Cardboard History Guide to the 2016 NBA Finals

This 2015-16 NBA season has been nothing short of spectacular. From the opening tip of the first pre-season game to the last two teams standing, the season has been exciting, unpredictable and basically everything an NBA fan could hope for.

Here is a screencap of the Playoff Bracket, from nba.com

28 teams have been eliminated, leaving two standing, one from the Eastern Conference, and one from the Western Conference. For the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers have advanced to the finals for the second consecutive year, and third in franchise history, all three of them in the LeBron James era, who will be playing in his 6th consecutive NBA Finals- becoming only the 8th player in the NBA's 70th year to accomplish that feat. All the others are part of the Celtics' Bill Russell-led dominant years of the 1960s, with the feat having been accomplished last in 1966. The Cavaliers are also in the finals with a rookie coach for the second consecutive year, which is unheard of. Former NBA point guard Tyronn Lue became coach of the team in January 2016.

The Cavaliers got here by having the best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, than sweeping the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks, before facing more of a challenge from the Toronto Raptors, who advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history, before falling in 6 games. The Cavs had to wait for the Golden State Warriors-Oklahoma City Thunder series to end, which went to 7 games (and why the Cavs are getting written up first- the Cavs section of the post is being written before game 7 of the Western Conference Finals!)

Wearing #0, Kevin Love is in his second year with Cleveland, although he missed most of the playoffs last season after having his shoulder pulled out of it's socket by the Celtics' Kelly Olynyk. 2015-16 is his 8th season in the NBA. Love is a second-generation player and nephew of founding Beach Boy Mike Love.

2015-16 Prestige #10

Wearing #1 is James Jones, also in his second season with the Cavaliers. Jones signed with the Cavs specifically because LeBron James moved to the team, Jones having played with James in Miami. He is mostly known as a 3-point sharpshooter. 2015-16 is his 13th NBA season.

2014-15 Panini Threads Signage #10

Wearing #2 is the starting point guard and 2011-12 NBA Rookie of the Year, Kyrie Irving. Irving was the first pick in the 2011 NBA draft and has played his entire 5 year career with the Cavaliers. He suffered a broken kneecap in game one of the 2014-15 NBA Finals. Irving was born in Australia as his father, who is American, played in the NBL, Australia's top basketball league.

2015-16 Hoops #222

Wearing #4 is Iman Shumpert, who completed his first full season with the Cavaliers in 2015-16, being traded to the team by the New York Knicks during the 2014-15 season. He was thrust into the starting lineup during the 2014-15 NBA playoffs after Love went down. Shumpert was also drafted in 2011, making this his 5th season, as well.

2014-15 Panini Threads #74

Wearing #5 is J.R. Smith, who, in his 12th NBA season has finally found a "home" in the NBA. The fit for Smith with the Cavaliers plays to his skill set perfectly, and he is now a starter on an NBA Finals team for the second consecutive year. Smith came to the Cavaliers in the same trade as Shumpert, on January 5th, 2015.

2015-16 Hoops #221

Wearing #8 is Australian point guard Matthew Dellavedova, who had a breakout 2015 Finals, as he stepped into the starting lineup when Irving went down. He played so hard he ended up in the hospital suffering from dehydration, yet didn't stop playing. 2015-16 is his third NBA season.

2015-16 Complete #77

Wearing #9 is Channing Frye, who joined the Cavaliers at the trade deadline this season, there are no cards issued of him yet in Cavs uniform. Frye is in his 10th season, with an asterisk- he missed all of 2012-13 with a heart ailment. (drafted in 2005) Luckily, he has made a complete recovery.

2015-16 Hoops #117

Wearing #12 is Jordan McRae, who is one of the least-used players on the Cavaliers roster. He joined the team on a 10-day contract on February 28th, and was later signed to a rest-of-season contract. He held the all-time single season scoring record in the D-League for part of this season, scoring 61 points in a game before being called up by the Phoenix Suns, which led to his later joining the Cavaliers. He did not receive any cards in 2015-16, which is is rookie season, but he was included in 2014-15 Prestige, despite not actually making the 76ers team. He only played 15 games in the regular season and 1 playoff game for the Cavs this year.

2014-15 Prestige #198

Wearing #13 is Tristan Thompson, who is lately playing the starting center role, although that depends on the matchups the Cavs are facing. He is another member of the 2011 rookie class, with Irving and Shumpert. He played all 82 games this year, which is becoming a rarity in the NBA these days.

