Atlanta Hawks: More to Stevenson than SpongeBob socks
DeShawn Stevenson reacts to hitting a 3-pointer during a game against the Pacers at Philips Arena in November.
Vivlamore reporting from vacation. Here is the feature story on DeShawn Stevenson that will run in the Thanksgiving Day print edition of the AJC.
DeShawn Stevenson was a sight to behold as he left a recent Hawks workout. The veteran guard walked down a near empty corridor in the bowels of Philips Arena wearing a dark hoodie and sweat pants pulled up to his knees.
How else was he going to show off his bright yellow SpongeBob socks?
A vast collection of outlandish hosiery is just a part of what makes Stevenson the most unique character on the Hawks roster. A tattoo of Abraham Lincoln on the center of his throat is part of his vast collection of body art and piercings. His on-court persona comes to life with his signature ‘goggles’ gesture following a made 3-pointer.
Stevenson knows how to enjoy the business of professional basketball.
“I like to have fun,” said the veteran, acquired by the Hawks in the Joe Johnson trade with the Nets. “You see when I’m out here playing with the guys (following practice), I’m a jokester. You have to be serious but at the same you have to bring some fun to it.”
Where to begin with what makes Stevenson tick?
The socks: Those began with a way to amuse his young daughters. The girls like to wear crazy socks and one day Stevenson donned a pair. The family enjoyment was enough. Now, no trip to the mall is complete without the purchase of a new set.
Stevenson said Anthony Morrow and rookie Mike Scott have gotten into the act because of him. They each politely decline such a notion.
“No man, I already had my funky sock deal when he came to New Jersey,” Morrow said. “He was probably doing it before me because he’s old. I’ll pay homage but I did that on my own. I started that trend with my era.”
Stevenson is still the one to top, according to at least one. Kyle Korver noted that Stevenson ‘crushes’ all such fashionistas.
DeShawn Stevenson got a tattoo of Abraham Lincoln on this neck, just part of his body art collection. PHOTOS BY CURTIS COMPTON
The tattoos: That has become an addiction. Stevenson spends his summers getting inked – major body parts at a time. He said he will spend 12-13 hours in a session with his artist in Orlando getting work done on his arms, back, neck and more. The tattoo artist even makes house calls.
“They are used to me,” Stevenson said. “I spend a lot of money on tattoos.”
The Lincoln portrait was not his first choice. Stevenson let Gilbert Arenas, then a teammate with the Wizards, know his intention to get a tattoo of Martin Luther King Jr. Arenas did so first. Stevenson settled on Lincoln for “all the things he did for us.” He added a pair of 5s on each side of the image, as in a five dollar bill, to avoid confusion for admirers of the work.
“It hurt,” Stevenson said simply in describing the process of getting the tattoo in such a location.
The gesture: That has taken on several forms. Early in his career, Stevenson would place his hand over his eye after a 3-pointer. When he played for the Mavericks, where he won an NBA title, he altered the move. He now forms a circle with his thumb and index finger leaving three fingers extended. He will move the circle to his eye and after a few seconds snap it away as a salute. It caught on and continues.
The move was not always appreciated early in his career.
“Me being in the league for 13 years now, people know I’ve got gimmicks,” Stevenson said. “They tend not to feed into it but when I first started, it kind of (ticked) some guys off.”
Stevenson, who is also active on Twitter, is often referred to as 13 by his younger teammates, a reference to his number of years in the league. The 31-year-old has played for the Jazz, Magic, Wizards, Mavericks and Nets before joining the Hawks this season. His career started as the 23rd overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Jazz straight out of high school.
Stevenson has become a valuable on-court presence for the Hawks. Despite his aging knees, coach Larry Drew turns to him as a defensive presence at the guard and small forward positions.
“I’ve always admired his game from afar, just the fact that he knows who he is,” Drew said. “He doesn’t come out and try to do too much. From a defensive standpoint, that is his strength and that is who he is. I like that he brings that to the table. My biggest concern was how healthy he would be and how healthy we would stay. So far, he has been really good for us.”
- Chris Vivlamore
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404 comments Add your comment
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
5:12 am
DeJuan Blair.
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
5:13 am
Nikola Pekovic.
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
5:13 am
JJ Hickson.
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
5:14 am
Al Jefferson, Paul Milsap.
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
5:23 am
Out of that entire list, Mozgov is the most likely to deliver bang for your buck. Jefferson and Pekovic are going to demand high salaries. Mozgov could probably be had for Asik money.
