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# Zach Lowe's Best Columns

By [tobias (@tobias1)](https://listium.com/@tobias1)

1892 views · 0 likes  
Published 13 August 2019 · Updated 13 August 2019

Category: sports / basketball

Zach Lowe's best columns and pieces throughout his career.

## Items

### 1. [The Definitive Guide to NBA Team Names, Part 1](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/35/the-definitive-guide-to-nba-team-names-part-1)

Item ID: `35`

- Date: 20 Aug 2013
- Notes: -
- Link: [https://grantland.com/features/the-definitive-guide-nba-team-names-part-1/](https://grantland.com/features/the-definitive-guide-nba-team-names-part-1/)
- Read: false

### 2. [The Definitive Guide to NBA Team Names, Part 2](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/34/the-definitive-guide-to-nba-team-names-part-2)

Item ID: `34`

- Date: 20 Aug 2013
- Notes: -
- Link: [http://grantland.com/features/the-definitive-guide-nba-team-names-part-2/](http://grantland.com/features/the-definitive-guide-nba-team-names-part-2/)
- Read: false

### 3. [Anatomy of a Deal: Kawhi Leonard for George Hill](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/28/anatomy-of-a-deal-kawhi-leonard-for-george-hill)

Item ID: `28`

- Date: 28 May 2013
- Notes: "Nearly two years later, we look back on the Spurs-Pacers trade, which has had huge implications for the 2013 conference finals"
- Link: [http://grantland.com/features/analyzing-kawhi-leonard-george-hill-trade-2013-conference-finals/](http://grantland.com/features/analyzing-kawhi-leonard-george-hill-trade-2013-conference-finals/)
- Read: false

### 4. [Chicago’s Quest for Perfection](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/30/chicagos-quest-for-perfection)

Item ID: `30`

- Date: 5 Feb 2013
- Notes: How do Tom Thibodeau’s teams play such good defense?
- Link: [http://grantland.com/features/the-chicago-bulls-coach-tom-thibodeau-quest-perfection/](http://grantland.com/features/the-chicago-bulls-coach-tom-thibodeau-quest-perfection/)
- Read: false

### 5. [The Definitive NBA Court Design Power Rankings](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/33/the-definitive-nba-court-design-power-rankings)

Item ID: `33`

- Date: 4 Sep 2014
- Notes: Everything you ever needed to know about the past, present, and future of the league's hardwood homes
- Link: [http://grantland.com/features/nba-court-design-power-rankings/](http://grantland.com/features/nba-court-design-power-rankings/)
- Read: false

### 6. [An All-Too-Serious Breakdown of ‘Space Jam’](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/39/an-all-too-serious-breakdown-of-space-jam)

Item ID: `39`

- Date: 12 Aug 2014
- Notes: Here is what it is like to lose your Space Jam virginity at age 36. I went in cold, having done zero background research and knowing only the vague outlines of the plot.
- Link: [http://grantland.com/the-triangle/an-all-too-serious-breakdown-of-space-jam/](http://grantland.com/the-triangle/an-all-too-serious-breakdown-of-space-jam/)
- Read: false

### 7. [Confessions of a Former Diehard](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/26/confessions-of-a-former-diehard)

Item ID: `26`

- Date: 22 Oct 2015
- Notes: "Here’s my warning: Do not do that. Do not let go completely. Watch one game every two weeks, check a box score, attend two games a year. Just stay a little bit engaged, so when fortunes turn, you’re still part of it."
- Link: [https://grantland.com/the-triangle/confessions-of-a-former-diehard/](https://grantland.com/the-triangle/confessions-of-a-former-diehard/)
- Read: false

### 8. [The Definitive NBA Logo Rankings](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/27/the-definitive-nba-logo-rankings)

Item ID: `27`

- Date: 8 Sep 2015
- Notes: The NBA logos ranked.
- Link: [https://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-definitive-nba-logo-rankings/](https://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-definitive-nba-logo-rankings/)
- Read: false

### 9. [The Good, the Bad, and the Tobias](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/32/the-good-the-bad-and-the-tobias)

Item ID: `32`

- Date: 21 Jul 2015
- Notes: A long feature on Tobias Harris, a 23-year-old power forward who’d never made an All-Star team or played in a playoff game. The piece worked as both a reported character study, explaining why teams couldn’t agree on how to value Harris’ abilities, and as a philosophical rumination on what makes a good basketball player.
- Link: [https://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-good-the-bad-and-the-tobias/](https://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-good-the-bad-and-the-tobias/)
- Read: false

### 10. [The Sixers Found Their Fuzzy Blue Dog, and We Have Entered a Golden Age of NBA Mascots](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/31/the-sixers-found-their-fuzzy-blue-dog-and-we-have-entered-a-golden-age-of-nba-mascots)