2015-16 Panini Prizm #145

Wearing #14 is one of the least-used Cavs, and also the second and final rookie on the team, Russian center Sasha Kaun. Drafted back in 2008, he played in Europe before coming to the NBA this season, where he appeared in only 15 games during the regular season. He has yet to play in the playoffs.

2015-16 Limited #190

Wearing #20 is fellow Russian center Timofey Mozgov. who was the starting center on the 2015 NBA Finals team, but has mostly been relegated to the bench during the 2016 playoffs. Like Shumpert and Smith, Mozgov joined the Cavs in a trade during the middle of the 2014-15 season. 2015-16 is his 6th NBA season.

2015-16 Hoops #70

Wearing #23 is the unquestioned star of the team, and one of the greatest players of all-time, LeBron James. The 2003 #1 draft pick, 2003-04 Rookie of the Year, 4-time MVP, 11th all-time in scoring, and among all-time league leaders in literally every offensive category the NBA tracks, LeBron has nearly single-handledly willed his teams to the NBA Finals on multiple occasions, and by making it to the finals this year, he accomplishes something that names like Jordan, Magic, Bird, Bryant, O'Neal,  Abdul-Jabbar, etc, never did, in making it to the finals six consecutive seasons. (Two of which he won, being named Finals MVP both times). He accomplished this all in 13 seasons, so you know that he's not anywhere near done rewriting the record books. He is the only player on the Cavaliers to have previously won an NBA Title, winning in 2011-12 and 2012-13, both with the Miami Heat.

2015-16 Complete #53

Wearing #24 is Richard Jefferson, who has two previous Finals appearances- most recently in 2003! Jefferson reached the Finals in his first two seasons in the league, both with the New Jersey Nets. He joined the Cavaliers as a free agent this season, but Panini has not included him in any sets over the past two years. 2015-16 is his 15th in the NBA, making him the most experienced player on the roster. He is also the only Cavalier player to appear in more than 1000 regular season games (although LeBron is 13 games away)

2013-14 Totally Certified #157

Wearing #30 is the newest member of the team, Dahntay Jones. He joined the team only on April 13th, the final day of the season, and so played in only one regular season game for the team, fouling out at that. However, he has played in 9 of the team's playoff games. (he was suspended one for punching Raptors' Center Bismack Biyombo below the belt). Like LeBron, he was drafted in 2003, but he did not play in 2013-14 so this is only his 12th season. He has not appeared on a card since 2012-13.

2003-04 Topps #240

Wearing #52 is Maurice "Mo" Williams, who is in his second go-round with the Cavaliers, after playing for them between 2008-09 and 2010-11. Injuries limited him to 41 games this season, the lowest of his 13-year career. He is also from the stellar rookie class of 2003-04. He also played in 7 playoff games for the Cavs this year.

2015-16 Complete #101

The Cavaliers will face the Golden State Warriors, advancing out of a knock-down drag-out Western Conference Finals that has been one of the most incredible series in a long time. The Warriors have had an incredible season- the best ever, in fact, going an amazing 73-9, breaking the Chicago Bulls' record of 72-10 set in 1995-96. The team has been nearly unstoppable all season long, beginning the year with a 24-game win streak (2nd all-time) and setting numerous records along the way. Steph Curry is the leader of the "big 3" on the team, winning unanimous MVP for the first time in NBA history, something that most people believed would never happen. (The MVP was first awarded in the 1955-56 season) He also shattered the mark for most 3-pointers made in a season, with 402. He previously held the record already (286), and this season became the first player to hit 300 3s in a season, let alone 4. Teammate Klay Thompson also ended up hitting nearly 300 3s this season, 276, only ten off the previous all-time record. The Warriors found themselves in a 3-1 hole versus the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals but came roaring back, becoming only the 10th team in NBA history to trail 3-1 and come back and win the series.

The Warriors are one of only three remaining original franchises that have been in the League since 1946, they will try to win their 5th Championship in the 2015-16 season. The Cleveland Cavaliers, founded in 1970, have never won the NBA Title.

The Warriors got here by beating the Houston Rockets in 5 games (which would have been a sweep if the refs had not missed a charge by James Harden) and then beat the surprising Portland Trail Blazers, also in 5. The Western Conference Finals proved to be the Warriors' biggest challenge so far, falling down 1-3 before coming back, as noted above. 