JaeEvolution
November 24th, 2012
5:32 am
One thing I would keep in mind as far as FA next season, is that if CP3 signs the max with Clippers their salary is looking to be around 60-62M and that is with them losing Odom and Billups and nearly their whole bench who have been playing well for them. This next season is also the one where the luxury tax hits teams VERY hard for luxury tax payers, and their owner is known for being rather cheap. So can the Clippers still remain a competitive team with so little money to re-tool their squad seeing as I doubt a cheap owner goes far into the tax. I wonder if CP3 ever looks at this kind of stuff…
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
6:13 am
doc sounded like he was having an existential crisis:
doc
November 23rd, 2012
10:32 am
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
6:14 am
“Soft Al who does not want to bang and forces us to go with Zaza at C and Josh at SF is not worth 12/13 million.” – vava
Ok but is Al a top 40 NBA player?
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
6:16 am
“I doubt a cheap owner goes far into the tax.”
Clippers are one of the most profitable NBA franchises. Sterling has the money laying around. Now that he finally has a decent team, I’m sure he has no problem spending. What was the point in spending on a lottery team?
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
6:37 am
Harris checked in with 3:30 to play in the 3rd and the Hawks went -8 to close the period.
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20121123&game=ATLCHA
Only two Hawks who played at least 15 minutes had a negative +/- in this game, Devin (-4) and Lou (-11).
ag
November 24th, 2012
6:42 am
I was very surprised to see JT0 played less than 30 minutes again. With the flow of the game, I really did not have a problem with LD’s substitutions.
Mookie Blaylock said the big FT’s Devin scored against the Wiz. I do believe JT0 was in the same situation earlier this season. Also, JT0 leads the team in FT %.
At this point of the season, what we said in preseason in coming to fruition.. the loss of JJ was offset by the return of Al Horford. Korver/Lou > Marvin Williams. What has not materialized is Josh and JT0 having better seasons than last year.
Buddy Grizzard
November 24th, 2012
6:50 am
Najeh I didn’t see MKG enough at Kentucky to really analyze his game. I knew he had some offensive limitations, but that he played hard every possession at both ends. But when I saw him play at Kentucky I thought “future NBA star.” A lot of people panned the Bobcats for picking him where they did but I thought it was a good pick.
ag
November 24th, 2012
7:04 am
Another problem that a feel is coming to fruition is our SF. Stevenson logged 37 minutes last night. He did finish with some Marvin like nimbers, 9 pts 6 rbs. So since he will not play tonight, I guess LD will go with the big lineup. Problem, I guess Tolliver will get burn….
doc
November 24th, 2012
7:17 am
tech breakdown only there buddy. trying to dictate rather than find these touch pad keys. didnt work out so well.
8-3
0-8
keith
November 24th, 2012
9:09 am
Get a grip on the PERFORMANCES from last night, we just beat the BOBCATS for crying out loud! Not like they are the HEAT or THUNDER or CELTICS!!!
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
9:36 am
Top 40? Yawn……………………………………………………………………………………………….
A bunch of nobodys two games in a row? Nice…….Just pad those stats Allstars….
Knicks have played thus far one of the toughest schedules in the league unlike our 9-1 Fal-cons and 7-4 Hawks…But nice try Midrange Shawty..
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
9:37 am
Once Chandler got in foul trouble their defense vaporized…
Oh the Humanity!
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
9:42 am
Schedules tend to average out during the course of a season so do compare if you must..
Huge game for Allstar Al at home tonight against a very tough opponent..
and Josh if I may add..
1 for last 11? Hmmmmmmmmmm
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
9:45 am
If Larry would allow his best guard to play 40-45 mins per night this team would win at least 50 games.
Just Joe
November 24th, 2012
9:54 am
The Clippers loss is arguably our worst showing of the year. Hawks had 22 turnovers, shot 41% from the field, allowed 12 steals, and managed to score just 76 points.
Hawks went with the big lineup in that game, and likely will again tonight. Running a half court offense and scoring consistently with Teague, Korver, Smith, Horford, and Pachulia on the floor is the challenge. How do you spread the floor with Smith, Horford, and Pachulia all around the basket?
Bold prediction: Josh finds his jumper. Scores 25+, hitting at least 2 threes. Hawks win a close one.
tjhook
November 24th, 2012
10:01 am
Does anyone have a favorable opinion of kawhi Leonard? I think the Spurs forward could be a very good addition in Larry Drew’s offense. Strong ball handler, defender and can get himself own shot.
