#johan petro

[indiebasketball]

Petro The Lion

[nbatattoos]

Atlanta Hawks, 2012-13

Tattoo percentage: 80% (12 players with tattoos, 3 without)

With the additions of Anthony Morrow, DeShawn Stevenson, and Lou Williams, the Hawks tattoo percentage jumped far ahead of last year.

Players with tattoos:

Devin Harris Harris has an elaborate design tattooed on his left arm. In an interview with The Guardian, Harris explained a bit about the tattoo: “That’s kind of my conscience. It’s just there with me, all the time. I wouldn’t say I designed it but I had a hand in it, me and the tattoo artist himself.”

John Jenkins Jenkins has a tattoo on his chest, although the design is unknown.

Ivan Johnson Rembert Browne of Grantland did a great service by transcribing large portions of a 2008 public radio interview with fan favorite Ivan Johnson. In a particularly emotional segment, Johnson describes his mother’s death and his ongoing connection to her:

I talk to her every day. Little stupid stuff I see in the streets. I laugh with her, talk with her, a pillow that she had in the house that she used to sleep on, I keep that with me all the time. Wherever I go, I keep her obituary with me, just so I can see her face, so I won’t forget how she looked. Before she passed, I got her face tattooed on me, so I’ll never forget how she looked. And that means so much to me.

Dahntay Jones Jones has a number of tattoos across his arms and chest.

Kyle Korver In 2006, Korver told Sports Illustrated that he promised his mother he’s wait until her death before getting a tattoo. In 2009, as reported by Omaha.com, he and his brother Kaleb got tattoos of their favorite bible verses. Kaleb remarked that their mother was “good with it” and that they’re trying to convince their other two brothers to join in.

Shelvin Mack It’s difficult to make out the design (I think it’s a “laugh now/cry later”), but Mack has a tattoo on his left arm.

Johan Petro Petro has tattoos on both arms.

Mike Scott Rookie Scott came into the league with 13 tattoos, as described in a ESPN profile:

Scott has 13 tattoos (and counting), including the initials of his two little brothers, Antonn and Derrick, tattooed onto his wrists; his mother's initials are tattooed on one side of his neck and his father's tattooed onto the other side.

Josh Smith Among Smith’s many tattoos is a throwback Hawks logo (circa 1972-1995) on his left arm.

DeShawn Stevenson In a 2010 video interview, after pointing out his most recent tattoos—his wife’s name above his eyebrow, her initials behind his left ear, and his jersey number on his neck—Stevenson states, “my mom, she said no more tattoos on my face, so I got to listen to her.”

Jeff Teague As soon as the 2011-12 season ended, Teague added a full sleeve to his left arm.

Lou Williams Williams has the word "MOTIVATION" tattooed across his back. He explained the design of the tattoo for Urban Ink Magazine:

I designed the tattoo myself when I was 17. The idea came to me to get motivation across my back, and I wanted to spell it out for all the people that motivated me. So, what I did was, I wrote down all the names of family members and friends and all of the people that helped me along the way, and I just made it all intertwine, and it came out perfect. It was incredible how the words went together and everything. I was really motivated by my family and my friends, and the people that supported me from day one.

Players without tattoos:

Al Horford Zaza Pachulia Anthony Tolliver

[nosebleedhooligans-blog]

Oops he did it again -- Billy King makes it harder on himself, close to completing trade for Iso Joe Johnson

Brooklyn Nets GM Billy King has been too busy since free agency began July 1, possibly enough to do something as bold as multiplying himself so that he can negotiate the Williams/Kidd package deal after overpaying Gerald Wallace $40 million for four years, less than 24 hours before completing a mammoth salary commitment. 

   If King got his bold inspiration from the Michael Keaton travesty Multiplicity, then he'd know that the first few copies will generally have your characteristics, plus or minus some character and attitudinal quirks that are mere enhancements of qualities you already have. 

   Say the real King went out and overpaid Wallace. The giveaway is a near-death love affiar with an aging ex-all star who, though very useful, does not figure to be as productive four years from now, when his athleticism-based game is all but eroded. Shit, I was dubious about his plot to bring Wallace, nee Harrison Barnes, for three years and $24 million. But just when I thought you wouldn't disappoint me, you turn around and absolutely redeem yourself, by at least being consistent, GM Lloyd Christmas. 

  We knew King would overpay for Wallace regardless, as if he's the magnetic attracting Williams to the Nets. 

   A smarter Billy King would then emerge, one would hope, from the DNA sequencing machine, to engineer a deal that would bring Dwight Howard to the Nets. 