Wearing #4 is Brandon Rush, younger brother of former NBA player Kareem Rush. Brandon Rush is a backup on the Warriors team who doesn't play all that often, because he is behind Steph Curry. He has not gotten any cards since 2013-14. This is his 8th NBA season.

2012-13 Hoops #184

Wearing #5 is Marreese Speights, who can play either power forward or center, depending on what the team needs from him. He is working on improving his shot, and added the 3-pointer to his repertoire in 2015-16. Like Rush, he was drafted in 2008. Nicknamed "Mo Buckets", he is usually the first player off the bench when the Warriors need some instant offense.

2015-16 Complete Silver #200

Wearing #9 is Andre Iguodala, who was named Finals MVP in 2014-15. He famously gave up his career-long starting role to lead the Warriors' second unit, and it payed off with his the title. 2015-16 is his 12th NBA season. When he won Finals MVP last year, partially for offense and partially for his defense of LeBron James, he became the first Finals MVP in history to not start a single regular season game, and also the first to not start every Finals game, as he moved from the bench back the starting lineup in game 4 of the 6 game series.

2015-16 Prestige #192

Wearing #11 is quiet superstar Klay Thompson. The second-generation player does not have the same showmanship flare, or get the same recognition, as some of his teammates, but he is most definitely a superstar in his own right. He holds the NBA record for most points in a quarter (37, set during the 2014-15 season) and can single-handedly win games with his sharpshooting if need be. He is another member of the talented 2011 draft class, making this his 5th season. He set an all-time playoff record by scoring 11 3-pointers during game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, which would turn out to be the deciding moment of the entire series.

2012-13 Prestige Prestigious Picks #10

Wearing #12 is Australian center Andrew Bogut. The #1 pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Bogut is one of three former #1 picks to play in the 2015-16 NBA Finals, although, had teams known now what they knew then, there would surely be more, as Thompson went 11th, Curry 7th and Draymond Green 36th! Bogut is not much of a scorer, his main role is to rebound, block shots, and alter shots, something not truly trackable in stats. He is the only starter on the Warriors who I do not have an autograph of.

2014-15 Hoops Authentics #2

Wearing #18 is newest Warrior Anderson Varejao. The Brazilian center had spent his entire career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they traded him to Portland at the Trade Deadline this season, who immediately cut him for salary cap reasons. He joined the Warriors several days later and has provided valuable time at center with both Bogut and Festus Ezeli facing injuries down the stretch of the season. There are no cards of Varejao in Warriors uniform. It will be interesting to see the reaction at his first game in Cleveland not as a Cavalier, which will be game #3 of the Finals.

2015-16 Hoops #105

Wearing #19 is Leandro Barbosa, like Varejao both Brazilian and a member of the 2003 draft class.
Barbosa can play either guard position but does not really play all that often due to how many excellent guards are on the Warriors roster.

2015-16 Complete #176

Wearing #20 is James Michael McAdoo, one of the least-used Warriors. He is the nephew of Bob McAdoo, and 2015-16 is his second season. He can play power forward or center. He did not receive a single card in 2015-16.

2014-15 Panini Prizm #296

Wearing #21 is Ian Clark, who is in his first season with the Warriors. He was an undrafted rookie in 2013-14, and has not received any cards since that season, when he was with the Jazz. As a point guard behind both Curry and Livingston Clark is not seen all that often, although he did play more when Curry went down with injury during the playoffs.

2013-14 Panini Signatures Rookie Signatures #12

Wearing #23 is my 2nd all-time favorite player, Draymond Green. (To be honest, Draymond, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson all rank in my Top 5 all-time favorites) Draymond's personality though just sets him over the top. He's a character for sure, and he's also a great player. He is the starting power forward on the team, and leads the team in Triple Doubles, 13 of them being added to his career tally during 2015-16, and that's not counting the playoffs. He can do it all, from defense to offense, and will be giving you his opinion on everything while he's doing it! He was voted second place in Defensive Player of the Year voting this season. Drafted an amazingly low 36th in 2012, he can tell you every single player, in order and by what team, who was taken before he was in that draft.

2012-13 Panini Contenders #233- a card I pulled from a pack myself!