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:07 am
@ Slimjr
If Larry would allow his best guard to play 40-45 mins per night the guy would be gassed out come playoff time that was a stupid comment dude.
I’d rather let my players play somewhere around 30-35 mins then 40-45 because by the time playoffs start they disappear look at Joe Johnson for like the past 5 seasons.
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
10:08 am
“How do you spread the floor with Smith, Horford, and Pachulia all around the basket?”
D-I-L-E-M-M-A
keith
November 24th, 2012
10:09 am
BREAKING NEWS—–According to ESPN Pau Gasol wants more post play. Coach D’Antoni left Gasol on the bench for the entire 4th Quarter. Can we say TRADE TIME boys and girls???
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:11 am
@ Keith
Can we say NO!
keith
November 24th, 2012
10:12 am
I would move Josh Smith and Devin Harris for Pau in a heartbeat!!!!!!
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:14 am
So you want a Pau Gasol and yet you get mad with an Al Horford the logic on this blog is sometimes leaves me baffled.
So say we trade away a Josh Smith for Gasol what happens if he goes Jon Konack 2 on us?
Plus on top of that why do you want to get redundant on the offensive side of the ball if people didn’t like Horford for what he does do we want a mirror image?
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:15 am
Moving Josh Smith and D.Harris to LA would make them title contenders in fact it might even make them the Champs long before playoffs began.
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:16 am
While we sit here in ATL and go back straight into the lottery where we were from like what 1999-2007
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
10:19 am
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:07 am
@ Slimjr
“If Larry would allow his best guard to play 40-45 mins per night the guy would be gassed out come playoff time that was a stupid comment dude.”
Hey Ray, enlighten us pleeeease? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
tjhook
November 24th, 2012
10:20 am
Keep Devin, trade Stevenson and Smith OR Horford. Matching salaries would be an issue. Gasoline earns $19M. I think we should look at the Spurs- I believe a Teague/Harris/Leonard pairing would complement each other well.
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
10:20 am
He 23 not 33.Plenty of GAS left in his tank Genius
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
10:23 am
Gasol= escort service x2..
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:25 am
@ Slimjr
Hey genius doesn’t matter if you’re young or old if you play too long you’ll still be gassed come playoff time especially in the NBA
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:26 am
Plus you run risk of injury playing that many minutes every night like you want, and again like the past 5 seasons we went to the playoffs with a Joe Johnson logged a ton of minutes what happened in the playoffs disappeared which I would except anyone to do especially at that point.
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
10:36 am
Well its time for AllStar Al and Josh to step up their games in the Playoffs to supplement the superior guard play year after year after year.. The Hawks have over burden and relied on their guards way too much! Unbalanced roster for years..
The Hawks should consider trying to get their hands on Derrick William[it was a good #2 pick] to play the small forward position..This guy can score the ball! And hes a match up nightmare at 6′8″..
We cant worry about the playoffs.We got to win as many games now as we can to get a more favorable seed..Worry bout the playoffs when that ship sails..
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
10:41 am
Mr. Escort service:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZDwOCr2IB4
Ray
November 24th, 2012
10:44 am
I wouldn’t mind picking up Derrick Williams
Then again with the trouble we’ve had with people of that last name maybe it might not be in our best interest.
ag
November 24th, 2012
10:46 am
So far, the Hawks have beaten teams on their schedule that they suppose to beat – execept Houston and Golden State. I would only give them one quality win against OKC. Losing against Miami and LAC could be expected. To really be considered as a good team this season, the Hawks have to win games against quality opponents, and tonight will be a great start.
As far as quality win for the Knicks, Miami and San Antonio. They have beaten teams they suppose to as well. They did lose to Memphis and Houston. The loss to Dallas is tough considering they are playing without their best player.
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
11:02 am
ag: the Knicks are missing their Allstar power forward too at 8-3. Not bad.
Plus the Knicks have played I believe more above .500 teams in the league thus far than anyone else?
Mike is Back
November 24th, 2012
11:03 am
HOW BOUT THEM HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
11:05 am
A front line of Gasol, Horford and Zaza would continue to keep Phillips half empty most nights….
Rev in Tampa
November 24th, 2012
11:50 am
After saying repeatedly that this season was a rebuilding year, I am officially changing my mindset. I will now be rooting for the Hawks to go deeper in the playoffs and for a trade to help the Hawks at the SF.
