Sorry, this has been bothering me for years now. I've googled it also, so don't bother giving me the "let me google that for you" reply. The only thing I can find is that a clipper is a 19th century fast sailing ship. But what does that have to do with basketball.
they were in San Diego before moving to LA. San Diego was known for having clipper ships in their ports all the time. Hence the name its kind of lame but its still a better name than the Thunder
There's a few names I wonder the same about...Laker, Celtic, etc. ☆ laker (lāk′ər) noun 1. a fish, esp. a trout, found in lakes 2. a ship operating on lakes, esp. the Great Lakes Weird eh?
The Lakers are from Minnesota, you know..the land of 1000 lakes. Kind of like how the Jazz are from New Orleans. DD
I can only assume the Celtics comes from the Celtic tribes of Europe. The Celts were brave warrior tribes that conquered a good portion of Europe. Their bravery is said to be legendary and would go to battle naked. I dont know how that relates to Boston but their lepricon looking logo would support the European origins.
-Clippers were fast boats in the 1800s....they have nothing to do with basketball, but since when does a team name have to do with the sport? It's about the city, and LA is right on the water. -Lakers were originally from Minneapolis, and a Laker was a boat that sailed in the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota. -Celtics are an Irish tribe that was known for their bravery, and Boston has one of the largest Irish populations in the world outside of Ireland. -Jazz were originally from New Orleans, and New Orleans is famous for its jazz music. -Knicks refers to the early Dutch settlers that came to New York in the 1600s. They wore pants that were rolled up below the knee, and these were called Knickerbockers. -76ers refers to Philly being the site where America wrote the Declaration of Independence, and the birthplace of the American Revolution, in 1776. -Magic refers to Orlando being the home to Disney, and the Magic Kingdom. -Nuggets refers to Denver being rich with gold deposits, often found in nugget form. -Supersonics, referred to Seattle as being the home to Chuck Yeager, the first man to ever cross Mach 1, and creating a sonic boom. -Pistons refers to Detroit being the home to America's auto industry. -Pacers refers to Indianapolis being the home to the Indy 500, and is referencing the Pace Car, or Pacer. -Spurs and Mavericks are self-explanatory....they are teams from Texas. -Contrary to popular belief, the Rockets are NOT referencing NASA. They were the San Diego Rockets, and the actual team name Rockets isn't a reference to space at all. The original team to have the Rockets team name was actually the Denver Rockets, and that's because the owner of the team owned a shipping company of some kind with the name Rocket Shipping (or something....I don't remember the exact details, but that's the jist of it). -Bobcats are referencing the first name of the owner, Bob Whatshisface...the guy that owns JET magazine, I believe. -I don't know if this is right, but it's what I always assumed, but I believe that the Bulls are a stock market reference. Chicago is the home to the American Stock Exchange and the Mercantile Exchange, and they have the Bears as their football team, and the Bulls as their basketball team. I could be wrong though, since the Bears could also be a reference to the Cubs...who were there first. Maybe someone from Chi-town can help me out on that one. -Suns are a reference to the Valley of the Sun, which is Phoenix's nickname. -Miami is hot, hence the Heat -Nets is self-explanatory -Grizzlies were originally from Vancouver, which has a lot of grizzly bears. Memphis is also known for its abundance of Urban Grizzlies....haha, just kidding. -I don't know why they are called the Warriors, but does anybody know why Golden State is the only team that doesn't go by the actual city or state name, but the nickname? I've tried to research it, but I couldn't find any real answers. Thanks in advance if anyone knows. I don't know if there are any cultural ties to the Hawks, Kings, Thunder (Native American roots, possibly?), or Raptors. Maybe someone else does? Anyways, I just did these off the top of my head, so if I missed one, sorry. Hopefully that helped a couple of people out who had questions about team names. I always found it kind of interesting to see where team names came from.
Oh, just thought of two more.... -Trailblazers is a reference to the Oregon Trail, a migration path that people used to get from Oklahoma to Oregon in the 1800s, back when the West was being colonized for incredibly cheap. -Timberwolves is a reference to Minnesota's vast wilderness. Not too sure about the Bucks (wilderness again?), Hornets, or Cavaliers either.
nice yobod.. looked this one up Nickname: Team's named shortened from Blackhawks to Hawks upon moving to Milwaukee from the Tri-Cities region where the Blackhawk war took place in 1831. http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/atlanta/atlhawks.html That site has them all on there.. fyi Nickname: Named Chicago Bulls by owner Dick Klein, in reference to the city's livestolk industry. edit: Raptors do suck.. Nickname: Named following a contest, as the name Raptors was popular after the dino-mania created by the movie Jurassic Park.
Chicago was a big destination for cattle herds to be butchered and sold in the civilized parts of the US in the late 19th century. I believe there are archeological digs around Toronto that made Raptor loosely relevant.
Wow, what a waste of a thread. You found the answer and you threw it out because a sailing boat has nothing to do with basketball? As has been pointed out before, what team name has anything to do with Basketball or any of the sports they represent? The only ones that do are in soccer where the team is named FC (insert city name here) where FC stands for Football Club. BTW, an addendum to the story of the Rockets' name, if my history is correct, the reason San Diego named the Rockets the Rockets was to convey the feeling of a city "rocketing" into the future and into prominence.
That's actually not true, the Pistons were first from Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Their owner owned a company that made pistons for engines.
Seattle is also home to Boeing, so I think SuperSonics is also intended to pay tribute to the local industry. The Kings used to play in Kansas City, which has a baseball team named the 'Royals.' So, maybe its a theme in the city? Oh, and by the way 'Thunder' is still a terrible name. It sounds like a Six Flags attraction or an Arena Football Team.
