Some draft picks that you swore couldn't miss

[got philk?]

I really thought Acie Law was going to be a good point guard in the league.

Eric Montross comes to mind as well.

[Jeffx]

Dwayne "Pearl" Washington

Pervis Ellison

[Lamrock]

Never nervous Pervis. What a waste of such a great nickname.

[Dramacydal]

Gotta love how they changed it to "out of service Pervis".

[shadowgrin]

I miss the days in the NBA where players are given good nicknames not unlike today where initials and the player's number are just used. Just shows the lack of imagination in the league these days. Though it was done in the past such as GP and MJ (Payton and Jordan) but at least they also had other nicknames such The Glove and [insert Jordan nickname you know here]

Look at Tony Parker - TP. The hell, toilet paper? Chris Paul - CP3. Paul Pierce is excluded since he was in the league before the millenium.

[Andrew]

Paul Pierce is excluded since he was in the league before the millenium.

He's also got "The Truth".

[shadowgrin]

That's why I excluded him.
He's the only player today that comes to mind that has a well known nickname not involving his initials or number.
Even Ben Wallace got downgraded with the nickname. He was dubbed as 'The Beast' before but he was called 'Big Ben' more when he became well known. The Beast sounds better than a clock reference.

[Jackal]

The Kid, The Answer, The Admiral, The Big Aristotle and Black Mamba come to mind too.

Now it's D-Wade, CP3, LBJ23, D-Will, TP.

Dwight's Superman is also nice I guess, just when I think Superman I think Shaq.

[shadowgrin]

Yeah, even KG had 'The Kid' which eventually became 'The Big Ticket', yet even he got that nick before the NBA media became stupid.
Even though the Black Mamba is relatively recent (no more Shaq in LA), he was the one who gave it to himself, so it doesn't count in the creativity of today's NBA media. Same with 'Chosen One' which was given to him before he even entered the NBA. The best they could come up with for LeBron not involving initials is a fucking bible reference.

Also J-Rich. Forgot to rant about that one, using the first letter of the name along with the surname. Why can't the media call him Wade instead of D-Wade, as if there are other Wades in the NBA. Same also with D-Will, they can just call him Deron. It's not like there are other Williams in the league whose first name starts with a D.
T-Mac doesn't count in my rant since he played in the league well before 2000.

The Superman nick doesn't count as creative since it's passed down. Jordan (along with Pippen to form that Superman and Batman), Reggie Miller though briefly in the 2000 finals when he wore that Superman shirt during practice, and recently Shaq, before Dwight or D12 as he's also known.

[Lamrock]

AK-47 is the only initials + jersey number nickname thats completely awesome.

[The X]

The Superman nick doesn't count as creative since it's passed down. Jordan (along with Pippen to form that Superman and Batman), Reggie Miller though briefly in the 2000 finals when he wore that Superman shirt during practice, and recently Shaq, before Dwight or D12 as he's also known.

I thought MJ & Pip were more Batman & Robin.

Anyways, I agree with the crappy nicknames. If they can't come up with anything good, just call them by their real names.

AK-47 is the only initials + jersey number nickname thats completely awesome.

Agreed, the Russian connotation works well. But I guess that's why he would've chosen number 47 in the first place.

[Andrew]

Also J-Rich. Forgot to rant about that one, using the first letter of the name along with the surname. Why can't the media call him Wade instead of D-Wade, as if there are other Wades in the NBA. Same also with D-Will, they can just call him Deron. It's not like there are other Williams in the league whose first name starts with a D.

At least they never tried it with Patrick Ewing.

Seriously though, it's definitely getting out of hand. Some more creative nicknames wouldn't go astray.

[Alejandrov011]

P-Ew

That would be sexy

[Jeffx]

The old ABA had the best nicknames for their players -

Julius 'Dr.J' Erving
George 'Iceman' Gervin
Larry 'Special K' Kenon
Darnell 'Dr. Dunkenstein' Hillman
David 'Skywalker' Thompson
Billy 'Big Whopper' Paultz
Dan 'The Horse' Issel

Best NBA Nickname - Darryl 'Chocolate Thunder' Dawkins

[shadowgrin]

Some fine nicknames right there even though I have no idea what the others mean. I think a good nickname is either obvious that it represents a player's style or vague as to get the attention or curiosity of the (casual) fan. Take Larry Kenon for example, now I'm curious what's so special about him.

The best nickname for me though has to be Magic (Johnson). Most people don't even know his real first name.

[TheOriginalCandyMan]

At least they never tried it with Patrick Ewing.

Seriously though, it's definitely getting out of hand. Some more creative nicknames wouldn't go astray.

If Snickers aired that commercial 20 years ago, he would have been the infamous Patrick Chewing lmao

[benji]

Take Larry Kenon for example, now I'm curious what's so special about him.

Probably best known as Gervin's sidekick.

[Andrew]

The best nickname for me though has to be Magic (Johnson). Most people don't even know his real first name.

I'll throw Tyrone Bogues' "Muggsy" out there as a runner-up to Magic.