Chicago Bulls 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 54% (7 players with tattoos, 6 without)
Even with the loss of Rasual Butler and Keith Bogans, the tattoo percentage for the Bulls stayed about the same as last year’s squad. A lot of variation here—there’s definitely some extrapolation to be had between Boozer’s self-obsessed tattoos, Rose’s declarations of love and inspiration, and Noah’s assertion that it’s more original to not have tattoos at this point. But not by me.
Players with tattoos:
Carlos Boozer
Boozer recently launched a website which includes a photo gallery of his tattoos. It’s not exhaustive, but does include a nice photo of his “look back and thank god, look forward and trust god” chest tattoo. But the “C BOOZ UNLEASH THE BEAST” tattoo is disappointingly absent.
Ronnie Brewer
Brewer may lead the league in basketball tattoos, with a ball tattooed on each shoulder and a hoop tattooed on his forearm.
Richard Hamilton
The tattoo of a skeleton hand emerging from the grave spinning a basketball is an all-time favorite. For the NBA Mailbag, he described the tattoo: “I have R.I.P. coming out the ground on a tombstone that means basketball for life, basketball till I die. Yeah.”
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.
John Lucas III
The Windy Apple’s March 2012 feature “15 Things You Didn’t Know About John Lucas III” includes a photo of the text tattooed on Lucas’s back.
Derrick Rose
A 2011 video interview shows Rose’s new tattoo, the word “HOPE” across his left wrist. For the interview, the 2011 MVP described the emotional impetus for the design: “when things seem like it’s hard, and you think you don’t got no one else on your side, and you feel alone and all that, there’s always a chance and you’ve always got to keep hope alive. And I want to be that hope for kids, for adults or whoever. When they see me, they just want to go hard at whatever they’re doing. Just because they see the way that I am and they see the way that I play.” Also worth noting is this 27 second video of Rose’s car pulling up to a tattoo shop in Chicago and people going ABSOLUTELY BONKERS.
C.J. Watson
According to an interview for Black Sports Online, Watson got his first tattoo at the age of 16. The design includes his nickname—Quiet Storm—which also doubles as the name for his foundation. Watson reveals in the interview that the nickname was suggested by his sister while they were at the tattoo shop.
Players without tattoos:
Omer Asik
Jimmy Butler
Luol Deng
Taj Gibson
Joakim Noah
Brian Scalabrine
Chicago Bulls 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 54% (7 players with tattoos, 6 without)
Even with the loss of Rasual Butler and Keith Bogans, the tattoo percentage for the Bulls stayed about the same as last year’s squad. A lot of variation here—there’s definitely some extrapolation to be had between Boozer’s self-obsessed tattoos, Rose’s declarations of love and inspiration, and Noah’s assertion that it’s more original to not have tattoos at this point. But not by me.
Players with tattoos:
Carlos Boozer
Boozer recently launched a website which includes a photo gallery of his tattoos. It’s not exhaustive, but does include a nice photo of his “look back and thank god, look forward and trust god” chest tattoo. But the “C BOOZ UNLEASH THE BEAST” tattoo is disappointingly absent.
Ronnie Brewer
Brewer may lead the league in basketball tattoos, with a ball tattooed on each shoulder and a hoop tattooed on his forearm.
Richard Hamilton
The tattoo of a skeleton hand emerging from the grave spinning a basketball is an all-time favorite. For the NBA Mailbag, he described the tattoo: “I have R.I.P. coming out the ground on a tombstone that means basketball for life, basketball till I die. Yeah.”
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.
John Lucas III
The Windy Apple’s March 2012 feature “15 Things You Didn’t Know About John Lucas III” includes a photo of the text tattooed on Lucas’s back.
Derrick Rose
A 2011 video interview shows Rose’s new tattoo, the word “HOPE” across his left wrist. For the interview, the 2011 MVP described the emotional impetus for the design: “when things seem like it’s hard, and you think you don’t got no one else on your side, and you feel alone and all that, there’s always a chance and you’ve always got to keep hope alive. And I want to be that hope for kids, for adults or whoever. When they see me, they just want to go hard at whatever they’re doing. Just because they see the way that I am and they see the way that I play.” Also worth noting is this 27 second video of Rose’s car pulling up to a tattoo shop in Chicago and people going ABSOLUTELY BONKERS.
C.J. Watson
According to an interview for Black Sports Online, Watson got his first tattoo at the age of 16. The design includes his nickname—Quiet Storm—which also doubles as the name for his foundation. Watson reveals in the interview that the nickname was suggested by his sister while they were at the tattoo shop.
Players without tattoos:
Omer Asik
Jimmy Butler
Luol Deng
Taj Gibson
Joakim Noah
Brian Scalabrine
