ESPN The Magazine: NBA Preview 2010-2011

This is "ESPN The Magazine's" NBA 2010-2011 Season preview issue, featuring 30 pieces of Marvel-created art under a Joe Quesada cover with very large high-quality jpeg files. The individual pages are available online as individual jpeg image files for free at espnmediazone.com... or you can simply download them here at Avaxhome. Enjoy.

Like their comic book reading counterparts, sports fans have a proclivity for casting the big names in their favored pastimes – from players to coaches to owners – as heroes and villains. With the high place superheroes currently play in pop culture, it's a wonder that more sports/comics mashups don't hit the web daily. However, this week one such super athletic combo will be on display for fans on both sides of the fence thanks to a little Disney corporate synergy. Tomorrow, October 22, the latest issue of "ESPN The Magazine" hits newsstands, presenting the publication's analysis for the 2010 NBA season, and to draw attention to their coverage, the print producers for the cable TV sports giant tapped the artists of Marvel Comics for special illustrations highlighting each team's prospects for the coming year alongside some of the biggest heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe. -- When the Walt Disney Company, which owns ESPN, bought Marvel Entertainment last year, our reaction was quick: "Sweet!" Not because we thought we'd be invited to the opening of "Iron Man 2." (Didn't happen.) We just realized that now we could e-mail the guys who draw Spider-Man, The Hulk and Captain America and put a whole new spin on the idea of synergy -- which is exactly what we did. Result? A pairing of Marvel's ability to create iconic images with our season preview of the NBA, the league that trumps all others in producing larger-than-life superstars. Together, we developed concepts for all 30 NBA teams, which Marvel's artists then turned into "variant cover." Combined with the rest of our 2010-11 outlook, it's a spectacle we think you won't want to miss. -- Hoops season is upon us and ESPN The Magazine has teamed up with Marvel’s artists to produce 30 “variant covers” illustrating each NBA team and its 2010-2011 outlook for the season. Want to know which teams ESPN’s experts picked? Also in the NBA preview, writer Chris Broussard discusses how LeBron James and Chris Bosh’s decision to join Dwyane Wade in Miami could alter the course of the league in the future, allowing for more star-built squads. And… In his first column for The Mag, “Player X”—an anonymous NBA star—writes about how players secretly applauded LeBron’s choice to call the shots this offseason, mainly because it was a welcome change from the usual owner-player dynamic. --

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