Good morning Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! I ain’t gonna soften the cheese with y’all, this week has been muy tumultuous and stressful! Hope you enjoy this issue of Monkey Monday, and have a great start to your week my friends!
Monkey Monday 3 #4, cheesin’ in…
NBA Team Logo Tier List
I’m going to be so honest, I had no idea what to write about this week. I’ve been keeping up pretty closely with the NBA this season, so since it’s been on my mind, I’m going to create an NBA Logo Tier List!
This will be based mostly on how awesome I think the logo is. This isn’t based on legacy or how iconic a logo is, however those things may be taken into consideration. Anyways, NBA Team Logo Tier List here we go.
As per usual, here are our tiers:
Lame
Brooklyn Nets - Starting off the bottom of our list we’ve got the pitiful Nets. Such a lame name with a lame logo. Nets. A basketball with a B for Brooklyn.
Washington Wizards - So much potential! Their old logo was pretty sick, with an actual wizard on it. Bring back the wizard! Now it’s just a basketball with the Washington monument hidden in it. Keep watch, you’ll see this theme of worse new logos.
Cleveland Cavaliers - Another logo that used to be better. Now it’s just the letter C, sometimes with a sword going through it.
Portland Trailblazers - I don’t even know what’s going on in this logo. It’s just a swirly thing. Props for not just being a basketball though.
Utah Jazz - The potential here is insane. You could do so much with jazz, but its just a basketball music note. It used to have the mountains in the logo, which was a bit cleaner in my opinion, now it’s just a boring eighth note.
Alright
Philadelphia 76’ers - This logo isn’t all that special, but it’s pretty slick to the eyes, which sets it apart from the lowest tier.
Indiana Pacers - Another logo that isn’t too special, but is a little more slick than the previous logos. I think they should have a guy running really fast on their logo.
Houston Rockets - Another team that abandoned an awesome concept (rocket ships) for something simple. Now it’s an R taking off like a rocket, which so far is the most creative logo on here, but they have so much abandoned potential right in front of them.
Sacramento Kings - This logo is okay I guess, a basketball with a crown is kind of cool.
Toronto Raptors - This just makes me angry. What used to be a literal velociraptor dribbling a ball, is now just a basketball with some claw marks in it. I have no idea how you fumble this hard. What used to be one of the greatest logos in all of sports has been reduced to a mere scratch mark. That being said, it still looks pretty alright, but nowhere near the glory it once had.
Orlando Magic - I’m pretty sure the logo on this tier list is slightly out of date as of 2025. The 2025-26 logo would be a bit higher if it was on this list, but I’ll just plop this one here for now.
Charlotte Hornets - The color combo is pretty unique and fun, but the old baller hornet was way more awesome than the new bee.
Solid
Los Angeles Clippers - Fresh off of a rebrand, the new clippers design is quite slick. The navy boat looks pretty cool. Not much more to say
Atlanta Hawks - It’s hard to go wrong with a cool bird, but they used to have a better logo! These kids these days and their oversimplified logos. Such a shame.
New Orleans Pelicans - This is a better bird logo. I like it.
Detroit Pistons - This logo has looked similar for most of the teams life, but for a few years in the 90’s and early 2000’s, they became a fiery teal and black horse, which was AWESOME. The classic logo is really clean though, one of the better basketball-shaped logos.
Denver Nuggets - I couldn’t recall what any old nuggets logos looked like until I googled them right now, and they used to have a whole PIO PETE doing jumping jacks for their logo. Their current logo is pretty cool, and the color combination is really slick, but unfortunately it’s a missed opportunity to have chicken nuggets.
New York Knicks - Pretty classic, good color scheme, nothing really to note. Good logo.
Dallas Mavericks - Cool logo, I like the horse. I really like their vintage green that they wear sometimes, but that doesn’t count.
Golden State Warriors - This is a great, crispy, clean logo. Iconic for my generation who grew up in the era of the Curry Warriors.
Awesome
Oklahoma City Thunder - Now we are starting to get into the really good logos. Something about the OKC logo is just super awesome. I think it’s the shape of the triangle, it feels so sharp. It’s a newish logo, but it feels so timeless. Also they do the orange-blue combo the best, sorry knicks.
Phoenix Suns - This is how you do an awesome, simple logo. The sun as a basketball, flying through the air, with a striking dark purple and orange color palette. Killer logo.
