You know, intimidating things like jazz, lions, panthers, grizzlies, bears and other bruins, zealous patriots, wolves and coyotes, New Jersey devils, bobcats, broncos, bulls, jaguars, hornets, senators, pirates and other buccaneers, diamondbacks, Bengal tigers, plain old tigers you see in the street.
Birds of prey like eagles, hawks, falcons, raptors, pelicans.
Raptors are most definitely birds. "Raptor" is the encompassing term for all birds of prey. Eagles, hawks, vultures, and falcons are all raptors. You're probably thinking of the velociraptor dinosaur, which is often shortened to "raptor," but is not the same thing...although despite what Steven Spielberg had to say about it, there is evidence that velociraptors themselves had wings and may have been capable of flight.
Pelicans and Clippers have never even been to a conference finals. And if you want to make it extra interesting, the Hawks, Kings, and Thunder have never won it in their current cities.
Well, it depends on what you mean by "team". The Sacramento Kings have never won a title, although the Rochester Royals did in 1951, which is what I guess you are counting here.
The Thunder did not get any of the Sonics' history when the team was sold to OKC. Thunder were specifically precluded from claiming the Sonics' NBA title.
The Thunder officially have the Sonics history until Seattle gets an expansion team (probably in a couple of years). It can be confusing though because the Thunder don't actively recognize that history.
What will end up happening is that when Seattle gets an expansion team, the Thunder franchise will retroactively be considered an expansion team starting in 2008 while the Supersonics franchise will just have a ~20 year gap in team history. But right now the Thunder franchise and the Supersonics franchise are one and the same.
IIRC, the Pacers actually won 4 ABA championships. The Nets also won one in the ABA's final season. Of the 4 ABA transplants, only the Nuggets are perfect in their record of championship futility.
Pretty sure the NBA does not, otherwise they would be credited with league championships. It's not like the NFL, where two leagues officially merged, and both AFL and NFL records are recognized.
Birds of prey like eagles, hawks, falcons, raptors, pelicans.
What will end up happening is that when Seattle gets an expansion team, the Thunder franchise will retroactively be considered an expansion team starting in 2008 while the Supersonics franchise will just have a ~20 year gap in team history. But right now the Thunder franchise and the Supersonics franchise are one and the same.
I typed wolves too and then moved on instead of trying timberwolves cuz no one calls them that, and general Jetpunk standards usually allows this