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122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

120. Minnesota Timberwolves



Why?...This team has never been good without Kevin Garnett playing or Flip Saunders coaching.

The Good....They made the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons.

The Bad....They play second fiddle to the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

The Ugly....winning seasons without Kevin Garnett on the roster…0.

Where they play? Target Center. Where they are often targeted to lose. Owned by the City of Minneapolis after playing its inaugural season in the Metrodome. Renovations were made in 2015 costing the taxpayers $75 million, ownership paid $50 million, and the operating company contributed almost $6 million.

Owner: Glen Taylor, made his money in printing and electronics, former politicians, beloved in Mankato. Owner of the Star-Tribune. Banned for one year for illegally signing Joe Smith.

Coach: Tom Thibodeau, sounds more like a Cajun chef, journeyman assistant coach before getting his shot with the Chicago Bulls, coaching them to some of their best post-Jordan seasons.

Top Current Player: Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins I’ve heard of, wow Jamal Crawford is still playing bouncyball, good for him.

Hall of Famer...Kevin Garnett will eventually get there, the Wolves were nice enough to trade him to the Celtics so he can get a championship because obviously he won’t get one in Minnesota.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

119. Memphis Grizzlies


a.k.a Vancouver Grizzlies

Why?... The NBA experimented with having two expansion teams play in Canada. One worked, kinda. This is the other one. Although a decent franchise this decade they have been atrocious for the most part especially in their Vancouver days.

The Good. They did make it to the Western Conference Finals in 2013, albeit swept.

The Bad. 101-359 record in six seasons in Vancouver.

The Ugly. Nobody wanted to play in Vancouver. Fans didn’t want to see a bunch of losers forcing the NBA to have its first relocation in 16 years. The Grizz were shopped around, with the Memphis being the eventual “winner”

Where they play? FedEx Forum which is owned by the City of Memphis, cost the city $250 million. FedEx has naming rights, they carry a very heavy business presence in Memphis.

Owner: Robert Pera, CEO of Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. One of the 10 youngest billionaires in the world, made his money through Apple and helping develop wireless communication.

Coach: David Fizdale, just finished his first season coaching the Grizz, a longtime career assistant coach.

Top Current Player: Lets go with Marc Gasol and Mike Conley

Hall of Famer...Technically Allen Iverson had a cup of coffee here in 2009, the closest would probably be Zach Randolph.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

118. Columbus Blue Jackets



Why?...the NHL picked Columbus for an expansion franchise in hopes hockey fans from Cleveland and Cincinnati would come to Columbus to watch hockey?!?

The Good....They did have their best season in franchise history last season

The Bad....Have only made the playoffs three times and never advanced.

The Ugly....The only sport the fans care about is Ohio State Football.

Where they play? Nationwide Arena. I imagine fans are encouraged to hum the Nationwide theme, just like Peyton Manning. This is the arena where in 2002, a fan was killed by hockey puck leading the way for all arenas to have safety netting.

Owner: John P. McConnell, CEO of Worthington Industries.

Coach: John Tortarella, an angry guy and terrible human being.

Top Current Players: Nick Foligno and Sergei Bobrovsky make the Jackets currently a decent team

Hall of Famer...Sergei Federov had a cup of coffee here, probably not at the German Village.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

Why?...the NHL picked Columbus for an expansion franchise in hopes hockey fans from Cleveland and Cincinnati would come to Columbus to watch hockey?!?

Columbus is a bigger city than both Cleveland and Cincinnati, and the metro areas of all three are within 100,000 of each other.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

Columbus is a bigger city than both Cleveland and Cincinnati, and the metro areas of all three are within 100,000 of each other.

So, they're all small?

Edit: nope, Columbus is bigger than Seattle. Whoa. That's a lot of mediocrity in one place.

Cities that are way bigger than I'd have guessed, in millions:

1.5 San Antonio (bigger than Dallas)
0.9 Austin (bigger than San Francisco)
0.9 Columbus (bigger than Seattle)
0.7 El Paso (bigger than Washington DC)
0.6 Louisville (bigger than Baltimore)
0.5 Long Beach (bigger than Miami)
0.3 Santa Ana, CA (I've never even heard of Santa Ana, CA)

c.f. cities in China I have never heard of with ten million people:

21.1 Hangzhou
19.8 Wuhan
18.0 Chengdu
13.0 Jinan
12.2 Shenyang
12.0 Harbin
11.7 Shantou
 
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Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

You have to look at it in terms of metro area, because some cities simply annexed neighboring suburbs and expanded their limits over the decades. San Antonio and Indianapolis both did that. San Antonio is still pursuing it, and getting pushback.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

You have to look at it in terms of metro area, because some cities simply annexed neighboring suburbs and expanded their limits over the decades. San Antonio and Indianapolis both did that. San Antonio is still pursuing it, and getting pushback.

I prefer SMSA because it gives the real feeling of the place. If you use the core metro area then Phoenix and Mesa and Tempe and Scottsdale and Chandler are all separate "cities." But they don't feel like that at all -- they feel like one ghastly sprawl splat with you stuck somewhere on I-17.

As long as you compare apple to apples, it doesn't really matter. Most cities scale up about 2x from MA to SMSA.
 
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Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

If you use the core metro area then Phoenix and Mesa and Tempe and Scottsdale and Chandler are all separate "cities." But they don't feel like that at all -- they feel like one ghastly sprawl splat with you stuck somewhere on I-17.

If there is a just and loving deity, I thank her every day that I still haven't been to Phoenix.
 
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