Wearing #30 is one of the all-time greatest players to play the game...and he's only in his 7th season! That is Stephen "Steph" Curry, 2-time consecutive NBA MVP, the first to win unanimously, the greatest three-point shooter in history, (In my opinion. He officially trails only Steve Kerr in accuracy but he takes much harder shots than Kerr did, and also plays significantly more, as Kerr was mostly a backup, whereas Steph plays the majority of every game, and attempts more shots. By the time he retires many years from now he will surely be #1 all-time. In just 7 seasons he already ranks 19th made threes all-time. If he matches his total next season he will vault from 19th to 5th all-time, and he's improved on the number of made threes in every season he's been in the league) He led the NBA in scoring average, free throw percentage, steals, and shots made, in addition to the 3 point record mentioned above, just during 2015-16. He has single-handedly won games for the Warriors on multiple occasions during this season alone, even during these playoffs. While everyone on the team is important to the team, without Steph, Klay and Draymond the Warriors are not in the NBA Finals two years in a row, He is only the 15th player in NBA history to win more than 1 MVP award,

2012-13 Prestige Prestigious Pros #6

Wearing #31 is Nigerian center Festus Ezeli, who is in his 3rd NBA season, despite being drafted in 2012-13, he missed all of 2013-14 with injury, and missed some of the next two seasons with injuries as well. He is the 2nd Unit center on the Warriors, although he will start on occasion instead of Bogut.

2012-13 Panini Preferred #379

Wearing #34 is one of the most remarkable comeback stories in NBA history, Shaun Livingston. Livingston was a highly regarded prospect, being drafted 4th by the Clippers directly out of high school in 2004. He was plagued by injuries early in his career, but suffered what is regarded as the worst knee injury ever to happen in the NBA. (one of the rare times where ESPN has had to use a disclaimer before showing it) It was so bad that doctors considered amputating his leg. They were able to save it, but it cost him more than a year and a half of playing. By all accounts this was a career-ending injury but he powered back from it and his career continued. He has never- and will never- regain the explosiveness he once had, but he is still a very capable backup point guard, and has found his most success with the Warriors, after having bounced around to 7 NBA teams and even 1 D-League team between his injury and joining the Warriors..

2015-16 Complete #224

Wearing #36 is the only rookie on the team, Kevon Looney. The final pick in the first round of the 2015 NBA draft, Looney missed more than half the season due to an injury, and found little playing time when he returned, getting into only 5 games before suffering another injury, which ended his season. He is the only Warrior that is guaranteed not to play in the Finals.

2015-16 Hoops #270

Wearing #40 is one of three Warriors to join the team in the 2012 Draft, Harrison Barnes. The highest drafted of the three (7th), Barnes immediately stepped into the starting lineup and has remained there mostly ever since. Like pretty much everyone on the team except for Bogut, Barnes specializes in shooting threes. He will have an exceptional challenge in the finals as he will be guarding LeBron James much of the time.

2012-13 Timeless Treasures Time To Shine #20

And that is the complete 30-man roster of the NBA Finals.

This is a rematch of the 2014-15 Finals, and it should be a great series. The Cavaliers are at full health this year, while Steph Curry is not, after suffering a sprained knee in the first round of the playoffs against the Rockets. It noticeably hampered him in the first few games of the Western Conference Finals, but they won the last three games (and game #2) with him on the court most of the game, so I doubt it will make much impact, or at least as much as the media will talk about it.

I predict that the Warriors will win it all in 7 games, with each team winning their home games. I believe it will go down as one of the best Finals in NBA history, and I am looking forward to seeing it play out over the next several weeks. The Finals begin on Thursday, June 2nd, at 9PM Eastern Standard Time on ABC.

Hot off the Scanner Tray "week" 12

It's been a while since I've posted one of these. First, I went offline while I was waiting to see the Force Awakens. Then, I was working solely on the cards I got for Christmas not one but two weeks in a row, which I couldn't really post in a HOST because they were getting a post dedicated solely to them. I also took some time off for scanning to do some typing, as related in my Goals for 2016 post.

Ironically, this first one is a redemption I received from Panini, and it's likely going to get posted before I post the box break the redemption card came from! (I took advantage of the Dave & Adam's Black Friday sales this past year for the first time). The redemption had expired over a year ago, but Panini still honored it. While my relationship with Panini has been somewhat adversarial at times, this is nothing but admiration (of their handling of redemption cards) I've been in this hobby for 28 years now, and this is something Panini has done better than anyone else in that time.

Thanks to this card, I now have the autographs of 4 of the Warriors starters. I am only missing Andrew Bogut. I also have Festus Ezeli's autograph as well. The Warriors are my current favorite team to watch...although now that Elton Brand is out of retirement I will probably not get to see them as much.