Previously I was pinning all my hopes on the elusive ’superstar’ to join the Hawks through free agency next season.
Rev in Tampa
November 24th, 2012
11:54 am
I am doubfounded that the Bobcats did not hack-a-horford last night. Were they unaware of Horford’s 1-10 performance at the ft line on Wednesday? He only went to the line once against the Bobcats and missed it.
ag
November 24th, 2012
12:14 pm
Slim Jr., both the Hawks and Knicks have played 5 opponents above .500. I will agree, the Knicks have played a tougher schedule. I doubt Amare will ever go to any All-Star games. Dirk will.
ag
November 24th, 2012
12:15 pm
Actually hack a Al, or Josh, usually will result in the Hawks missing FT’s. I doubt Al will continue to be this bad.
Ken Strickland
November 24th, 2012
12:26 pm
It looks like LD has settled on a starting lineup and bench rotation. As a result, the team is starting to gain some chemistry and momentum. Korver knows he’ll start at SF, Harris knows he’ll start at SG, Ivan knows he’ll come in ahead of Tolliver, and Stevenson knows he’ll get mins at SG and SF off the bench. Knowing their roles and who they’ll be playing with most of the time seems to be making a big difference.
No one has come close to blowing this team out, and they are going to get better the longer they play together. They’ve actually been in position to win all but 1 of the gms they’ve lost. Teague has proven to be the best PG this team has had since the days of Mookie Blaylock, and he seems to be on cruise control. I know I’ve seen enough of him to know he could easily score more pts and have more assists if he took on a bigger role offensively.
DHarris is more like LWilliams, primarily a scorer with some PG skills, but neither is as good as team as far as being a facilitator is concerned. We can about what we expect might happen in next yrs FA all we want, but this team could be a serious player this yr if LDrew steps up and he puts more emphasis on actual DEF rather than just giving it lip service.
And once again I’ll mention what DOC said about Drew admitting he made mistake in cutting DJames and KBenson in favor of JPetro and ATolliver. James and Benson would instantly make this team taller, stronger, more versatile, and much better defensively as well as rebounding wise.
The team can certainly afford to rid itself of a misfiring 3pt shooter(Tolliver) and a total nonfactor(Petro). The youth, talent and potential of James and Benson could serve this team for yrs to come if given time and opportunity to develop. James had a preseason impact simular to IJohnson and look at how that turned out. Drew should have given James the same opportunity he gave Ivan, because he sure as hell earned it.
In order for this team to really move forward, Josh has to realize he’s not a #1 scorer and can’t be relied on to carry the team or the teams OFF load. He’s just too immature, inconsistent, and doesn’t have the OFF tools to make it happen. The sooner he realizes that, and accepts his role on this very talented and diverse team, the better off both he and the team will be.
Although he had a very solid season last yr offensively, he had a #1 scorer in JJ to releave the pressure he’s now facing. He has to realize that Horford and Teague are what makes this team go, and
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
12:52 pm
I am tired of Josh standing out on the perimeter waiting to shoot his long range jumper with the clock running down and just bricks it!
I notice Teague could have passed him the ball out there cause Josh was asking for it practically standing 3 feet away, but Teague ignored him to look for a real shooter further away..
Love it…Teague is becoming an emerging leader! Good for him and the Atlanta Hawks. Josh get you butt on the blocks!
Jeff Teague is by and away our best guard on the roster…
High-sider
November 24th, 2012
12:55 pm
You bloggers [and I, for that matter,] can’t keep calling for LD’s firing [termination] if he [LD] keeps winning. This Hawks [team] is currently in the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference Standings while [also] being tied with the Nets for having the 3rd best record in the East at 7-4 [0.636] – kinda reminiscent of last season’s [standings] scenario. Simply put, LD is getting “it” done – “it” being “the job.”
Ask yourself this: How’s D’Antoni doing as the Lakers’ [head] coach so far? ‘Nough said [or shall I say "'Nough asked"].
Good job, LD – for now.
http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html
Slimjr
November 24th, 2012
1:00 pm
Anthony Tolliver should be glued to the bench from here on out. A scrub for sure…
Josh looked mad the whole night out on the floor[every night?]. He cant get mad at anybody but himself for not improving on his jumper after all these years…It’s too late fix it[broke beyond repair] so do something else..Become a Stacey Augmon type of role player! A scrappy player who did whatever the team required except shoot the rock.His jumper was about as lousy as Josh is right about now..