flash, nothing. It reminds me of the original NO Hornets jerseys, but at least those had the benefits of having a vibrant color scheme. All this talk about finding something that's more "New Orleans," something that "means something," and this is the best they could come up with? What makes these different, what makes them stand out from the rest of the league? Practically nothing, they don't even emphasize the Pelicans moniker.

[Lights Out]

When I first heard they would be the Pelicans, I was pretty excited. I imagined uniforms nothing like these. I was so sure they'd be unique, vibrant, colorful, etc. I'm pretty disappointed in the whole Pelicans identity.

Seriously, they missed an opportunity to create a unique and vibrant identity, like you said. Picking a name like the Pelicans and then not even including it on the uniform, navy being used as the main color, generic striping pattern, etc. So sick of teams settling for bland run-of-the-mill crap and I'm really tired of navy uniforms in general.

[dbadefense1990]

From afar, these look like uniforms from the Summer League.

[Arts11]

Some of my initial thoughts:

-Like everyone's said, the wordmark in front is just too small. I understand there's some functional limitations b/c of the jersey template tho, so I'm not gonna harp too much there.

-Wish there was more red in these. I initially thought they were the Pacers when I saw the first grainy pics of the away jersey.

-I don't hate them or love them. I think their logos are all pretty cool though.

-I'm not sure if the side panels are supposed to have any special meaning, but they look particularly weird when they're not aligned [more so than other teams who just have straight lines]

-Overall: they're safe, and they're okay. I think they could've done more with brightening it up a little [the color in the pics look kinda dull], but they'll suffice. Looking forward to the inevitable alternate jersey. Just hope it's not just a red color swap. Would be cool if they actually tried a different design.

[frosty06306]

Not there yet but better?

MUCH better.

I completely disagree. "New" and "Orleans" should be the same size. But I still think there was the opportunity to make the text bigger on the jersey fronts and I'm not really sure why they went so small.

Here's a shot of the "NO" logo on the front of the shorts:

That's a cool Pilotsesque logo.

[B-Rich]

Just a quick and dirty, but something like this is what i was talking about and would look a lot better than what it is now:

[StillS]

I'll say what i said in another forum.. wordmark needs to be bigger because right now it kind of ruins the whole design for me, it also needs a proper gold/blue outline and the jerseys could have really used a different kind of collar (im thinking a v-neck one with red & gold would have made them look a lot better).

They missed the mark imo but the white ones do look better than blue for some reason.

[jonathanlambert8]

The wordmarks being so small wasn't by choice, it has to do with the rev30 and the font used. Same goes for the Grizzlies jerseys. Look at how much smaller Grizzlies is on the rev30 jerseys vs the old uniforms.

[colinturner95]

The side panels are the only redeeming factor of this set

[jhans203]

Not there yet but better?

MUCH better.

I completely disagree. "New" and "Orleans" should be the same size. But I still think there was the opportunity to make the text bigger on the jersey fronts and I'm not really sure why they went so small.

Here's a shot of the "NO" logo on the front of the shorts:

What are these abstinence shorts?

[omnivore]

I think they're fine. I mean they're not setting the world on fire, but it's Tom Benson's team. I don't envision he'd oversee a bold revamping of the team look. It's better than it could've been.