Raptors Re-Branding: Name Change?

[Dino4life]

It's not that i love the name Raptors, its more i have no problem with it, and they have been my team since 1995. It would be too weird to call them something else.

[Red and White]

A good point that was made on TBJ: if the Raptors change their name, we lose the NBA's best mascot.

I honestly don't think the name is an issue that needs to be addressed. When the team starts winning, the league wide perception of the name changes for the better. Winning changes everything. Like with the early 2000s, the team was bad ass and the name worked well with it. Not to mention, one of the most sold jerseys ever has "Raptors" written across the chest (Vince Carter's).

I must say that the uniforms are so generic they couldn't do any name justice.

[c_bcm]

I like raptors. Don't mess with it. Especially if the alternative is Huskies. How would you distinguish that from Timberwolves? Seems like a lot of overlap. And really, that is not a franchise I wan to emulate.

[2KJ]

as much as i like the huskies blue and white uniforms, which coincide with the blue and white colours of the other toronto teams except the soccer team, i think the raptors are ok. and they are distinguishing themselves as canada's nba team, hence the red,white,black colours. and i find the raptors name much cooler than the likes of pelicans, bobcats, thunder. bringing back the purple jerseys would be awesome.

[phez]

so someone tell me about peoples fascination with the huskies
in a way i can understand it was "the first", but they were also a failed team that lasted all of one season

[RandomGuy]

so someone tell me about peoples fascination with the huskies
in a way i can understand it was "the first", but they were also a failed team that lasted all of one season

this. Sentiments, nothing more..


the only problem with raptors is that people can name it craptors, as they are failing since god knows when. Well, but that's not a big deal, I believe in Tim and Ujiri, and yes, I was aware of BC's bs and recognized that as good marketing skills, the only reason I respect him is because he drafted JV. He's a good guy though.

[Eric Akshinthala]

While we've gotten used to the name Raptors and are probably attached to the team by it's name, I dislike the name as much as I always have. They went with the fad of the time 'Jurassic Park' and nothing else. Huskies sounds better but I'd personally prefer a two word name only because the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays, both have two words.

[Mr.Z]

Why does everyone think the Huskies is a good name? Huskies are not bad-ass. The name wouldn't even strike fear into a child lol

[Primer]

The way I look at it was naming the franchise the Raptors was a mistake at the time, buying into the Jurassic Park hype. So, just because we've stuck with this bad decision for so long we should continue to stick with it? Doesn't make sense to me. It's like saying hiring BC was a mistake, but lets just keep him around since he's been here for so long. The name Raptors wasn't very good when the franchise started, and it's not very good now. All this "unique" talk is not a good reason to keep the name. The Rainbow Unicorns would also be a unique name but obviously not a very good one.

People like Huskies because it has history as one of the inaugural teams of the NBA, and also happens to be an animal commonly associated with Canada. It's my understanding that Raptors never even lived in Canada, and that in fact, the real Velociraptor was about the size of a turkey and covered in feathers. So we basically have a fictional animal as our mascot due to a poor understanding of the fossils at the time.

As for differentiating between Huskies and Timberwolves, I think that's pretty easy. Just look at the existing Huskies jersey's and you'd be hard pressed to confuse that with any Timberwolves gear. It's like saying the Suns and Heat are too close, or the Magic and the Wizards. In reality, no one is confused by it.

If we don't want to go the Huskies route, I think an Owl makes sense. We could go with Great Owls if we wanted to stick with the two word names. Owls are common to all of Canada, and are the official bird of 3 provinces. They are also very intelligent skilled predators. I also can't think of any other pro or college teams that use Owls as their mascot (at least not anything remotely popular).

Or they could go with some sort of non-animal name. I find those teams tend to be the most popular (Lakers, Heat, Nets, Knicks, etc...) and also appear to be the norm in the NBA (only 8 teams are named after animals). Perhaps Regiment or Guard, which are terms used much more commonly in Canada than the US. I'm just spit balling here and I'm sure you guys can come up with a bunch more non-animal names that are relevant to Canada.

[The Great One]

The way I look at it was naming the franchise the Raptors was a mistake at the time, buying into the Jurassic Park hype. So, just because we've stuck with this bad decision for so long we should continue to stick with it? Doesn't make sense to me. It's like saying hiring BC was a mistake, but lets just keep him around since he's been here for so long. The name Raptors wasn't very good when the franchise started, and it's not very good now. All this "unique" talk is not a good reason to keep the name. The Rainbow Unicorns would also be a unique name but obviously not a very good one.

People like Huskies because it has history as one of the inaugural teams of the NBA, and also happens to be an animal commonly associated with Canada. It's my understanding that Raptors never even lived in Canada, and that in fact, the real Velociraptor was about the size of a turkey and covered in feathers. So we basically have a fictional animal as our mascot due to a poor understanding of the fossils at the time.

As for differentiating between Huskies and Timberwolves, I think that's pretty easy. Just look at the existing Huskies jersey's and you'd be hard pressed to confuse that with any Timberwolves gear. It's like saying the Suns and Heat are too close, or the Magic and the Wizards. In reality, no one is confused by it.

If we don't want to go the Huskies route, I think an Owl makes sense. We could go with Great Owls if we wanted to stick with the two word names. Owls are common to all of Canada, and are the official bird of 3 provinces. They are also very intelligent skilled predators. I also can't think of any other pro or college teams that use Owls as their mascot (at least not anything remotely popular).

Or they could go with some sort of non-animal name. I find those teams tend to be the most popular (Lakers, Heat, Nets, Knicks, etc...) and also appear to be the norm in the NBA (only 8 teams are named after animals). Perhaps Regiment or Guard, which are terms used much more commonly in Canada than the US. I'm just spit balling here and I'm sure you guys can come up with a bunch more non-animal names that are relevant to Canada.

What history exactly? their LONE season in the Basketball Associations of America where they posted a record of 22-38?

Great history. Definitely something to be proud of.

What i find hilarious when people talk about the 'history' of the Toronto Huskies is that they talk like they were the Lakers or the Celtics of the 40's. Like they were a powerhouse team. The Huskies only played ONE season in the BAA or Basketball Associations of America and posted like a said a record of 22-38. Last in the division.

I'm not really sure what 'history' you guys are talking about. Because there's no such thing.

[Primer]

What history exactly? their LONE season in the Basketball Associations of America where they posted a record of 22-38?

Great history. Definitely something to be proud of.

That's still history. There is a reason Raptors wear them on throwback night. If they had great history then they never would have been out of the NBA and we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. It's not like the name Raptors has a great history, it's actually a pretty depressing and embarrassing history. We have a name reminiscent of the Mighty Ducks, a poorly thought out name based on a popular movie at the time and geared towards children.

Another possible team name could be the Imperials. That was a CFL team name way back in the day from Sarnia. Sounds a lot better than Raptors to me. Again just spitballing.

[The Great One]

That's still history. There is a reason Raptors wear them on throwback night. If they had great history then they never would have been out of the NBA and we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. It's not like the name Raptors has a great history, it's actually a pretty depressing and embarrassing history. We have a name reminiscent of the Mighty Ducks, a poorly thought out name based on a popular movie at the time and geared towards children.

Another possible team name could be the Imperials. That was a CFL team name way back in the day from Sarnia. Sounds a lot better than Raptors to me. Again just spitballing.

The Raptors history is 100x better than the Huskies 1 year history i can tell you that.

Anyhow, re-branding to me is completely unnecessary. A marketing gimmick in my opinion. They need to forget about all that. What they need to do is start winning basketball games.

[Eric Montross 00]

Change the name if only if it's BETTER than the Raptors. No way we bring back Huskies, put culture, history aside Huskies just sound weak. I think Raptor should change the name to something like for example: Montreal Canadiens-Habs. NOT the name of Canadiens, but the name of "Habs" it's really unique and reflects great history and culture also Habs means Les Habitants which is French. OR Quebec Nordiques also a great example.

Bottomline, Raptors should change their name into something unique, historical and cultural. Please no Huskies, no beaver and no moose.

[connected]

We should should rename ourselves (the) Toronto Winters

Need I remind you "Winter is coming"

[LBF]

Why does everyone think the Huskies is a good name? Huskies are not bad-ass. The name wouldn't even strike fear into a child lol

Huskies are bad-ass, bro! What are you on?! They live in the mother fuckin' arctic, they navigate through insane blizzards, they eat each other for fuck sakes!