I nabbed this one on Ebay. Hilton Armstrong is a hometown hero, from Peekskill, NY. While Peekskill is not my hometown, my family has been there since the 1600s, in fact they helped found the town. He's not in the League anymore, but he was for several years. I didn't know he was from Peekskill until last year, however. This is only my 4th card of him, and that's counting a college card, which I normally don't do. The card has a pretty nasty bend in it, with multiple creases, which I didn't notice until it arrived. It was clearly visible in the ebay photo, so that's my fault for not paying enough attention. The card cost me less than $2 so I can't really complain. And not only that...

...the seller of the Hilton Armstrong card included 4 bonus cards. They are all football, all from the same set. I never turn down free cards no matter what the subject is! I've actually heard of both of these guys, which is not too common for me with football. (Who HASN'T seen Odell Beckham Jr.'s famous catch?) I just read an article about Cam Newton in Sports Illustrated recently, as well. He's also shown up courtside at several NBA games this season also.

I bought a blaster box of Hoops in the hopes that I'd be able to complete the base set. I am not doing well in that regard...I am still 20 cards short, about half of them rookies, which fall 1 per pack. I am still missing the big names, as well- no Porzingis, Towns, Russell, or others yet. I have gotten some more of the inserts and a couple of parallels, and I have gotten some of the cards I didn't get with my box, so it was not a waste of money....and I have not finished opening it yet. I will have to check and see if my local Target has put out a Knicks team set. I know they have been issued, but they did not stock the 2014-15 team set...possibly because a 2012-13 one still occasionally comes out of the stock room. I do want that Porzingis card.

After I finished typing up all my relic/autograph/SN cards, as related in my last post, I finished filling up the plastic cases and typed a round into my Excel chart. After I fill each of the 42 plastic cases, I sort them by person and then type them into my Excel chart. It normally takes me about a week to do this and this time was slowed by a health problem that caused me an immense amount of paint for several days.

Here are the cases all filled. One thing that I like about the cases- and why I photograph them every time- is seeing the edges of the cards. Here, you can see a batch of 2014-15 Donruss (third case from the left, third row down) and the box of 2015-16 Hoops my mom gave me for my birthday- and ended up being the set I got the most cards from in all of 2015- in the 3rd, 4th and 5th caes in the next to last row.

Another view. I began filling the cases on 9/28/15.

Sorted by first letter of last name. I then sorted each letter by person, and then typed them into Excel, but I didn't photograph any of that.

The cases now empty, waiting to be filled again. In this batch I did exactly 5400 cards, although the number is slightly inflated because I also got out the oversized cards and the cards trapped in the plastic cases Topps favored from 2001-02 through at least 2005-06. It generally takes me a long time to fill the cases- since I started keeping track of when I finished each batch of cases, I've never done more than two in one year. However, I only started keeping track in 2013.

Furthermore, the next batch I do will put me at halfway in scanning my NBA collection. Halfway is 41,281 cards. I have scanned and entered 39,530 right now, and each completed round of cases is always at least 5000 cards, so I will hit it at some point soon...probably by the time of the Daytona 500 but I won't have any way to know when or which card it is. And, of course, each new NBA card I get changes the number that is halfway.

There won't be any HOST for a couple of weeks....I will be starting a very special project this week that will preclude posting it.

NBA Draft 2015 / History of the NBA Draft on Cardboard

Later today is the NBA Draft...always an exciting time in the NBA, and truly the kickoff of the new season. (Hard to believe we are coming up on 2015-16...I began collecting the NBA during 1995-96 and I will be doing some celebratory stuff, but I digress). Not only will this be the 20th Draft I've watched, it's selections will also put my NBA collection at 2500 different people, most likely. It is possible that I will hit that mark before the first 2015-16 cards arrive somewhere in the September-November area. I currently stand, with the addition of the Matthew Dellavedova card my mom gave me two days ago, at 2497 different people. So, it is possible that by time the new season's cards get here, the important 2500 marker will be in the rear view mirror already.

Everyone suspects Karl-Anthony Towns will go 1st to the T-Wolves, and I am thinking that as well. After that, though...it's wide open. The Lakers, 76ers, Knicks and Magic make the rest of the top 5 picks, and all of them have many needs to fill...you don't get to the top of the draft by being a good team. Jahlil Okafor, D'Angelo Russell, Kristaps Porzingus are likely to all go in the top 5, but the order is still anyone's guess. Except maybe the Lakers, but I'm not privy to that info!

