Which Finest is Finest?

I've been working on the chrome style cards that I scanned back in 2018, and as I have been working on them I keep having the thought..."Which Finest is finest?", and I knew I had to explore it in a post. In this post, I will do a countdown of the NBA Finest sets, starting with my least favorite and moving to my favorite. This is entirely subjective- based on my personal likes and dislikes and also a bit of nostalgia factored in as well. 

The Finest brand was produced in the NBA from the 1993-94 season through 2000-01 and then again from 2002-03 to 2007-08, 14 years. 

#14. 2006-07 Finest

This set looks like an eyeball, and frankly it's disturbing. The other colors of the Refractor borders don't help it much. 

#13. 2007-08 Finest

Of all the Finest sets this is the one I have the least of. It's ranked low because of that and the fact that the design just isn't all that good. My collection is limited to a single base card (this one) and a single Refractor. 

#12. 1998-99 Finest

I've never really warmed up to this set, and I don't really know why. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, it just doesn't do much for me. This is the thickest Finest set- when I'm handling them, I keep checking to make sure I didn't pick up two cards by mistake, they are that thick. Because of the thickness they are one of the few Finest sets that doesn't curve. Series 1 had the player names in Chrome while series 2 had them in white. 

#11. 1993-94 Finest

The first Finest set, this one is held back by the fact that many of them have turned green, as you can see this one is doing as well. This is one of the more colorful sets and without the greening would probably rank much higher- at least by two or three spots. 

#10. 1995-96 Finest

This was likely the first Finest set I ever saw, but it's one of the weaker Finest sets, and one of the weaker releases of 1995-96 as a whole as well. The background of each card is clipboard style drawing that comes in a variety of colors- green, red, blue and purple. For a time, the Kevin Garnett card from this set was my most wanted card, but I eventually secured one. This example shown actually in an uncorrected error, or UER. His name was Predrag, not Pedrag. He was also the only rookie to get the blue border of veterans instead of the orange border for rookies. 

#9. 2005-06 Finest

A very blue set, all base cards had the blue background. That's not just team colored, although it does match the T-Wolves of the era well. The set has a few colored Refractor parallels which are really nice, the Green being my favorite (no surprise). I only have a handful of cards from this set, I did only one pack of it when new. 

#8. 2000-01 Finest

The only Finest set to NOT have a Refractor parallel, the 2000-01 set ranks as highly as it does because it's fully team color coded, something I like a lot. This set was never common in repacks, and I didn't get a single rookie card from my hobby box! 

#7 1994-95 Finest

Although I'm sure I saw the 1995-96 set first, this is the set I have more memories of from when I was beginning to collect, and that propelled it higher in the countdown than I expected when I was rough drafting it in my head. I still have some of the scratched up cards I traded with my 5th grade classmates to get in my collection, I have not upgraded them in all this time. All cards in the set have the gray front border and a purple back theme. At 331 cards this is the largest Finest set and was the first to feature the peelable protective coating. Some of the photography choices in this set are...bizarrely chosen, as seen here. 

#6 1996-97 Finest

1996-97 was the first of two years where there was not one Finest base design, but several. I loved that concept when it was new, and honestly, I still sort of do! Maestros, Gladiators and Apprentices were exclusive to Series 1, while Mainstays, Heirs and Foundations were in series 2 only. Sterling was in both series. Common cards have bronze borders, Uncommon silver and Rare gold. The rare cards make this set pretty much incompletable...because one of them is a Kobe rookie. When I was rough drafting this post I actually expected this set to rank higher, but looking over the scans changed my mind...if I ever revisit this list I can't say they would rank as low as 6th again. 

#5. 2002-03 Finest

The nostalgia factor absolutely plays a role here, because the design is not as good as some of the years I ranked lower...but I have so many memories of this set. The 2002-03 season holds a lot of memories for me in particular, and seeing cards from this set just makes me inherently happy to see them. That alone was enough for the set to crack the top 5. This was also the first Finest set that included redemptions for the 2003-04 rookies- meaning this set has actual XRCs in it. This was also the first Finest set to have autographs and relic cards as part of the base set.

#4. 2004-05 Finest

I shouldn't like this set as much as I do, but...I really do like it a lot. There's a LOT of border here, and the gray and black areas don't have the traditional Finest chrome affect. One thing I do like about this set is that it's got the second closest to real photos you'll see on a Finest card. Most Finest sets are just a cutout of the player over a digitally created background, something I generally don't like. This set features actual photos, just with a layer of texture over them that makes them shine. Another thing I like about this set is that it's actually easy to scan...most Chrome cards are a pain in the butt to pull a good scan off of. Not this one. This was the first Finest set to feature colored parallels, and once again the Green is my favorite. This was the last Finest set I opened a box of. 

#3. 1997-98 Finest

The second and final year of multiple base designs, I actually had this ranked lower in my mental rough draft until I looked at my collection scan folder and realized this is actually the superior set to the 1996-97 release by a wide margin. There are also more designs, 10 of them this year! Finishers, Catalysts, Ballhawks, Force and Debuts are from Series 1, while Showstoppers, Defenders, Arrivals and Creators are from Series 2. Masters appears in both series. This set is exceptionally earth toned. The cards are pretty much all on the orange to brown spectrum, almost overwhelmingly so, but basketballs themselves have been on the orange to brown spectrum for generations so I guess it works. 

#2. 1999-00 Finest

I really expected this to be #1 when I was rough drafting the post, but it fell just short. This year's set has a solid design- a real photo, but with the chrome technology creating a wooden court pattern on the cards. The boxes by the team and Finest logos are color coordinated, as are the card numbers on the back, the only set I can think of that has that as a feature. This set actually has the least amount of border of any Finest set, too. It was the last to have two series, the last to have a peelable cover, the first to have serially numbered cards as part of the base set, and the last to have a real subset- a small section at the tail end of the set is set aside for the 2000 US Olympic basketball team, the only time non-NBA jerseys appear in a Finest set. 

#1. 2003-04 Finest

I just could not get past the colorful aspect of this set, when I was looking at all of them, it just won out. The large name, color coded to the team, the stripes that remind me of a race track, also team color coded, and even the player's jersey number being prominently featured...add that to the texture surrounding the name area and you just have a winner. 

Maybe I shouldn't have gone with a Celtics card for this set, which I admittedly chose because of the green, 

You really don't get the full appreciation of how colorful and vibrant this set is unless you see multiple cards from it. 

So, that's my list of which Finest is Finest. Which is your favorite?