Miami Heat Dwyane Wade Legacy Last Game Screen Print by M. Fitz x Phenom Gallery

Phenom Gallery continues to its fantastic line of officially licensed NBA screen prints with this awesome Miami Heat screen print by artist M. Fitz, which celebrates the franchise’s greatest player, Dwyane Wade, and his amazing career! This print will go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, April 9th, at the American Airlines Arena and TheMiamiHeatStore.com in honor of Wade’s final regular season game as a member of the Miami Heat vs. the Philadelphia 76ers. The Miami Heat Dwyane Wade Legacy Last Game Screen Print by M. Fitz is limited to just 333 prints, and will come signed and numbered by the artist.

NBA Pop! Sports Series 2 Vinyl Figures by Funko

The NBA Playoffs have been incredible so far, and now’s your chance to immortalize the 2012-2013 season with these cute, chunky vinyl figures of your favorite basketball player! Whether you’re a Heat, Lakers, Knicks or Clippers fan, there’s definitely a figure for you in Funko’s NBA Pop! Sports Series 2. NBA Pop! Sports Series 2 includes Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Amar'e Stoudemire, Jeremy Lin (now in a Rockets uniform) and Ricky Rubio.

Each NBA Pop! Sports vinyl figure feature one point of articulation, stand 3.75” tall and come packaged in a full color displayable window box. These figures are available now in stores everywhere, but you can save yourself a trip to your local toy store by ordering them online from Entertainment Earth for $9.99 each here.

Dwyane Wade x Li-Ning “Way of Wade” NBA All-Star Weekend 2013 Screen Prints by Jermaine Rogers

This past weekend was the 2013 NBA All-Star Game here in Houston. While The Blot wasn’t able to attend the game, I did try to sneak my way into as many All-Star Weekend events as my pregnant wife would allow. The NBA has always been my favorite professional sports league, and I love all the hoopla surrounding its signature event. It’s really amazing how much bigger the All-Star Weekend has become since it was last here in Houston 7 years ago. Now there are amazing signings, parties and sneaker events all over the city where you can rub shoulders with your favorite basketball players, musicians and artists.

Once such event was Li-Ning’s “Way of Wade” pop-up shop on Saturday where the Chinese sneaker company unveiled their new line of Dwyane Wade clothing and apparel, including some really killer limited edition All-Star colorways of Dwyane’s new sneakers “Sting Wades”.  Dwyane even came by for an appearance and to officially launch his new sneakers! While the $250 basketball shoes didn’t blow me away, I was super excited to check out the two amazing Jermaine Rogers screen prints commissioned by Wade and Li-Ning specially for the pop-up shop and Wade’s private “Way of Wade” party the night before.

The open edition black Dwyane Wade x Li-Ning "Preparation/Domination" by Jermaine was made specifically for Wade's private "Way of Wade" party Friday night, and one was given to every person in attendance. The figure of Wade “in action” in his silhouette is actually printed in glow in the dark ink and really stands out on this striking image. I love Jermaine's use of color in this piece! The Blot’s not exactly sure of the print's dimensions, but it looked like a 12”x24” print and retailed for $30.

The second print is entitled “Make Your Own Way” and all prints were printed on foil, a signature of Jermaine’s many releases, exclusively for Li-Ning's All-Star Weekend pop-up shop. This print is slightly larger than the "Preparation/Domination" print (maybe 18”x24”), but this release was limited to just 100 pieces and came signed and numbered by Jermaine! What really blew me away is that Dwyane specifically requested this pretty large s/n foil print be priced reasonably for his fans, so it retailed for just $30!!! Who needs sneakers when you can get this amazing piece of art by a true rock poster legend for just $30!?! Jermaine also did an incredible recreation of his foil print as a 60”x40” mixed media piece on wood panel, which hung prominently at the Li-Ning pop-up shop.

The Blot of course snagged the signed and numbered Dwyane Wade x Li-Ning “Make Your Own Way” foil print by Jermaine Rogers, and when I left the gallery on Saturday there were a small amount of both prints still available. No clue if either sold out at the event after I left, but if you want to pick either of these basketball prints by Jermaine, I suggest heading over to his website and signing up for his mailing list.  That's the best way to stay on top of all of his future releases.

NBA Pop! Sports Series 1 Vinyl Figures by Funko

The NBA Playoffs are really heating up and now’s your chance to immortalize the 2012 season with these cute, chunky vinyl figures of your favorite basketball player! Whether you’re a Heat, Knicks or Lakers fan, there’s definitely a figure for you in Funko’s NBA Pop! Sports Series 1. What’s really amazing is there are ten figures in this first wave of NBA Pop!, making it Funko’s largest single release to date. NBA Pop! Sports Series 1 includes Lebron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Lamarcus Aldridge, Derrick Rose and Mr. Linsanity himself, Jeremy Lin.

