The above is perhaps the most exact duplication of the NBA website (sans stars as accordant with new NBA rules) ever drawn completely by hand.
And this is the same thing, except closer.
(Color)
(B&W. I'm sure these were totally necessary)
By Ryan + Nico.
From Bleacher Report and Cavs: the Blog.
NBA Draft Lottery: What’s Not To Like about Nick Gilbert and the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Welcome to week two of the Bleacher Retort, a.k.a. Ryan’s first foray into the world of architecture and banner design, a.a.k.a., unprecedented streak of employment.
It’s all very exciting.
Also exciting? What happened Tuesday night to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
As you may or may not have heard, three days ago now, the Cavaliers won the NBA draft lottery in a big way by scoring the numbers one and four picks, which is a pretty good haul.
Even better was that they did this on the back of one of the more likeable draft day representatives in recent memory—14-year-old Nick Gilbert—the owner’s son, the Ambassador for the Children’s Tumor Foundation, and the sole reason I chose to wear a bowtie while typing this entry.
“What’s not to like?”
Not much, Nick Gilbert. Not much.
Thanks to you, Kyrie Irving is heading to Cleveland, and someone else of note will not be far behind.
One addendum:
Probably should have asked this first, but…do you have any idea who Nick Gilbert is?
Take the poll! ---> (Editor's note: The pole is sadly unavailable on this site.)
It has recently come to my attention that the resulting and semi-well-chronicled Ryan Braun Cleveland bias may have again trickled its way into my work, in part contributing to the assumption that the Cavaliers winning the draft lottery was the seminal event of the week, and thus, the event most worthy of chronicling via cartoon.
Should you be one of the hopefully few/probably many who aren’t up to date on all things Cleveland, next week we’ll be a going a little more mainstream. Potentially even touching on something familiar to more than 10 percent of the population.
Ideally, I'd like to find a way to tie together LeBron James, Chris Nolan, Barack Obama and the Debt Ceiling, but nothing's come to mind yet.
It's a process.
Thanks for reading everyone!
And again, thanks to the inimitable colorist AJS, who did some pretty great work on this picture.
Signed,
Ryan “Kyrie Irving + Enes Kanter = Championship” Braun
PS -The actual picture is a bit larger then it appears on screen. I think you can drag it onto your desktop and it becomes bigger.
PPS - This (below) is a picture of my brother and me watching the lottery unfold, and I think it captures the feeling of the room quite nicely.
We were nervous.
(Photo credit: My brother’s girlfriend, Stefanie “Annie Leibovitz with an iPhone” Weisenburger, snapped it.)
PPPS – I actually sold one copy of last week’s cartoon. This is officially an enterprise.
PPPPS - It was my mom who bought the picture, and in case you were wondering, she bought the discounted autographed version.
By Ryan + Aron.
So, I’m Ryan, and this is kind of a pilot program of sorts; a test go-round to see what kind of response we get with a B/R cartoonist and a weekly strip.
The above is the inaugural entry in that weekly strip, which I’m thinking we’ll call—the Bleacher Retort.
I hope it goes well, for if it doesn’t I will be unemployed.
***
Now, if you’d allow me to put on my curator’s hat for a moment—the pictorial etymology of the subject matter is twofold:
One — As a lifelong Cleveland fan, it’s possible that I’m still dealing with some unresolved issues re: the Heat. Thus, I was looking for a way to encapsulate my feelings of betrayal, inadequacy and potentially misdirected all-encompassing hatred into what is hopefully a thoughtful and therapeutic piece of art.
Two—My editor told me to do it.
Both of those things contributed.
We used this picture—King LeBron, rookie year—as our jumping off point.
My friend, the enormously talented AJS helped me out/colored the thing in its entirety, and she is freaking amazing. As are, I begrudgingly admit, the Heat.
Thank you Aron, thank you Rollin, and thank you everyone else for reading.
Signed,
Ryan “Chicago Bulls fan by default” Braun
***
Editor’s notes:
- The actual picture is a little bigger, and was made with pencil, Photoshop, and vitriol.
- Should you want to purchase a print of the picture, you can get one shipped to your house for $15.00.
- Should you want to purchase an autographed print of the picture, you can get one shipped to your house for $14.95.
By Ryan + Aron.
