Links: NBA Friday VII
Fri-Day! Yes!
That time again. we’re getting deep into our NBA Friday series, so deep that we’re about to hit the point where I lose my knowledge of Roman numerals.
Anyway, today for NBA Friday, our weekly visit from Joel Kimmel, the official illustrator of The Links. This week’s team is the Philadelphia 76ers, and I think you can see what Joel came up with.
“I decided, with the help of the readers, to go with an Old School NBA Friday,” Joel says. “I wasn’t really excited about doing any of the current Sixers, so I decided to paint Julius Erving and Charles Barkley instead. I portrayed Erving standing on the hoop to quite literally suggest his above-the-rim style. As Barkley was a more forceful player, I put a broken rim in his hand to suggest that. I’ve wanted to paint these guys for a long time, especially Barkley who was a favorite player of mine. It was great to have a reason to do them both in the same week.”
Awesome work, Joel.
Next week’s team is the Golden State Warriors. As always, your suggestions are welcome.
58 Responses to “Links: NBA Friday VII”
Jan.18 at 3:12 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Love Doc’s knee braces.
Jan.18 at 3:13 pm
says says:
why no nba logo on the jerseys
Jan.18 at 3:17 pm
white hot eboy says:
Fantastic!!!! Each one has kind of a retro vibe, not in the subjects, but in the coloring and the details. Warriors? Gotta be B-Diddy, working some fool off the dribble, maybe Tony Parker stumbling backwards with Baron pulling up.
Jan.18 at 3:18 pm
peteb80 says:
Dressing to the left?
Jan.18 at 3:22 pm
jbn74sb says:
I am digging Barkley’s shoes.
Jan.18 at 3:23 pm
Joel Kimmel says:
Thanks Lang, I love drawing knee braces.
@says: sometimes I don’t draw the logo because I find that it may be distracting from the rest of the image.
Jan.18 at 3:26 pm
TADOne says:
Wow, fantastic job Joel.
Jan.18 at 3:30 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Also, when Doc was playing back then they I don’t think they even had logos on the jerseys.
Jan.18 at 3:31 pm
TADOne says:
Who cares about the logos? If you don’t know who they are, you should be banned from the site.
Jan.18 at 3:33 pm
Jake Appleman says:
amazing
Jan.18 at 3:36 pm
TADOne says:
And even though we shouldn’t have two old school Fridays in a row, I would absolutely love to see a Run TMC pic done.
Jan.18 at 3:46 pm
Jay Davis says:
Lang, Could you post the URL to Joel’s Web site again. I wanna put some people up on his work. Thanks
Jan.18 at 3:46 pm
RM # 0 says:
nice work Joel
Jan.18 at 3:47 pm
RM # 0 says:
oh yeah , Dr. J looks like Tyson Chandler
Jan.18 at 3:49 pm
TADOne says:
Jay: If you look up a few comments, Joel posted a comment that has his link.
Jan.18 at 3:50 pm
Myles Brown says:
If theres no Nellie and Coors Light next week, or praying hands and guns, Ill be slightly disappointed…
Jan.18 at 4:01 pm
Tom says:
awesome paintings, for the warriors you have try and work their insane crowd into the painting, maybe like a 300 Sparta theme and the fans are the army.
Jan.18 at 4:03 pm
Cub Buenning says:
Well done. How did Iavaroni or McCullough not get chosen?
I also love the choice of the ‘77 tops (from their finals with the Blazers) for Doc. Those shoes were my first pair to be dubbed, “basketball only.” Mine were navy, instead of red.
Warriors? gotta have Run TMC
Jan.18 at 4:12 pm
bay area says:
it’s gotta be boom dizzle, complete with beard and pimp hat that he wore last year in the playoffs, dunking on ak47
Jan.18 at 4:12 pm
bay area says:
i like tom’s idea too
Jan.18 at 4:13 pm
Cub Buenning says:
I want these shots as part of either a comic book or an old-school Saturday morning cartoon.
Jan.18 at 4:14 pm
d.Y. says:
Dooooooooooooooope.
Jan.18 at 4:20 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
I agree with Run-TMC–with dookie rope chains and no laces in their shoes. And Cazals on Timmy.
Jan.18 at 4:21 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Awesome job with the Sixers, BTW.
Jan.18 at 4:27 pm
BETCATS says:
Stephen Jackson with a gun pointed at don nelson and don nelson nervosly handing him and matt barnes captian C’s
Jan.18 at 4:35 pm
rob stewart says:
B diddy getting bizzy
Jan.18 at 4:41 pm
dma says:
dr j has a huge penis in the picture. no homo.
Jan.18 at 5:46 pm
Justin Adler says:
sexy
Jan.18 at 5:47 pm
Justin Adler says:
^that’s to quote D Wade, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Jan.18 at 6:39 pm
niQ says:
this one is obvious.
baron davis.
