Marco Belinelli Takes It All off for 'GQ Italia' Cover Shoot

In Italy, taking your pants off is a sign of respect.

This isn't true, but for our purposes, we'll pretend this was the message being conveyed in Marco Belinelli's recent GQ Italia shoot.

The San Antonio Spurs small forward disrobed to his natural, unbridled state for GQ's Italian publication.

The image appears to be an homage to Larry Bird's iconic 1977 "Secret Weapon" Sports Illustrated cover shot, later rehashed by then-Creighton star Doug McDermott.

"

Doug McDermott Calls Larry Bird Sports Illustrated Cover 'Crazy': http://t.co/XUTy1SqVFI pic.twitter.com/fM2J4bI9sJ

— Gary Dzen (@GaryDzen) June 12, 2014"

You'll note there are some differences between these images.

Gone are the articles of clothing, and in lieu of standing goofily with hands on hips, the Italian Stallion opted for the "Macarena" stance—one of the more aggressive stances one can assume when posing stark nude for photos. No half-stepping. Put it all on the table.

As for the Belinelli-Bird correlation, there’s not much to go on other than sometimes the Spurs forward makes great passes and shoots three-pointers. Belinelli isn't a point-gobbling monster a la Bird, but he plays his role.

Also, credit to the photographer for having the good sense to keep the shoes and socks. Small detail, but it means everything.

Dan is on Twitter. He is wearing pants (as of this writing).