   But he got waylaid by idiot Billy King, who I guess everyone's back, even slightly less stupid real Billy King, by taking on someone else's overpay. 

   The Atlanta Hawks one its first deal of Danny Ferry's tenure by getting rid of the remaining $89 million and four years left on Iso Joe Johnson, taking on slightly less annoying contrats of Johan Petro, a sign and trade for SG DeShawn Stevenson, backup PG Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow and Jordan Williams. The Nets will have to renounce its $7.5 cap hold on Kris Humphries, who's now free to sign wherever. 

   Dwight Howard came out weeping to Yahoo Sports about being accused as a quitter, and we'll handle his dilema and future scenarios in a different post. For now, it's about Idiot Billy, the guy who took on Joe Johnson. 

   They must be confident about signing Williams, or not. Johnson is an underrated go-to scorer, though he takes too many shots, eats up much of the shot clock and limits a team's overall possession per 48 minutes of play.

   But Suns fans will tell you he's enough of a difference-maker when he played with Steve Nash in Phoenix. He was that almost-championship team's No.1 offensive option, feeding off Nash's angles and flips. 

   He blossomed in Atlanta, and was a proven 20 ppg scorer enough for the Hawks to overpay him to make an honest run at the playoffs. He's a luxury the team no longer wants to afford, and that transaction happened with an obvious short-sighted bent from the team's brass, if only to keep up the illusion of "competing."

   The Hawks certainly wouldn't want to afford him as it seeks cap flex, for two reasons A) to get the team sold. Contracts are not counted as assets, and the bigger your payroll, the less the team's worth, and B) to engineer a new path of development, while not conceding too much ground in the present.

   It's ironic that the Hawks could be the team the Nets edge out for a playoff spot, and Johnson would have something to do with that.

   This move's success, however, hinges on Williams opting to return to the Nets. Having Johnson as an inside-out receiver will give him tenfold of an offensive punch than he had last season. A full year of Wallace should give him the option of running, which Johnson can do in spurts. The frontline will likely stay intact, with Al Horford more secure in his job than the mindless Josh Smith, reportedly a trade bait, though you coudln't tell because Atlanta could have chosen a sign-and-trade with Humphries instead, as a low-measure protection for losing Smith.

  SG Anthony Morrow figures to make the most impact under Larry Drew's system, though he'll be even more effective and deadly if Smith stays and commits to playing inside, instead of hanging around the arc fancying yourself the shooter you're not. Horford's presence in the paint alone, even more gargantuan than that of Mehmet Okur or Petro for most of last season, would open up more open looks for Morrow. 

   As effective of a scorer as Johnson gets, he's not expendable, and Morrow getting open looks alone could be a more efficient way of scoring 18 points a game. He could blossom in Atlanta, and if he stays the same or regresses a little, it wouldn't matter much because he's not owed a lot of money and years. In short, like Farmar, Petro et al, he will be off the books in two years. 

   Ferry got as good of a package as he could for an overpaid star that no one wants, and might have even won it by having Morrow included. Morrow's success, aside from the Hawks' interior presence, hinges on whether Jeff Teague could get him the ball. There's no reason for the Hawks to explore trades to upgrade at point guard, because trading Johnson in itself is a sign of an impending reboot. Teague's athleticism has yet been matched by his experience, but a second year of starting could be enough of a vote of confidence to let him mature as a poor man's Rajon Rondo. 

   Meanwhile, the Nets get protection no matter how the Howard case resolves itself. Williams has a scorer to go to, and the Nets are that much better in the short term, even if it holds on to Brook Lopez and MarShon Brooks, two variables that will enter into any Howard-related discussions. 

   Imagine that trio, and Brooklyn may have stumbled on the antidote for the Heat. If anything, it proposes an intriguing superstar death match in the East, something David Stern knows the league needs to maintain mainstream relevance. The momentum built from the past two seasons, hardly disrupted by the lockout and in fact made all that more interesting, has boosted the NBA's Q ratings the way the WWE leveraged the bad boss appeal with instantly loved athletic icons, of the real sports variety this time. 

   But Joe Johnson is not Dwight Howard. A stroke of genius could land Howard with the Nets still, that and some Russian persuasion perhaps. This trade has made it all that more difficult for the Nets to land him. 

   A Johnson and Williams duo will scrape by the first round of the playoffs maybe depending on who they're matched up against. It hardly challenges the Heat, the Pacers, Sixers, Knicks and Celtics. Howard and Williams alone would have dramatically shifted the power balance in the East. 

   Johnson, not so much. 

[fuckyeanba]

This brilliantly muted AP Photo by Julio Cortez features a New Jersey Net hanging from the net.