The NBA Pop! Sports vinyl figures feature one point of articulation, stand 3.75” tall and come packaged in a full color displayable window box. These figures are available now in stores everywhere, but you can save yourself a trip to your local toy store by ordering them online from Entertainment Earth for $9.99 each here.

NBA Pop! Series 1 Concept Artwork by Funko

Funko has teamed with MINDstyle (yes, that MINDstyle) to produce a line of officially licensed NBA Pop! vinyl figures. Series 1 includes Lebron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Lamarcus Aldridge and the reigning MVP, Derrick Rose. While these figures look awesome, The Blot has just one question…where’s the beef? As in where’s Kobe Bryant!?! Pau’s great, but the Lakers fan in me needs a Kobe Pop! vinyl figure immediately. I guess I'll just have to wait until Series 2.

As a University of Texas alum, I also think it’s pretty cool to see two fellow longhorns included in this release, Kevin Durant and Lamarcus Aldridge. I guess they can’t say we’re just a football school anymore! Funko also leaked the preliminary artwork for a future Jeremy Lin NBA Pop! vinyl figure. This would make a pretty sweet New York Comic-Con 2012 exclusive wouldn’t it?

NBA Pop! Series 1 will begin shipping in late April to ensure they reach you in time to cheer on your favorite team during the playoffs!

Shaquille O’Neal Announces Retirement…In 2010

Yesterday the Big Aristotle dropped the big bomb we all knew was coming. On Thursday O’Neal told News 13 television in Orlando, FL, “My basketball career will be over in 735 days.” (link) That is exactly two seasons from now, the exact time left on O’Neal’s current contract with the Phoenix Suns.


As many fans of the Diesel already know, Shaq is contemplating a career in law enforcement after the end of his Hall of Fame NBA career. That might be one ticket The Blot wouldn’t mind getting, as long as O’Neal signs it of course. While on one hand this is sad news, at least it gives us enough notice to give the big guy a proper send off. Obviously the Diesel is running on fumes at this point, but he still forces teams to adjust their defenses to account for the big man in the middle.

Shaquille O’Neal, the 2000 NBA MVP, is a four time NBA World Champion, the ’92-’93 NBA Rookie of the Year, three time NBA Finals MVP, fourteen time NBA All-Star, two time NBA All-Star MVP, and an Olympic Gold Medalist.

The Diesel Heads West

Wow, it’s been quite a sports week for The Blot. First Kobe and the Lakers get a late Christmas present from the Grizzles in the form of Pau Gasol, and then the Phoenix Suns pull off one of the craziest trades I’ve seen in a while trading disgruntled Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for the G.O.A.T. If you’ve never heard of the term G.O.A.T. before, let me spell it out for you…the Greatest of All Time. Yes that’s right, the Big Aristotle himself Shaquille O’Neal is heading back west. Shaq Fu reigns down on the NBA’s Western Conference again and who knows what this will mean for the Suns or the rest of the NBA.


I’m pretty shocked to say the least. What once started out as an unbelievable rumor quickly turned to fact and has left many pundits completely stunned. No one seems to be able to explain how either of these two monumental trades got done. I can’t remember the last time two huge, lopsided trades like this occurred before the NBA All-Star game, and I think it’s great for the Association. Right as the NFL season ends, here's the NBA jumping into the limelight fighting to become the main sporting attraction in the U.S. (for the next four or five months at least).

The biggest question on my mind though is what is Suns’ General Manager Steve Kerr thinking? I’ve heard arguments for and against the trade, but no matter how you view it it’s a very risky move. Shaq’s played something like 6 games over the past four weeks and has been inconsistent all year. His hip’s been giving him problems and his 35 year old body is wearing down. That being said there’s no one in this league I’d want watching my back and help leading me to a championship more than O’Neal.

Now I may be biased as seeing how Shaq’s been my favorite player since I had the opportunity to see him play live in Birmingham during the SEC tournament at the age of 12 back in 1992. O’Neal was amazing then and even now, at the lowest point statistically of his career, is still considered by many to be the M.D.E. (Most Dominate Ever). With 14 straight NBA All-Star appearances O’Neal is not quite done carrying the torch of the NBA, which he has done since he entered the league and NBA greats Magic, Bird and MJ decided to hang up their sneakers. Shaquille still has 2 years and $40 million left on his contract and he has publicly committed to playing it out. While I am sure Shaq is sad to say goodbye to Dwyane Wade with whom he won his fourth NBA title, he has evidently had a falling out with Heat Head Coach Pat Riley, which seems to have facilitated the trade to Phoenix.