I actually have one card of one of the 2015-16 rookies already, but it doesn't count to my NBA collection, for two reasons, either of which would discount it by themselves and both appear on the same card. Those reasons being, 1. it's a college card, which I count as a separate collection, and 2, it's a multi-sport card, which I also count as a separate collection.

It's this one, from Sports Illustrated for Kids.

Honestly I had no idea SI for Kids was still being published. I got my last copy in 1999, basing it off the cards I can find. (I saw some of the cards on the Database over the years, but no actual issues) I saw an issue at my local Barnes & Noble, and saw that one of the cards was Steph Curry, fast becoming my #2 player in the league, to move to #1 when Elton Brand retires, which may come as soon as this off season. (I hope not!) So I had to get it. This card was included along with 7 others. I enjoyed reading the magazine, and I've also recently started reading regular Sports Illustrated as well. I suspect I will subscribe to both by the end of 2015. From what I've gathered Tyus Jones is expected to go in the second half of the first round, although to be honest I don't really follow players until they go pro, so basically all I know about him is what is printed on the back of the card.

One other weird thing about this NBA Draft...it is the one where the players were born after I began watching the game, and collecting the cards, both of which date to February 1996. Tyus Jones, up above, was born in May 1996. As far as I know none of the players in the League in 2014-15 were born after February 14th, 1996. It's a weird feeling for sure, but I have no intention of ever leaving the game and the hobby (again- I was away from the hobby from late 2006 through September 2011, and only watched sporadically during that time. I did always watch the draft though, or at least the first few picks. I now consider that one of the bigger mistakes of my life)
.
The Draft on Cardboard

For the first 45 or so years of the NBA (and BAA, which everyone counts as part of the NBA, myself included) rookies were no big deal. In fact, until 1990-91, the number of players who got cards during their actual rookie season was fairly slim, Topps, sole producer of NBA cards from 1957-81, rarely included players during their first year. Although I'm sure there are more, I can only think of TWO cards issued by Topps during an actual first season- Pete Maravich's card in 1970-71 Topps, which I don't have, and Bill Walton's in 1974-75 Topps, which I got earlier this year via the blog.

Things changed in 1990-91. The hobby was beginning it's Golden Age, which truly began in 1989-90, and would last through the 1997-98 season, ended by the first lockout.

1990-91 Hoops was the first set to include images from the NBA Draft. While I have all the cards in the subset, I have only scanned the card of Lionel Simmons to date.

1990-91 Hoops is one of my all time favorite sets, and I hope to someday finish it.

It was also the second set to issue the traditional series 2, after the 1989-90 Hoops release. That would be the norm for the flagship sets, and even some of the secondary sets, until the lockout. The Draft cards were in series 2.

1990-91 also saw the debut of Skybox, which also included a small subset of Draft day photos. Again, Lionel Simmons is the only one I've gotten scanned to date.

 I'm not a huge fan of 1990-91 Skybox to be honest.

1991-92 saw Fleer, Hoops and Skybox joined by Upper Deck. Of the 4 sets that year, only Skybox had a Draft Day subset...they could afford to, at 659 cards, the largest set in NBA history.

Another year where Skybox's cards were not really interesting. Just a photo with a fake background. Meh.

1992-93 saw the return of Topps, the birth of Ultra and Stadium Club, and series 2s for all the sets produced except Archives. No main sets featured draft day images, but Hoops included some in their Draft Picks insert.

Topps Archives was a single issue release of 150 cards which highlighted the main players to come into the NBA in the interval between 1981 and 1991 when Topps did not have the NBA license. While the set had so much potential, it was also kind of a let down as well, I always held out hope that Topps would issue an Archives set for each of the years it wasn't covering the sport; the 80s were a great time in the NBA, and the players who came into the league during that time deserve to have their career properly covered...granted, Star did a very good job of that, during it's three years of operation, but Star cards have always been too expensive and too hard to find, so they are essentially out of my reach. But again, I digress.
The Archives set included the first card to ever show the draft board. It had a subset at the start of the set showing the top pick of each draft, the back of the card listing the first round picks.

This is actually the gold parallel, which was sold as a factory set only.

1993-94 saw much of the same, with the addition of Finest and the oversize Jam Session. There was no set that featured draft day photos although several appeared in the Skybox Draft Picks insert and several into regular base cards, like this one in Ultra.

