Sunday, January 14, 2007

If you haven't heard Rod Hundley call a game in awhile, you might wonder who this "Slick" character he keeps referring to is. Deron Williams does, too.

Hundley encountered Williams in the Jazz locker room a few weeks ago, and the point guard was dressed in his traveling clothes -- a business suit. "I just said, 'Hey, Slick,' because he looked so sharp," Hundley said. "A light went on in my head. 'Slick.' It fits him."

So Hundley now uses that nickname more than Williams' actual name. "I think it'll stick," he said.

Maybe so. It's happened before. Hundley said he gave the same nickname to former NBA player and Indiana Pacers executive Slick Leonard years ago, and now nobody ever calls him Bob Leonard anymore.

"We were teammates back with Minneapolis [Lakers], and I gave him the name at a card game," Hundley said. "He had his hair slicked back, and he was killing us at cards. So I called him Slick. Everybody does now."

Yes, but Leonard likes the name. Williams? Not so much.

"No, but that's Hot Rod. He's going to call me whatever he wants," Williams said. "I don't like any of my nicknames here."

For the most part, that's a collection that includes "Willie," and "D-Willie," which originally came from strength coach Mark McKown and his South Carolina drawl. Pretty much everybody around the team addresses Williams that way now.

My favorite Jazz nickname? Now-departed forward Kris Humphries used to go by "Bowflex." Even heard Jerry Sloan use it -- during a game. You can probably figure that one out.