Jan.18 at 6:39 pm
poohbiz says:
i love it!!!
great job joel
Jan.18 at 6:55 pm
albie1kenobi says:
one of the best basketball themed arts i’ve since in a long time. GREAT job Joel.
for warriors, the crowd’s gotta be involved in the picture. the fans are crazy (in a good way of course).
Jan.18 at 7:08 pm
Gerard Himself says:
Like everyone else said: Baron Davis.
Jan.18 at 7:28 pm
Joel Kimmel says:
Thanks for the compliments everyone, I’m happy with how these turned out. I would love to do a painting of Baron Davis as I really enjoy drawing beards for some reason.
Jan.18 at 7:47 pm
WeS says:
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, can we get B Diddy dressed like Leonidas, standing over Kirilenko dress like Xerxes and him yelling “This is OAKLAND!!!!” PLEASE…
Jan.18 at 7:53 pm
J says:
cool Dr. J and Barkley. Like others say Baron Davis
Jan.18 at 8:11 pm
T - Will 4 says:
How about Chris Webber dunking of Sir Charles SLAMADAMONTH #1 or Spree, Chris, Timmy, Mully, and Rock for a starting 5
Jan.18 at 10:31 pm
Captain America says:
Does Charles have a rim or a doughnut?
Jan.18 at 10:55 pm
zion says:
bdiddy ala leonidas
Jan.18 at 11:21 pm
TC says:
Barkley looked like he just smoked some chronic…..
Jan.19 at 12:24 am
Glen says:
I wanna see one of Stephen Jackson and the tattoo. Dunno how dificult it would be to draw, but i’ve got faith in Joel
Jan.19 at 2:30 am
JG says:
azubuike soaring for a dunk representing the big jump from d league
Jan.19 at 3:34 am
Gerwin says:
Speechless….wonderful work Joel.
GS next week? In can’t be right if there will be a drawing without S-Jax in it. Not on Slamonline.com.
Also like something with Run-TMC.
Jan.19 at 4:36 am
Marvin says:
Nice work, I am waiting on a Rasheed Wallace or a Shawn Kemp
Jan.19 at 5:21 am
karan says:
warriors: b-diddy dunking on nowitzki, while stephen jackson watches on holding a gun like b’diddy’s bodyguard
Jan.19 at 10:46 am
Cub Buenning says:
Can’t believe no one mentioned Nate Thurmond or Rick Barry…. our crowd is always younger than I remember. That, and they really like Baron Davis (who by the way, was nasty last night) Nate the Great averaged 20/20 for two seasons in a row! OR EVEN BIG WILT! Philly/San Fran Warriors! Maybe a shot of him in some lavish penthouse with a harem of women around him….
Jan.19 at 12:40 pm
MeloMan13 says:
why is dr j’s piece so big
no homo
Jan.19 at 4:13 pm
The Cool says:
Jackson firing off on the dallas mavericks(not in the gun kind of way of course) or Monta Ellis getting a lob from Baron davis. play wit it.
Jan.19 at 4:37 pm
J.B says:
nice. gotta be jax with some type of gun or something.
Jan.19 at 8:28 pm
Alain says:
@RM # 0 to me the pictured Dr J looks more like Boozer with a ‘fro… and CB34 like he hasn’t shaved for decades (or is it because he’s been remixed with K-Mart’s face ?) and lost a few inches of upper body.
Don’t get mad at me Joel, I like it anyways !
Jan.19 at 11:03 pm
Billy King says:
Joel, nice pics. Sad state for Sixers fans nowadays that there isn’t even a current Sixer that’s relevant enough for a portrait. I thought that a pic of Doc, AI, Barkley, and Wilt looking out to the back of a player with a current Sixers jersey on, nameless. Like we’re waiting for the next great Sixer to come along.
Jan.20 at 11:40 am
apollo 33 says:
does anyone remember when the links was worth reading?
Jan.20 at 11:40 am
polowthaJon says:
Young CWebb on Barkely!!!
Jan.20 at 4:50 pm
DMC14 says:
Go Barkley!!!
Jan.20 at 4:55 pm
DMC14 says:
apollo 33, i do. Before this set-up i would check it every day just to make sure i didnt miss anything. now maybe once a week. I feel Slam has gone the same way and dont know if i will renew my subscription(especially considering i miss out on at least one issue every 12 months). Sad truth still the best basketball mag in the world.
Jan.21 at 3:44 pm
Yoeri says:
charles has gained a LOT of fat! nice though..
Jan.22 at 12:06 pm
memyselfand9 says:
baron davis in a raiders outfit for next friday please. late eighties style!
you know that LA - Oakland Raiders connection.
Jan.22 at 1:11 pm
Phila says:
MONTA!!!!