1994-95 kicked off the four best years for the hobby, which again, would last until the lockout. None of the sets included any number of draft day photos, although some were included in random sets, like the Jason Kidd card from the Topps flagship shown. All the main sets returned, and they were joined by Collector's Choice, Flair, SP and the E-series (Emotion, E-XL, EX, etc), which would all become mainstays in the hobby. There were also several standalone issues. By this time Rookies were the key aspect of Series 2s, or in the standalone issues, they were issued late enough in the year to include in action photos.

1995-96 was the year I discovered the sport, and it was a spectacular year for cards. All the flagship sets returned, and Metal and SPx joined the field. But draft day photos were at all all-time low. By now the Rookie Photo Shoot had supplanted the draft day photos in the sets that did not have action photos (some had both). In fact, of the more than 3100 different cards I have scanned for 1995-96, only one shows a photo taken on draft day, an insert from Fleer of Jerry Stackhouse. Stackhouse had signed on to be Fleer's spokesman and they issued a multi-set, mutli-year insert documenting his early career. This is card #1 in that set. I have put more effort into scanning 1995-96 than any other year, because it was my first. The only cards not scanned yet by me are the ones that somebody else posted to the Database before I got the chance to. They are held off to the end of the scanning project so I can work on stuff I can post.

1996-97 was, in my mind, the absolute best year for the NBA on cardboard. It was the NBA's 50th Anniversary, and the celebrations lasted all year...and the cards were worth celebrating as well. In fact, when I make my list of Top 20 sets of all time to celebrate my 20th anniversary of collecting this coming February...at least 5 of 1996-97's sets are likely to make the top 10, let alone 20! It was, in short, nearly a perfect year for cards. Draft day issues were scant. The only ones I can locate are from a five card subset in Metal (one of the sets that will make the top half of my Top 20 list)

1997-98 was the last great year of the NBA's golden age of cardboard. The designs were mostly good, but not as good as 1996-97. Of the nearly 900 cards I've scanned on the year, this is the only one to show what may be a draft day image...or it may come from the Rookie photo shoot. It's Tim Thomas's base card from Upper Deck. I seem to recall there being others in the set, at least for Tim Duncan, as well.

1998-99 saw the lockout. The Golden Age came crashing down...and the hobby has never truly recovered since. After the lockout, it was less about documenting the game, and more about gimmicks- not to say there weren't gimmicks beforehand but now they became the focus. It is also during this year that the focus became more on chasing the so-called hits then actual normal cards.
It was also the end of the Series 2, for the most part. (Upper Deck would continue to produce a Series 2 until 2002-03, the last to be produced. Topps' last Series 2 was 2000-01. Fleer, Hoops, and Collector's Choice saw their last Series 2 issued in 1997-98, while Stadium Club and Skybox saw their last Series 2 during 1998-99. Finest would hold out a series 2 until 1999-00.)
There were no cards clearly from draft day issued in 1998-99. In fact, several major flagship sets, including Fleer and Hoops, saw no rookie cards included at all.
1998-99 also saw the introduction of a fad that still holds true to this day- short printing rookies, many times serially numbering them. SP Authentic started this trend during 1998-99, and it changed the landscape of rookie cards to this day.

1999-00 saw the new normal- predominantly single issue series, with photographs from the last season (or, in some rare cases, several seasons ago). While I am not overly happy with the way the hobby has gone since then, the majority of my collecting was done during 1999-00 through 2004-05, so I have a high percentage of cards from this era. 1999-00 was also when my favorite player, Elton Brand entered the NBA- as the #1 draft pick, no less! With the new format of card production, Draft Day photos were now at an all-time high. Fleer, Topps, Skybox Dominion, MVP (the former Collector's Choice), Victory and Upper Deck all used draft day photos. Topps and Upper Deck included draft day photos in series 1, and gave most of the players action photos in series 2.

 2000-01 was a low point in card design. I don't know why, but most of the sets that year were sub-par at best, in my opinion.  Most of the sets that used draft day photos in 1999-00 instead used Rookie Photo Shoot photos, in the case of MVP and Victory, they used college photos instead.