Item ID: `31`

- Date: 8 Feb 2015
- Notes: The golden age of mascots explained.
- Link: [http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-sixers-found-their-fuzzy-blue-dog-and-we-have-entered-a-golden-age-of-nba-mascots/](http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-sixers-found-their-fuzzy-blue-dog-and-we-have-entered-a-golden-age-of-nba-mascots/)
- Read: false

### 11. [San Antonio’s Revenge: Scenes From a Championship Run for the Ages](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/38/san-antonios-revenge-scenes-from-a-championship-run-for-the-ages)

Item ID: `38`

- Date: 16 Jun 2016
- Notes: The evolution of the Spurs and how Zach brilliantly chronicled it to reflect their capturing of a 5th championship
- Link: [http://grantland.com/the-triangle/san-antonios-revenge-scenes-from-a-championship-run-for-the-ages/](http://grantland.com/the-triangle/san-antonios-revenge-scenes-from-a-championship-run-for-the-ages/)
- Read: false

### 12. [Tales from the NBA draft lottery](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/37/tales-from-the-nba-draft-lottery)

Item ID: `37`

- Date: 18 May 2016
- Notes: The absurdity of the Draft Lottery.
- Link: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/15583495/the-gravity-absurdity-nba-draft-lottery](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15583495/the-gravity-absurdity-nba-draft-lottery)
- Read: false

### 13. [Breaking down the Thunder's winning formula](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/29/breaking-down-the-thunders-winning-formula)

Item ID: `29`

- Date: 17 May 2016
- Notes: In a 2,000-word piece sprinkled with illustrative videos, Lowe jotted down everything he saw in Game 1: how the Thunder frustrated the Golden State Warriors by switching screens away from the ball, how Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka struggled to defend the pick and roll, and how Kevin Durant’s late-game swoon had a lot to do with Andre Iguodala’s smothering defense.
- Link: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/15574596/the-thunder-seem-coming-together-perfect](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15574596/the-thunder-seem-coming-together-perfect)
- Read: false

### 14. [The New Jersey Swamp Dragons? It almost happened](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/25/the-new-jersey-swamp-dragons-it-almost-happened)

Item ID: `25`

- Date: 8 Apr 2016
- Notes: An oral history of how the Nets almost become the New Jersey Swamp Dragons.
- Link: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/15155466/once-nets-seriously-considered-becoming-swamp-dragons](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15155466/once-nets-seriously-considered-becoming-swamp-dragons)
- Read: false

### 15. [How the Heat made the coolest jerseys in the NBA](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/41/how-the-heat-made-the-coolest-jerseys-in-the-nba)

Item ID: `41`

- Date: 13 Dec 2018
- Notes: "If they aren't the best uniforms in the NBA, they are certainly the coolest. Just don't call them "Miami Vice" uniforms, even though they use the name "Vice" and the pink-and-turquoise coloring from the wordmark of the classic 1980s cop show. "
- Link: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/25516123/inside-new-miami-heat-vice-jerseys](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25516123/inside-new-miami-heat-vice-jerseys)
- Read: false

### 16. [Welcome to the NBA's hall of absolute absurdities](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/42/welcome-to-the-nbas-hall-of-absolute-absurdities)

Item ID: `42`

- Date: 18 Sep 2018
- Notes: "I've suggested on podcasts that the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame should construct a wing devoted to NBA absurdities. The NBA is the most absurd major U.S. sports league, churning out a never-ending stream of on-court bloopers, social media gaffes and melodrama. The day-to-day silliness deserves its place in Springfield, Massachusetts."
- Link: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/24646625/zach-lowe-nba-hall-fame-absurdities](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24646625/zach-lowe-nba-hall-fame-absurdities)
- Read: false

### 17. [Welcome to Manu's basketball familia](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/36/welcome-to-manus-basketball-familia)

Item ID: `36`

- Date: 28 Aug 2018
- Notes: A great piece on Manu and his retirement.
- Link: [https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/\_/id/17262551/manu-ginobili-built-legacy-love-team-storied-career](https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/17262551/manu-ginobili-built-legacy-love-team-storied-career)
- Read: false

### 18. [Why Kawhi Leonard's power move was a watershed moment](https://listium.com/@tobias1/44388/zach-lowes-best-columns/40/why-kawhi-leonards-power-move-was-a-watershed-moment)

Item ID: `40`

- Date: 23 Jul 2019
- Notes: "Kawhi Leonard nudging Paul George out of Oklahoma City with two years remaining on George's contract will go down as a watershed moment in the NBA -- for the teams it built and tore apart; for the bounty the Thunder received; but mostly for what it signified about the degree to which superstars now control roster-building."
- Link: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/27240776/why-kawhi-leonard-power-move-was-watershed-moment](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27240776/why-kawhi-leonard-power-move-was-watershed-moment)
- Read: false