Atlanta Hawks: Dominique Wilkins. Surprising, as I never actually saw him play live there.
Boston Celtics: Paul Pierce. The only Celtic to ever lead the league in scoring, he was with the team from 1998-2013.
Brooklyn Nets: Brook Lopez. They should have never traded him away.
Charlotte Hornets 1: Muggsy Bogues. I mean, how could it not be Muggsy?
Charlotte Bobcats: Jason Kapono. Eh, what? For some reason the first card that came to mind was this one, which I believe may be my most recent Bobcats addition...total shocker it was him and not Emeka Okafor or Kemba Walker
Charlotte Hornets 2: Kemba Walker. He's been their main guy for years now, spanning two team names.
Chicago Bulls: Michael Jordan. Honestly now, if you don't think of Jordan first when it comes to the Bulls, you are either a) lying, b) truly know nothing of the sport, perhaps spending time in solitary confinement or a monk locked in some cell somewhere or c) are a former or current Bull yourself and thought of yourself first.
Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron. Has to be LeBron.
Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki. They might as well rename themselves the Dallas Dirks.
Denver Nuggets: Carmelo. The most maligned player in the modern era.
Detroit Pistons: Grant Hill. Even though it was really just the beginning of his career.
Golden State Warriors: It's gotta be Steph.
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| In case anybody asks, that's a mouthguard with the team logo |
Houston Rockets: I wish it was Hakeem, but no, it's Harden. I used to be a fan of his but not so much anymore.
Indiana Pacers. Reggie Miller. Blah. Remember I'm a Knicks fan.
Los Angeles Clippers: Elton! I think we all knew that was coming, he spent the best years of his career there. Too bad the team ownership was scum and wasted it. (I hate to insult actual pond scum by comparing it to Donald sterling)
Los Angeles Lakers: Shaq. Probably should have been Kobe, but we're going by first name to pop into your head here.
Memphis Grizzlies: Marc Gasol. He's been their biggest name since I got back into the NBA. Mike Conley gets slighted again.
Miami Heat: Alonzo Mourning. Specifically with Jeff Van Gundy clinging to his ankles. Unfortunately that never appeared on a card.
Milwaukee Bucks: Glenn Robinson. Did I ever write a post about the first jersey I ever bought to wear? I can't remember. if I never did, spoiler alert, it's Glenn Robinson.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Garnett. Gotta be KG.
New Orleans Hornets: Baron Davis. Under rated talent. My first 1/1 is the first card I think of, though that's the Charlotte version of the Hornets.
New Orleans Pelicans: Anthony Davis. Being fairly new, there are a couple players who have been part of the entire history of the franchise as the Pelicans. Davis is the best.
New Jersey Nets: My favorite team. Sorry Mom, not Kidd. It's Keith Van Horn. And those kneesocks. Specifically, it's this very card.
New York Knicks: While I wish I could have said Latrell Sprewell, it's actually Patrick Ewing.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell Westbrook. Just watched him play a few minutes ago at the time of typing.
Orlando Magic: Penny Hardaway. I didn't really realize how nostalgic I was for that era until I found a batch of his cards in my to be scanned boxes.
Philadelphia 76ers: Allen Iverson. He's not my favorite Sixer of all time (Elton played there) but when I think 76ers, I think of him.
Phoenix Suns: Charles Barkley. I am surprised it was not Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire or Devin Booker. I try not to think about Steve Nash.
Portland Trail Blazers: Clifford Robinson. A mild surprise. Would have expected Clyde, Rasheed or Damian. My mid-90s bias is showing again.
Sacramento Kings: Chris Webber. Specifically his chrome sneakers from the 2000 All-Star game, which unfortunately never made it onto any card images. And taunting Lakers fans with cowbells.
San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan. (Or Gregg Popovich). Although I have not really talked about him much, Tim Duncan is a favorite of mine. Odd how his real-life quietness has translated into Cardboard History quietness.
Seattle SuperSonics: Shawn Kemp. More mid 90s nostalgia
Toronto Raptors: Vince Carter. I know the relationship didn't end well, but Vince IS the Raptors for me.
