Hope everyone is doing well. The NBA Finals are quickly approaching. Joker and the Nuggets are waiting to see if Miami can seal the deal or if Boston can pull off the impossible. Anyway, I'm finally kinda on time with a basketball post:
While fans eagerly wait for Topps to get back into the NBA card game, Panini continues to churn out dozens of sets. I like the shiny as much as the next guy, but I also want to sample cards and still have some money left in the wallet. Hoops is still on the inexpensive side at 7 bucks a Value Pack, so I'm in:
#28 - Immanuel Quickley
#85 - Clint Capela
#43 - Dalano Banton
#1 - Jayson Tatum
Here's what the release looks like. You can't really tell from the picture, but the space surrounding the border is gray at the top and slowly turns white by the bottom. Players can also pop out of the border, 1988 Topps Baseball-style. The stars under the player's name seems unnecessary. I do like the border color matching the team colors though.
#50 - George Hill
#8 - Grant Williams
#66 - Darius Garland
#24 - Derrick Rose
I came across an article discussing the NBA's uniforms. I was looking for something that can break down why a team appears to have more than 3 jerseys to wear. Yeah, I know it's because money, but I didn't know it's been the Wild Wild West since 2017. Thanks, Nike.
#184 - Robert Covington
#141 - Brandon Ingram
#198 - Jarred Vanderbilt
#156 - Joe Wieskamp
Take, for instance, the baby blue Clippers uniforms Covington's sporting. Nice throwback. Apparently, this was their City Edition jersey. The uniforms Jarred and Joe are wearing? That's their Association uniform. There's no longer a Home and Away jersey, but rather silly things like Icon, Statement, and Earned.
I didn't mind the Alternate jersey back in the 90's. Then again, I'm following the Bulls...Jordan in the home whites and away reds, with the occasional alternate blacks to freak the opponents out a little. Now a team could have as many as 6 uniforms, and wear them whenever they want, as long as they're not similar to their opponents (the Timberwolves and Spurs couldn't wear their Association uniforms against each other).
#136 - Jaren Jackson Jr.
#193 - Jeff Green
#110 - Mo Bamba
#168 - Landry Shamet
Mo Bamba's wearing the Orlando City Edition jersey. But that's not this year's City Edition Jersey! Yep, teams can swap them out for new designs from year to year. I hope someone at Nike or the NBA did their research to find out how profitable all these uniforms are, but I'm just annoyed by it. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
#280 - Tyrese Martin (RC)
#210 - Anfernee Simons
#251 - Christian Braun (RC)
#283 - Jabari Smith Jr. (Hoops Tribute)
The set was released back in January. There's 300 cards in the set, with the rookie cards starting at #231 and the Hoops Tribute cards (honoring the 1992-93 set) starting at #281. Some players have 2 cards in the base set, with their second card in Hoops Tribute.
#246 - AJ Griffin (RC)
#209 - Josh Hart
#245 - Mark Williams (RC)
#282 - Chet Holmgren (Hoops Tribute)
Chet was the #2 pick in the draft, but did not play this year due to a foot injury in August. That didn't stop him from getting some All-Star votes.
#240 - Johnny Davis
#204 - Darius Bazley
#67 - Evan Mobley (Teal Explosion Parallel)
We've reached the inserts section of the pack. Yes, the inserts are found at the end of the pack. I'm only guessing the Mobley is the Teal Explosion Parallel mentioned on the pack wrapper.
#13 - Jalen Duren (Rookie Greetings)
#20 - Malaki Branham (Arriving Now)
#272 - Luke Travers (RC) (Purple Parallel)
As usual, Panini does it's best Han Solo impression and never tells us the odds. Again, I'm assuming the Travers RC is a Purple Parallel.
Here are the backs because playoffs:
Anyway, that's the pack. It's standard Hoops, and other than the lack of stats (they had a 5 years on the back a few years ago) it's fine by me. Hurry up, Topps! I want to see 20 years of stats on the back of a LeBron card!
Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!
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