Topps, and the standalone but parallel Tipoff, was the only set to use Draft Day photos. Unlike in previous years, Topps Chrome did not use the same photos, but used action photos. That would be the way Topps did it until at least 2004-05. (I only have one pack of 2005-06 Chrome, 4 cards, so I don't know how they did it that year)

2001-02 was a better year than 2000-01, design wise, and more sets used Draft day photography, including Fleer Genuine, Topps and this set, a debut in 2001-02, Topps Pristene. This is a refractor parallel. Most sets by now were using Rookie photo shoot images, if they came out before action photos were available, although some UD sets still used college photos.

2002-03 was my peak year collecting. I added more cards to my collection in that year than I did in all of 2007-12 combined, for example. Many sets used a combination of draft day and rookie photo shoot images, some by Topps mixed in digitally altered images (which I loathe) and some by UD mixed in college uniforms. Most sets by now were serially numbering rookie cards, including this one, which was numbered to 2002 on the back.

2003-04 is the largest year in my collection, but draft day images are few and far between. There's a couple mixed in, in various sets. but Rookie Photo Shoot images are much more common. This card is an insert from Fleer Tradition (the flagship Fleer set) and includes a piece of the hat worn on draft day. This is the only one of the 10 card set in my collection.

2004-05 was the last year I really enjoyed the hobby as much as I once did, at least until I came back full time in 2012-13. It was the last year I had at least one card from each set, something I always considered one of my proudest achievements in the hobby, and something I'm working very hard on getting back to.
The only set to include draft day photos was the Topps flagship set.

I was still collecting fully in 2005-06, but I was starting to lose my patience with the  gimmick-of-the-month concept, and with the gameplay itself. (It was getting more trying to be a SportsCenter highlight than actually playing)
I started to trail off in collecting, and I even missed several sets (although I've since gone back and gotten at least one card from each major set). To this day I still consider the 2005-06 draft class to be "new" players as they were the last ones to join the league when I was still fully immersed in it; the fact that some of them have already retired is a cold reminder that the game moves on even if I don't.
Topps included these images for many of the rookies, and I don't know (remember) if they were taken on draft day or some other photo shoot.

In 2006-07, I really wasn't enjoying it anymore. In fact, near the end of 2006, I decided I was done. I don't know now if it was me, or the cards not being as good as they once were, or what, but now I regret it immensely. I didn't look at or touch my cards for many years. I would not touch the majority of them until December 2013. From this point on, I am missing more cards than I have. I truly believed that I would never get any new basketball cards. (I was still collecting NASCAR, provisionally, and I got back into non-sports for the first time since 1996 in 2009). The last box I opened, what I once thought as the true last box, was 2006-07 Rookie Debut, and it included some Draft Day photography.

Totally out of it in 2007-08, I have none that show Draft Day photography but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

2008-09 I have even less cards of. 2008 was my worst year since I began collecting cards in 1988. I only got ONE documented card (a NASCAR card). None of the less than 200 cards from the 2008-09 season depict draft day photography, the few rookie cards I have depicting college images.

2009-10 was the last year where Topps and Upper Deck were allowed to produce cards. NBA gave the license to Panini, exclusively. (A HUGE mistake, but that's a different topic). I have very few cards from this season, less than 100. The rookies I have have college images.

2010-11 was when I started to watch the games regularly again- especially during the playoffs. I resisted getting back into the cards, but I've since gotten some 217 of them after the fact. None depict draft day photography. Panini seems to favor college images, or Rookie Photo Shoot images.

2011-12 saw the second lockout. Smaller than the first, the game play after it actually got better- so much so that I'm as hooked on the game as I was before the first lockout, if not more. Panini chose not to include ANY rookies in 2011-12, for some stupid reason known only to Panini. It's disgraceful. 

2012-13 is when I got back into the cards full time. While I get less cards than I once did, I think I appreciate them more. I actually even read them all now! (Back in the early 2000s, I was getting them so fast I didn't have time to read them, really!) Panini issued 44 card packs of Hoops for $2; I couldn't resist that. Now I'm back full time. Panini still favors Rookie Photo Shoot or even Summer League images, but two sets included draft day images. Hoops included them for all 2012-13 rookies, and Prestige included them for some. Hoops was the first set issued that year- it was on the shelves by time I went to Lake George NY in the first week of September, unusually early to have a set on the shelves.

In both 2013-14 and 2014-15 Panini used Rookie Photo Shoot images exclusively. 

I began typing this post around 3:30 PM, and it's now 7:07 PM. The Pre-Draft show is already on, and I can't wait to see the new names that I'll be chasing for my collection for years to come! 

Thanks for reading!