LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the vaunted free-agent class of 2010.
by Ben Osborne / @bosborne17
“Upstage the Finals”? In print, right now? Sure. We save our magazine Finals coverage for the issue that comes out right after the season ends, when we can celebrate the champ with a must-have issue for every NBA fan (will Rajon get his first cover? Ron-Ron his second? Kobe his millionth?). Besides, we’ve got these Finals owned online, with memories, live blogs (last night’s is here, with one slated for every game), analysis, and just killing it on Twitter.
So, SLAM 140. Look, in much of the NBA Universe, free-agent mania has already set in. Once this Finals gets out of hand (hopefully it isn’t already), the rest of the country will be in, too. Why not take the free-agent madness and break it down better than any other outlet in the game?
We started with the covers, which will both be on newsstands everywhere next week and were beautifully executed by image wizard Peter Possenti and Creative Director Melissa Brennan. They were designed to look good, grab your attention, attract eyeballs, etc (you know, like every magazine that needs to sell copies on newsstands does). I think they will.
As for the cover story, well, I’d say its as good a preview of what can happen come July 1 as you will find anywhere.
Looking for even more insight than the regular SLAM folk can provide, we reached out to the great Dave D’Alessandro to write an educational and funny piece explaining the myriad possibilities of what could happen to the NBA over the next two months or so.
If you like NBA journalism, you surely know who Dave is. And if you don’t, well… Dave is the NBA columnist for the Newark Star-Ledger and has been writing about the League since 1983. His recent work for the Ledger can be found here. I’m going to humbly stack this SLAM cover story up there with any of his work. Again, it’s educational and entertaining, like we strive to be every month.
If you’re sick of free agency already (in which case you may want to leave the country and the internet for a couple months), there’s still plenty of great stuff. The full version of Lang’s Rajon Rondo feature/interview. A dope catching-up-with-Steve Francis feature by Bonsu Thompson. Pieces on in-the-news ballers such as CJ Miles, Joakim Noah, Candace Parker, Brandon Roy, plus all the great photos, shoes and high school coverage we always deliver.
Get it.
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First thing I thought of when looking at this.
SG – Wade
SF – Deng
PF – Bosh
C – Noah Your 2010-11 Chicago Bulls starting lineup. That’s what I’m talking about.
@Tomislav: Terry Furlow by Eric Woodyard. Sad but so well done.
@Tzvi Yes, JWill a big part of things too!
at least someone in a bulls jersey got a cover lol
However! I’m VERY interested in Dave D’s article though, since I’ve been reading his articles for the Star-Ledger for the last couple of years. I love his style, his sarcasm, his humor but also is really knowledgeable. When it comes to Nets info, his articles are all you need to read.
SG – Wade
SF – Lebron
PF – Amare
C – Shaquille O’Neal Your Knew York Knicks.
nice slam your the best in the biz..
Gasol vs Bosh
PJ vs Riley Man that would make one of the best finals since MJ-Stockton and Bird-Magic.
All Wade and kobe have to show for their careers are championships. And those don’t really count because the reporters don’t get to vote the NBA champions.
recruit LeBron and etc. LeBron has CLE or CHI, Bosh is going where LeBron is going but we’ll see what happens after July 2nd.
I worked for Tony G for two years and am in touch with him to this day (I hope you saw he wrote the Old School last issue). He’s a great editor, and filled with good ideas. He was probably encouraged to take slightly more chances with covers than I am, but even with that said, what was so different back then? We once did three Jordan covers in five months. The Rafer cover was insane, and so fresh, but other than that I don’t think the approach that Tony brought to covers was much different than my approach: sell magazines by putting players readers want to see on the front in a variety of different ways…
P.S. I think Rajon might be the best defensive guard in the league but only because Gary Payton retired.
Can I go change it in Borders or in a news-stand?
C’mon! The most important player this summer is Lebron, then Bosh, then D-Wade!
Oh well… But if I see a Kobe poster in there holding his 5th trophy I’m gonna be pissed!
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