Of all the players in the NBA, the Nets' Kenyon Martin by far has the most interesting hobby. He collects scalps.

Of other NBA players.

Which is a bit of a problem considering that head-hunting has long been outlawed by David Stern.

	Kenyon Martin, left, threw an elbow at Miami's Jim Jackson to draw his fifth flagrant foul.

But Martin, the Nets' second-year forward with five suspensions on his rap sheet because of his flagrant-foul tactics, still hasn't gotten the message: The Bad Boys were banned a long time ago.

Jersey's Very Bad Boy returned to the lineup Tuesday night, defiant as ever. Clueless as ever, too.

"I have never backed down from nobody and I am not going to start now," he said heading into the Nets' game against Cleveland. "They hit me, and I'm going to hit them back. That's the way I've been raised."

By who, Bill Laimbeer? Unlike Dennis Rodman, Martin should not be trying to bring more attention to himself. That's the last thing he and the East's No. 1 team needs.

After Jason Kidd, Martin might be the second most-important Net. One of the most underpublicized reasons they've gone from a 26-win lottery team to a probable No. 1 seed for the playoffs is because of their defense.

For the entire season, they've been ranked in the top five in both points allowed and field-goal percentage allowed, a quantum leap after finishing 22nd in points allowed and 24th in field-goal percentage defense last season.

When Byron Scott makes his defensive assignments, Martin always gets put on the Vince Carters and Tracy McGradys and Paul Pierces. He's their top perimeter defender against all the high-scoring shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards. "He's been our energizer," Kidd said.

Sometimes, though, to his own detriment. But as Scott has told him several times -- they've had more sit-downs this season than Tony Soprano had with Richie Aprile -- he's got to tone down his act. Way down. But how many times can you ask a player to stay aggressive but play smarter? How many times do you have to point out the bull's eye on the front and back of his jersey?

"He's the Hester Prynne of the NBA," team president Rod Thorn said. "He obviously has a scarlet 'A.' "

Which he'll continue to wear. Although they're 4-1 in games Martin has missed because of flagrant-foul suspensions, they can't afford to have him serving time. He has piled up seven "points," meaning that one more flagrant will get him an automatic two-game suspension. Until this season, only Charles Oakley had accrued that many points. In the playoffs, he'll go in with a clean slate, but Martin is the kind of player who just doesn't learn.

He might be only 24, but even he has to know that his flagrant-fouling is totally unacceptable. He's second on the team in minutes played (35 per game), second in scoring (15 points per game on 46 percent shooting) and a frequent flier to the basket off Kidd's alley-oop passes. But he doesn't do the Nets any good sitting in street clothes.

"He's got to watch it," Kidd said. "Everyone's going to be watching him.There have probably been some flagrant fouls called that are due to what's happened in the past."

	“	He's got to watch it. Everyone's going to be watching him.There have probably been some flagrant fouls called that are due to what's happened in the past. ”
		— Jason Kidd on Kenyon Martin

Martin started making all the late-night highlight shows, for all the wrong reasons, with two celebrated head-hunting episodes early in the season. The worst came against Orlando's McGrady. One Nets official couldn't believe the two-game ban Martin received for that hatchet-job and subsequent punch during the resulting skirmish.

"We were thinking he'd get 10 games," the official said.

Martin also drilled Karl Malone upstairs. His penchant for trying to scramble opponents' brains led to an edict from Thorn: Stop trying to decapitate foes when going for blocks.

With another ex-Cincinnati forward, Danny Fortson, who also has been piling up flagrant points for the Warriors this season, Martin is the walking example of why there has been an increase in flagrant calls this season.

"It's not because there have been more violent incidents," said deputy commissioner Russ Granik. "But we told the refs to be less tolerant, particularly when people are getting hit in the head. So we're going to see more flagrant fouls called. Hopefully, players will see that and it will lead to less contact."

Not in Martin's case. The Nets have survived without him in four games (wins over Memphis, Charlotte, Miami and Cleveland), while losing to the Lakers, who themselves were without Kobe Bryant, serving a suspension for fighting Reggie Miller. But the rest of the league has taken note of Martin's flagrant fouls and some immature behavior as well. He earned his latest ban for throwing an elbow at the throat of Miami's Jim Jackson during an altercation between Alonzo Mourning and the Nets' Aaron Williams.

"Man, this guy hasn't even played a whole season in the league, yet I've been in this league 10 years, and you're going to come in and taunt me and laugh and giggle and take privileges and throw flagrant elbows?" Mourning said. "After a while there's a line that has to be drawn."

Mourning wanted to draw that in Martin's skull. He's not alone.

"That's ridiculous, what he did and what he's doing," said Miami coach Pat Riley. "But you find ways to take care of that."

Namely, the league steps in and suspends Martin until he changes his ways. His propensity for using his arms as hatchets has brought him too often to the attention of VP of operations Stu Jackson.

"Any time a player makes contact with another player where there is a windup and/or follow-through in the motion in an effort to defend, more times than not that contact will be deemed flagrant," Jackson said in a rare public comment on a disciplinary case. "In Kenyon's case, five of his points have been a result of a windup or follow-through."

The Nets complained that his last flagrant foul wasn't deserved. But as they know, the league tends to look less favorably at players when they're constantly being dragged into Jackson's court. Just remember how they viewed Rodman, and Oakley has reached the point where he no longer gets the benefit of a doubt. A prime target of whistle-blowers anyway -- Martin gets called for almost four fouls a game, among the league's highest averges -- they're keeping their eyes on him.

"In this league, once a player gets a reputation, you want to try to stop it before it becomes a reputation," Kidd said.

In Martin's case, he already has the reputation.

And the scalps to prove it.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.