Utah Jazz: Stockton and Malone. You can't think of one without the other. It just doesn't work like that.
Vancouver Grizzlies: Shareef. Mid 90s+star player+cool seafoam green uniform+I added a lot of cards of him lately.
Washington Bullets: Harvey Grant. I always like the Grant twins. Only later did I really realize how much I liked the Bullets jerseys.
Washington Wizards: God Shammgod. Why? Well, I just scanned a college card of him, so he was on my mind in the last few days. Ask me in a month where I didn't have cards of his in hand and I would likely have said Juwan Howard.
And that's all the teams I've seen play.
I am still too new to hockey- I don't have a good grip on past generations of players yet, and the majority of the teams still have the majority of the players they had when I started. Might be fun to revisit this concept sometime down the line.
I think you underestimate your hockey knowledge, but I understand why you did basketball first. I put the NBA list aside because it's the one I know the least about. Perhaps I wont even do one now, since your list has a lot of the players I would have thought of. My pick would be different for 4-5 teams.
ReplyDeleteYour choice to go with God for your Wizard made me smile. I mentioned that God card in my sports card tour DC stop, and I thought it was too obscure and revealed how little I know about today's NBA. I'm sure you could have named a dozen other Wizards (Juwan, Gilbert Arenas, etc..) and the Shamgod card just happened to cross your scanner...but I was still happy to see it.
Well, for hockey it would all be current players. I don't even have cards of all the current people yet. Like for Vancouver I would have thought of Elias Petterson- and he's not in my collection at all.
DeleteI probably could name over 100 players per team, with enough time. That's a thinking exercise I could do but choose not to :) I chose that one specifically because most of my other cards of him were scanned with a less-qualified scanner (IE, crappy looking, like the lines over Harvey Grant or Keith Van Horn for example). None of the scans in this post were new. but it was the first one I used the Cardboard History Gallery for- easy to find a scan of everybody without having to jump through hoops. I have not gotten the people loaded yet but here's the Wizards: https://public.fotki.com/CardboardHistory/basketball/basketball-by-team/washington-wizards/ (I no longer remember how to post a link in a comment)
Lakers I immediately think of Magic Johnson. On the Spurs you can add the Admiral David Robinson. Tim and David as usually the first two come up with the Spurs. For Warriors its not Stephen Curry for me. It's Chris Mullins. With the Rockets its Hakeem Olajuwon. I was expecting Grand-Mama Larry Johnson for Hornets. Gilbert Arenas got my nod on Wizards
ReplyDeleteThe cool thing about this project is that it would be different for everybody - well, maybe not the Bulls- and even would be different for myself on any other day. I mostly associate Larry Johnson with the Knicks, although I might have more Hornets cards of him.
DeleteReggie is all that matters here (ha ha). And being a little older than you, I doubt Pierce would have been in the first ten Celtics I named!
ReplyDeleteI should have thought of Rik Smits first, he's got the local connection AND is into old cars.
DeleteA lot of these names stir up some great memories. If I were to attempt this, I'm sure we'd have at least 10 guys in common. I would have been stumped by the Bobcats. Still can't think of anyone other than Kapono (and that's only b/c you listed him).
ReplyDeleteThey were kind of forgotten even when they were playing.
DeleteAbout 90% of those would be the same for me. Probably not Shaq as a Laker though.
ReplyDeleteThere's so many big names in Lakers history, there's a lot to choose from. My heavy favoritism to the mid/late 90s played a role for sure.
DeleteI think you got the Knicks right. It’s all about ewing. Lakers however it would be Kobe for me
ReplyDeleteI could have easily said Kobe. I probably thought of Shaq first because I just scanned some cards of him right around Christmas.
DeleteThe only NBA I've watched in the last decade has been Wizards playoff games, and only three or so of those. So I'd have to say John Wall / Bradley Beal, though I would have said Wes Unseld otherwise. I know nothing of the blue uniformed squads.
ReplyDeleteAnd even less of the rest of the league. I know 80% of the players you listed, but I can't tell you anyone's teams really at all. I could not make a list for NBA on my own.
The blue uniform era is probably the time I know best for them. If I did this project today I would probably have said Caron Butler.
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