If I'm not mistaken, Bouncy Whales was simply a Carl Herrera joke. I've never heard Billy, Alien Nation, or Amigo, so I'll assume they're board jokes as well. Ice cream man is a board joke BUT Bullard and Bill use it on broadcasts constantly.
Billy was JVG's name for V-Span, and Alien Nation and ESPECIALLY Amigo have been around for a long, long time.
The only other Big Z I can think of is Serge Zwikker. LOL. After that, I'm clueless. :grin: As for "Big O", the only ones I can even remotely think of are Oscar Torres and Otis Thorpe, but I don't remember either of them being "The Big O", so I guess you got me. I'm going to be pissed if this is one of those "I can't believe I missed that" ones. :grin:
Back in the early 70s the Rockets had a center named Don Smith. He converted to Islam and became Zaid Abdul-Aziz. Art Eckman used to refer to him as Big Z on broadcasts back then. In that same era, the Rockets also had a very serviceable center from Pan American University named Otto Moore-- Big O.
Not sure about all of them. 1. "The Dream" Hakeem 2. "The Franchise" Steve Francis 3. "Cat" Cuttino Mobley 4. "The Chicken Man" 5. "The Whopper" 6. "The Big E" Elvin Hayes 7. "The Pocket Rocket" Calvin Murphy 8. "The Wizard" Walt Williams 9. "Mad Max" Vernon Maxwell 10. "Amigo" Carl Herrera 11. "Sleepy" Floyd 12. "The Great Wall" Yao 13. "Mr. Mean" Larry Smith 14. "Skip To My Lou" Rafer Alston 15. "Bouncy Whales" Bonzi Wells 16. "Bones" Brent Barry 17. "Alien Nation" Sam Cassell? 18. "Boki" Bostian Nachbar 19. "Billy" Vassillis Spanoulis 20. "Sam I Am" Sam Cassell 21. "The Polish Rifle" Eric Piatowski 22. "Tru Warrior" Ron Artest 23. "Sweet (First+Last)" 24. "Cornbread" 25. "Sir Charles" Barkley 26. "The Chuck Wagon" Chuck Hayes 27. "Jelly Bean" Bryant 28. "The Glide" Clyde Drexler 29. "Ray Lewis" 30. "World B. Free" (Original name) Louis? 31. "Little General" 32. "Moochie" Norris 33. "The Jet" Kenny Smith 34. "Pig" Anthony Miller 35. "OT" Otis Thorpe 36. "Junk Yard Dog" Mario Elie 37. "The Ice Cream Man" 38. "Tree" Rollins 39. "Two Sandwiches" Thomas Hamilton 40. "Black Magic" 41. "The Blade" 42. "The Shark" Mike Newlin 43. "The Molestor" Lestor somebody 44. "After Burner" 45. "Oak" 46. "Slick" 47. "Spoon" Clarence Weatherspoon 48. "Pitt Bull" Matt Bullard 49. "Mo" Maurice Taylor 50. "Granny" 51. "Stick" 52. "Flyin" Ryan Bowen 53. "The Truth" not Paul Pierce? 54. "Ban-daid Man" 55. "Email" Emanual Davis 56. "My Fella" Othella Harrington 57. "Never Nervous" Pervis Ellison 58. "The Gun" 59. "The Big O" 60. "Bobby Joe" 61. "Big Z" Zan Tabak?
I just looked up his Wikipedia page, and it was even on there much to my surprise. I don't know which is harder to believe: that he had a nickname or that he was known enough to be on Wikipedia. Although, if I remember, he was a solid left-handed scorer. I have it in the back of my head that he may have also had a "Garbage Man" type of nickname?
I wandered in here thinking "team" as opposed to "individual". For the past two seasons, I've personally considered the Rockets the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players".
Whopper...Billy Paultz. Gun...Kennard Winchester...aka the Rifle. Lester "The Molester" Connor (great defender)
He's one of my favorite Rockets. One man fast break and, in that sense, the beta version of the Glyde.
Wasn't Matt Bullard "Air Bullard?" What was Mike Newlin's nickname? He was a starting SG for 5-6 years. Surely he had a nick name. How about Mitchell Wiggins? Kevin Kunnert? I don't even remember Pervis Ellison being a Rocket...
