1996-97 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Series Two

Let's check out an old bargain pack of hoopster stars (hoopstars?) of yesteryear. I picked this up at a card show awhile back for a bit of fun.

M142 - Kevin Edwards
M141 - Doug West
M92 - Ken Norman

Two of the cards in each pack are three-player "minis". It just so happens that the minis were the first two cards of this particular pack. A number of sets over the years have tried to recapture the magic of that 1980-81 Topps set, with varying levels of success. At least Upper Deck remembered the perforation here. That was a nice touch.

M180 - Gheorghe Muresan
M120 - Hakeem Olajuwon
M125 - Rik Smits

This one does a little better with the star power, with professional super large man (and movie star?!) Muresan joining one of the best big men of all-time (Olajuwon) and star of every NBA pack I open, Rik Smits.

263 - Malik Sealy - Back to your regularly scheduled program (Collector's Choice) with Malik Sealy, who died in a car wreck at the peak of his career.

208 - Todd Day - I always appreciate a player who wears #13.

261 - Charles Outlaw - Better known as Bo.

243 - Andrew DeClercq

329 - David Robinson - Here's a Hall of Famer. This would be the season that Robinson basically missed, allowing them to fall to the bottom of the league so they could draft Tim Duncan. They were the original tankers.

272 - P.J. Brown - Brown was a defensive stalwart who played for a long time.

397 - Checklist - Wow, I'm not sure about Doctor Basketball's rating system here. There's a lot going on with this card.

391 - Sonics Playbook - This one features Shawn Kemp, of course.