Caleb Williams is trying to trademark the nickname “Iceman,” which has unofficially belonged to George Gervin for decades. Can new stars reintroduce nicknames to a new generation, or is it disrespectful to the legends?
Marilyn Dubinski: I have a personal bias here because I love Gervin (my dad personally knew him back in the day) and have never liked Williams dating back to his college days at OU and USC. (What kind of “generational” athlete needs to paint “f*** (opponent)” on his fingernails for motivation?) I believe if a nickname and the player associated with it are iconic enough, it should be respected and not taken by new generations, and “The Iceman” fits the bill. Although I never would have guessed Gervin hadn’t
already trademarked it after all these years, leaving the door open for this to happen. (As a side note, how does the Chicago Bears fanboy Tim Duncan feel about all this? Too bad he’s the silent type.)
Bill Huan: I have no idea why a nickname needs to be trademarked. Most of the time, fans are the ones who invent and popularize them, and it doesn’t make any sense to gatekeep them as your own. A logo and/or brand? Maybe. But just a nickname? Insane. This doesn’t have anything to do with it being Gervin, either — imagine if LeBron did the same thing. Would we need to come up with another word for the male leads of royal families? This is pretty ridiculous in my eyes, and Devon put it best below: “the nickname is a gift of honor from fans, not a possession.”
Devon Birdsong: I admittedly have a particular soft spot for George Gervin, as we share a birthday. My grandmother used to tell me that so often that I knew about it years before the Spurs won a title, and long before I’d bothered to check if anyone else did. That being said, I actually don’t mind if another player reuses a nickname, provided they’re given it by the fans. I wouldn’t want to share a nickname, were I in that position, but that’s me. However, I also don’t believe that a player should be able to trademark a nickname in the first place. The nickname is a gift of honor from fans, not a possession. And I think it’s disrespectful to both fans and former players to treat it as such, especially if a previous bearer happens to be a Hall of Famer. I’m actually pretty concerned about what kind of precedent this could set for the sporting world at large if Williams is able to trademark the nickname. Imagine if Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe or Hakeem ‘The Dream’ Olajuwon suddenly had to file for trademark protection. The wrong result in this situation could start a trademark avalanche.
Jeje Gomez: I’m not against reusing a nickname in principle, if there’s enough reverence to the person who first popularized it and there’s a connection between the two people sharing it. For example, it’s a common practice in Argentine soccer for fans to use the same nickname for two people from different eras who share a last name, so if Caleb Williams were called Caleb Gervin and had expressed admiration for The Iceman, I think it would be fine for him to lean into it. That’s not the case here, though, as it’s not unofficial or an homage. By trademarking it, Williams is essentially taking ownership of the nickname while disregarding the person who previously had it. It’s just a bad look.
The League has seen records being broken recently, with Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, the second-highest scoring game in NBA history, as the latest example. Are we approaching an era when the numbers don’t matter anymore because the NBA has changed too much?
Dubinski: I wouldn’t say the numbers don’t matter; we’d be rejoicing if a Spur did this and rejecting any notion that it somehow counts less because of the opponent or how the final minutes of getting there went. (It was still against an NBA team, just one that was tanking and decided way too late that it wouldn’t happen on their watch.) That being said, I don’t believe we are reaching an era where something like that will suddenly become semi-normal, especially from players who aren’t generational scorers. The style of play today is too unselfish; most coaches still won’t leave their stars out there if the game is a blowout, and if Adam Silver can ever get a grip on tanking, which he’ll try to do again this summer, there won’t be pathetic enough match-ups for this to happen again in the manner it did.
Huan: It’s disingenuous to say that numbers don’t matter. Rather, they should be used with context in mind, and that should be the default way we discuss history as a whole. For example, Kon Knueppel might make 280+ threes in his rookie season, a mark Steph never hit until his 7th campaign when he won his first MVP. Does that mean Knueppel’s a better shooter? Of course not! But it also doesn’t mean that we can just discount what Knueppel’s doing because of the era he plays in. We just need to contextualize things, and the good news is that the NBA community is doing a better job of that with stats and era-adjustments becoming more and more advanced.
Birdsong: I think era-adjusted advanced stats are going to become more and more important, but I also know that this is just what the NBA does, alternating between eras of offense and defense. Oddly, I think the league schedule and the resting of players have pushed people towards rate-based stats already, and that’s half the battle. There definitely needs to be more of a point of emphasis on pre and post three-point scoring, but I think a lot of people are already there. This is not dissimilar to the way NFL fans have adjusted to entries on the all-time passing lists. If anything, the current statistical inflation has only strengthened the legacies of players like Dan Marino and Michael Jordan.
Gomez: More concerning than Adebayo’s 83-point game are the career scoring and three-point shooting records, in my opinion. The popularization of three-point shooting will inevitably result in several amazing shooters from past eras falling in the all-time list. The three-heavy modern game, along with a high pace, could have a similar effect on the all-time scorers list in a decade or so. We are fine for now, but eventually, checking a list might not tell us as much about who was really a transcendent shooter or scorer as it does now.
Victor Wembanyama is chasing history. What is the record that you think could separate him from the pack and solidify him as one of the best of all time, if he were to get it?
Dubinski: I think whatever it is, it will be on the defensive side of the ball, be it Hakeem Olajuwan’s all-time block total of 3,830 or Mark Eaton’s career average of 3.5 blocks per game. (Go read Mateo Mayorga’s piece on this if you haven’t already.) He could set some offensive records, but I don’t see him being a generational enough scorer or having the longevity to keep up with numbers like LeBron’s. I imagine any offensive records he breaks would be with height caveats, like “most threes by a 7-footer,” or combined with defensive stats, like “first player to average x points, rebounds and blocks,” or something like that.
Huan: It’ll likely be a combination of several stats. In their first 175 games played, Wemby’s made more threes than Steph did and blocked more shots than Hakeem did. We might never see someone who can do both at such a high level, and he could also end his career with the most 5x5s or quadruple-doubles. Whatever sounds most ridiculous will be the thing Wemby somehow achieves.
Birdsong: I think he almost has to go the title route if he’s aiming for GOAT, because he’ll either have to play as long (or longer) than LeBron for the statistical argument, or have a truly Wilt-esque statistical peak. No superstar has exceeded 5 titles since Jordan, and only he and Kareem have gotten more than halfway to Russell. Kareem actually has a pretty solid GOAT argument himself, with 6 titles and 6 MVPS, so if Wemby is able to exceed those while showcasing a lengthy peak, he’ll have an even better argument and will unquestionably go down as one of the very best.
Gomez: There’s no ceiling to Wemby’s career if he stays healthy, so he might end up with multiple MVPs and rings, which would make any specific record unnecessary to make him an all-time great. If I had to pick one that seems attainable even without the best-case scenario, I think it would be to win the most Defensive Player of the Year awards in NBA history. It’s probably the quickest way he can get into the pantheon of greats.