Shaq is now teamed up with 2 time NBA MVP Steve Nash, who he has a great fondness of. Only time will tell if the move was a smart one and how Shaq’s body will hold up, but I, like J.A. Adande, already see a reinvention of LA’s Showtime (except this time it’s taking place out in the desert). (link) With Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Grant Hill, the Suns should be very formidable. I just hope Shaq will be healthy enough to play in the Suns’ February 20th game against Kobe and the Lakers in Phoenix. That and he’s healthy for the Suns’ trip to Houston this April. Thank goodness The Blot held off on buying tickets to the Rockets vs. Heat game in April, what a horrible game that is going to be now!

Shaq In Vinyl

About a year ago The Blot was introduced to the designer toy craze through Kidrobot.com and the release of a Madvillain vinyl figure based on the great underground hip-hop album Madvillainy by MF Doom and Madlib, who collectively went by the moniker Madvillain. I loved the album and thought the figure was pretty cool. Once I found out about Kidrobot and did some investigating, I realized there was a whole world of designer vinyl toys out there that is in very high demand and sell at retail and in the secondary markets for some pretty high dollars. If you’d like to find out more about designer toys you can find a brief overview of the genre at Wikipedia here.


The modern designer vinyl toy originated in Asia where they are immensely popular and has only gained real popularity in the U.S. over the past few years. What makes a toy designer is that the toys and figures are limited edition and produced in very small runs, anywhere from 50 to 2,500. Once a toy is sold out, that version is gone forever and will not be produced again. The toys are typically either designed or created by actual artists/designers from other fields or have created quite a following in the designer toy market.

The reason I bring this up is that Upper Deck, most famously known for their baseball cards and autographed memorabilia lines, has recently started to produce their own line of designer vinyl toys. The sports line All Star Vinyl started last year and has released figures in the four major sports, baseball, football, basketball and hockey. For the most part the design has been awesome. The figures aren’t as lifelike as McFarlane’s sports toy lines are but still look like the athletes while being more artistic and almost cartoony. Upper Deck started the All Star Vinyl line with a set of Lebron James figures and then moved on to recreate some of the most popular athletes in each sport, including the likes of Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Sidney Crosby, Kobe Bryant, Babe Ruth and many more already announced.

Originally the figures were priced at $50.00 each and they would release 2-4 styles of each figure and each style has a limited edition run of anywhere from 250 to 1,500. For instance Kobe Bryant has 5 different styles with varying edition sizes. He was released in a Gold Jersey (limited to 1,500), Purple Jersey (limited to 500), White Jersey (limited to 250), All Black Edition (limited to 250) and a Retro MPLS. Jersey (limited to 500). While the Kobe All Star Vinyl figure really interested me I decided to hold off for what I hoped would be the centerpiece to my small designer toy collection, a Shaquille O’Neal figure.

The Shaquille O’Neal figure was announced a few months ago and had was released on November 26th to the public. I was pretty excited since as most of you long time readers of The Blot Says… know, Shaq is above and beyond my favorite athlete of all time. Plus the illustrator of the figure, MAD*L, is my favorite designer toy artist. Needless to say I was planning on making the purchase ASAP until I learned two discouraging things about the figure. The most important one was that Upper Deck, due to the toy line’s increased popularity, had decided to raise the price of their All Star Vinyl figures from $50 to $75. Besides the fact that they add another $5, that’s $80 for a toy. The Blot may be a lot of things and like a lot of bizarre stuff but one thing I’m not is someone who’d buy an $80 toy. That’s absurd! $50 was pushing it but I know you can find Kobe’s on eBay for under $40 which makes the figures a lot more reasonable compared to competing designer toys on the market.

The second and much more serious problem is that the figure looks absolutely nothing like Shaq besides it being a huge guy wearing an O’Neal Miami Heat jersey. Please take some time to look at these pictures of the figure and tell me if that face looks anything like the Diesel. I mean I see the resemblance in the picture on the packaging, but they did a horrible job with translating the drawing to the actual figure. That combined with the price makes it pretty unlikely, even to a huge Shaq fan like me, to purchase this figure.

And this leads us to The Blot’s Rant of the Week, what in the hell is Upper Deck thinking selling the figure for this high of a price and who in the hell is buying these at such an exorbitant price? I’ve bought some ridiculous things in my time and this seems like a huge stretch even for me. If any of our readers have purchased any of Upper Deck All Star Vinyl figures in the past please leave me a comment in our comment section and let me know what your reasoning was behind it. If you’re interested in seeing what other sports heroes Upper Deck has made or will be making go to the All Star Vinyl site and if you’d like to see which figures are still available for purchase you can go directly to the Upper Deck store.

I’ve included some pictures of previously released figures below: