Some Thoughts on NBA Playoff T-Shirt Giveaways
/I love seeing the dumb catch phrases NBA Playoff teams give their ticket-buying fans during home playoff games. And the phrases seem to be getting dumber. It's now a requirement for every team to give their fans a shirt for every playoff game. So here are some of my favorites from the first week of the NBA Playoffs. My brother and I picked the series on our preview podcast.
Automatic Disqualification: Toronto Raptors
So first and foremost, this is the coolest shirt giveaway I've seen. I mean, it's a legit shirt that people will actually wear after the game. It was designed by OVO design, rapper Drake's clothing company.
But that means these were freebies provided by this dude. I know Drake is from Toronto. He likes to remind people that. But I thought Houston was his city now. And wasn't he a Miami Heat fan? Or just a LeBron fan. I could do this all day with Drake. He's the biggest bandwagon fan I've ever seen, so I can't take any of his sports interests seriously. He's a UK fan too?
Here's the real reason I'm disqualifying this shirt. Drake is using his fame to rebrand Toronto, "The 6". Nobody is asking him to do so. It's not even a good nickname. And the Raptors allowed Drake to slap a 6 on the back of every Toronto fan on national television. NOBODY KNOWS WHAT THE 6 EVEN MEANS!!!!
Winners
Cleveland Cavaliers
"All In" is a perfect tag for this Cavaliers team. I mean, trading away Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love is definitely going "All In." Wiggins will be a star in a few years, and would have been a Cavalier for at least five years, while Love, undoubtedly a current star, can walk away from Cleveland in two months. Add in the reality that LeBron is now 30 years-old and Cleveland is all in for a championship in 2015.
Golden State Warriors
"Strength In Numbers" is another literal reflection of the team's season. In other words, the Warriors are loaded. Their starting unit is Top 3 in Offensive and Defensive Efficiency Rating, and so is their bench. Their bench is better than most lottery team's starting five.
New Orleans Pelicans
"Play On NOLA" is awesome. It represents the culture of the city and also embodies the theme of the Pelicans' season. The playoff race for the final spot in the Western Conference between New Orleans and the Oklahoma City Thunder was electric, featuring two MVP candidates in Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis. The regular season ended with these two teams tied in the standings, so this previous game became the tie-breaker. Play on NOLA!
Losers
Atlanta Hawks
If you asked a random NBA fan to name the best player on the Atlanta Hawks in 2015, you could easily get four different answers. That's what makes the Hawks so good. They play a rare form of team basketball that is fun to watch and get behind. And while this shirt reinforces that message with a cool idea: printing the names of the 15-man playoff roster behind the words "true believer", it would be smart to make sure All-Star point guard, Jeff Teague's name is printed.
Los Angeles Clippers
Yes. You are LA. Not a fan. Don't really have anything else to say about it.
Houston Rockets
The font and design is pretty cool. But you threw a hashtag on a shirt, bro. It's not that creative. And I don't really know what kind of message "pursuit" sends.