The Bay Area and Cleveland are two very different places, and the logos and uniforms of their NBA teams reflect some of these differences.
Let’s take a look at how these teams match up from a purely visual perspective:
MORE LOGO HISTORY: San Antonio Spurs | Washington Wizards | Los Angeles Clippers
1) Their current look
Warriors
The Warriors unveiled their present look in June 2010. The logo and uniforms pay homage to the team’s classic “The City” uniforms, worn from 1966-71. The concept — as well as the forward-looking inclusion of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge — gets high marks. On the negative side, the usage of the Copperplate font deserves to be called out for a lack of originality, an “off-the-rack” approach that deserves a technical foul.
Cavaliers
Cleveland’s uniforms are all over the place these days. White, gold, blue, and wine. Their alternate “CAVS” wordmark, rendered in chunky, rounded letterforms, is flat and uninspired. Their primary home and road lettering — “CAVALIERS” at home, “CLEVELAND” on the road — is marginally better, helped out by the fact that both words contain more than four characters. None of the Cavs’ uniforms correlate to the team’s primary logo in any way, save the colors.
Advantage: Warriors
2) Their best look
Warriors
Can there be any doubt? “The City” uniforms score huge points for both aesthetics and audacity. What City? THE City, of course.
Cavaliers
Cleveland’s visual history is full of hits and misses, with few in-betweens. I cast my vote for the 2003-10 look, which featured a set of really sharp uniform wordmarks, a solid logo, and a color scheme that restored the Cavs’ signature wine and gold after decades in the wilderness.
Advantage: Warriors
3) Their worst look
Warriors
Golden State’s “Bolt” superhero logo was introduced in 1997. There were no tears shed when he was sent packing in 2010.
Cavaliers
The Cavs’ 1994-2003 look — powder blue, orange, and black — was ridiculed from the moment that it was launched. After a home team loss in November 1994, the Charlotte Observer noted that “it could have been worse. The Hornets could have been forced to wear what the Cavaliers wore Saturday night.”
(Dis)advantage: Cavaliers
4) Their current secondary logos
Give me the inspiring “Cleveland flag-on-a-sword” over the yawn-inducing “Copperplate W-in-a-circle” every day of the week.
Advantage: Cavaliers
5) The X-Factor
Warriors
The Warriors reintroduced sleeved uniforms to the NBA in 2013 and the results were…well, you can judge for yourself:
Cavaliers
Cleveland’s 1977-78 media guide featured this guy:
Advantage: Cavaliers
The aesthetic prediction: Cavaliers over Warriors in a tight series, which will played entirely without sleeves.