Milwaukee Bucks - The bucks went from a cure, harmless looking deer, to an intimidating buck. I really love the dark green and cream combo, and I think it represents the northern state of Wisconsin very well.
Miami Heat - Another awesome simple logo, a flaming hot basketball sizzling through the rim. The dark red fits so perfectly, and similar to the Curry warriors, this just reminds me of the iconic LeBron Miami days.
Minnesota Timberwolves - Oh my sweet sweet wolves. We’ve had some killer logos over the years. The OG green logo was really serene and clean, then we ramped up the KILLER INSTINCT by a thousand and got violent wolf. We’ve since toned it down to a cool, howling alpha. Still pretty awesome, and our navy, green and grey combo is super slick.
Legendary
Memphis Grizzlies - Did somebody say, grizzly? Two seconds ago I said to Lucia, “Wait I should see their past logos. If they had a grizzly bear dribbling a basketball I’m going to be so mad.” WHADDYA KNOW. THEY HAD A GRIZZLY BEAR DRIBBLING A BASKETBALL. Get out of the way Raptors, a new biggest fumble is in town. What would be the best logo on this list has now been reduced to fifth place, which admittedly is still super high. Anyone who knows me knows I love bears. It’s a tragedy they didn’t stick with the baller bear.
Boston Celtics - Iconic. Little Irish dude twirling a basketball on his finger is so cool. The green and white is also super iconic.
San Antonio Spurs - While their jerseys may not be my favorite, there is no denying the awesomeness of the spur. Up until a couple years ago, I was always quite confused as to why the spurs’ logo was a football goalpost, BUT NOW I GET IT. It’s such a random, cool thing to have your team be. The Spurs. Classic.
Los Angeles Lakers - Sigh. These top two I fear are super predictable. While I didn’t want to base this list on how iconic the logos were, there is no denying the legacy of these top two logos. The yellow and purple of the lakers is really bold and iconic, and just screams “basketball” to anyone who’s ever watched the sport.
Chicago Bulls - And then there’s this guy. The most iconic of iconics. Represented by the most iconic, dominant, powerful, athletic basketball player of all time: Derrick Rose!
Anyways, that’s all. I’m still upset about the Grizzlies. They should’ve kept that bear.
Here’s the final list.
Bonus: Old Grizzlies and Raptors logos. Such a shame, they were perfect.
-Nate
Pick of the Week
New month, new awesome playlist by yours truly! This month features a blend of jazz, bluegrass, and folk! We have some Chet Baker, some more Townes Van Zandt, some Himiko Kikuchi, some Trampled by Turtles, and other stuff I’ve been listening to as of late.
Lucia says this is one of her favorite playlists that I’ve made, surely that means it’s worth checking out, right? Also the cover art is super awesome.
-Nate
Is It Ripe?
Another book review! One of the last books I read while on winter break, Fahrenheit 451 is yet another classic that I missed out on in my adolescent years. A dystopian society where people have been funneled to fit into a mold, where there’s no individuality, no free thought, and NO BOOKS! We follow Guy Montag, a fireman, whose job is to run around burning books that rebellious folk hide in their houses.
While I don’t find it nearly as powerful or engaging as 1984, it’s shorter, and a fun little read with some great moments and moving character development. Give it a read if you haven’t!
-Nate
Ripeness: 8
Parin’s Publishment
Matthias Mouse
Good news everyone! Dr. Mariano Barbacid and his team at the Spanish National Research Center has discovered a way to completely eliminate pancreatic tumors in mice. Usually therapies are first tested in mice and other animals before being brought to humans. This therapy specifically uses 3 drugs to target a pathway in 90% of pancreatic cancers! Also, I met one of their team members (Maria Blasco) 4 years ago! Have a good Monday!
Ashley’s Animals
Leafy Sea Dragon!
Leafy Sea Dragons (sometimes just called “Leafies”), are slightly larger than their cousin, the seahorse, at 8-9½ inches long.
Leafies live in sea grass meadows, reefs, and kelp forests off the Southern coast of Australia, and eat plankton and small crustaceans.
After reaching adulthood, leafies have no natural predators, due to their excellent camouflage and tough spiny plates
The males carry their egg broods, up to 250 pink fertilized eggs, under their tails for 4-9 weeks. Once the eggs turn purple or orange, the young are ready to hatch. Once they do, they will be immediately independent.
Leafy Sea Dragons are not endangered, but do have a protected status in Australia because of habitat destruction and poaching.
Verse of the Week
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
