Cardboard History : NBA 20th

Showing posts with label NBA 20th. Show all posts

Monday, May 16, 2016

My Top 20 Favorite NBA jersey designs

Unlike my previous countdown, they will all be here in one post!

I finally made up a logo to celebrate my 20th Anniversary of being an NBA fan...not sure why I bothered at this point as this is the last post I currently have an idea for to celebrate my 20th year. Consider this part of the previous countdown posts that just wasn't posted.

Keep in mind this list is totally my personal favorite design list...and it's totally subjective to me. You'll notice a few things right off the bat- it's very much influenced by my favorite era of the game, I don't really like solid colors, and I really like pinstripes.

So, without further ado....let's begin at #20.

2012-13 Hoops Rookie Impact #20

#20 Charlotte Bobcats road standard 2009-10 through 2011-12

The second Charlotte franchise has only been in existence since 2004-05, but they are already on their second team name and 5th regular jersey design. This was the third standard road jersey and at three seasons used it's the second longest used of any design in team history, although that is likely to change as they have found an identity they like with the team renamed the Charlotte Hornets. I've always liked the color gray, and I've always liked pinstripes, but it was a toss-up for this one to make the list, it narrowly beat out the Kings alternate of the mid-1990s.

1997-98 Fleer #91

#19 Chicago Bulls black with red pinstripe alternate, 1995-96 and 1996-97

I have to admit, I was not a Bulls fan at all during this time frame- I was a Nets, Knicks and Jazz fan back then...all of whom were crushed by the Bulls on a regular basis, and for the Jazz, in the NBA Finals, no less. But these pinstriped jerseys were great. They only wore them for two seasons, and then they removed the pinstripes. The Bulls, for some reason, tended to lose when they wore the black with red pinstripes. That's not why I like them, of course, but it is an interesting fact, and it's also why they changed them after only two seasons. Rodman was my favorite player on the team from that time period.

2007-08 Ultra Retail #198

#18 Washington Wizards alternate, 2006-07 through 2008-09

This is the only jersey on the list I don't believe I ever saw a game where it was worn. I was mostly out of the NBA the three years it was worn, something I now regret big time. The jersey is shiny, reflective gold while the shorts are simply black with white and gold trim. I am 99% sure the first time I saw this jersey design was when I added this very card to my collection. I still prefer Bullets to Wizards, myself.

1999-00 Black Diamond #32

#17 Indiana Pacers yellow alternate, 1999-00 through 2004-05

More pinstripes...and yellow. I have found that recently I have discovered that I really like the color yellow- much more than I did before. Whatever the reason, these yellow with blue pinstripes alternates were great jerseys. I watched the Pacers every chance I could get, mostly because of Rik Smits, who appears on this card, and is an "adopted hometown hero", as he went to college in Poughkeepsie, at Marist. That was not always a fun team to watch as I really don't care too much for Reggie Miller, unquestionably the star of the team- and probably the best player the Pacers have had in their NBA lifetime. The standard road jersey was a reverse of this, blue with yellow pinstripes...and it nearly made this countdown as well.

2003-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection #65

#16 New Jersey Nets gray alternate, 2000-01 through 2004-05

I've written about this jersey before, when I did my Uniform History: Nets post, and it's still one of my favorites. It's also the closest to a solid color you will see on this countdown!

1993-94 Hoops #336

#15 Golden State Warriors with trolley car on back

This is the jersey I know the least about. I suspect it may be a throwback to when the Warriors were in San Francisco. I don't know for sure. This is the only image I've ever seen of the jersey, I don't even know what the front looks like. But that trolley car alone is cool enough to put it well into my Top 20 list!

2003-04 UD Glass #22

#14 Los Angeles Clippers blue alternate, 2002-03 through 2009-10

You had to know Elton would appear here somewhere! I always root for the underdog teams- and it doesn't get much more underdog than the Clippers, at least when I started watching the game. When they traded for Elton before the 2001-02 season, the Clippers locked themselves in as my 2nd favorite team. (whatever team Elton is playing for is #2, behind the Nets). Elton spent his best years with the Clippers, unfortunately. He had little help and when they did bring in talent they would go down with injury like clockwork. And I didn't even KNOW all the horrible things the team owner was doing. These blues were the alternate to the normal reds, which looked pretty much alike except the blue and red (in the Clippers name) were reversed, with the red jersey's number being white. I like the red jersey design as well, but it did not crack the top 20. I still wear my replica version of this jersey on a fairly regular basis.

1992-93 Fleer #401

#13 Orlando Magic road standard 1989-90 through 1997-98

The Magic came into the NBA in 1989-90 and they have always had cool jerseys. Although it didn't make the list, their home white from 1989-98 very nearly made the countdown.

This jersey was their original road jersey and somewhat unusually, it made the switch from standard jersey to alternate, being worn as the alternate from 1994-95 through 1997-98, when the standard road jersey became blue.

1972-73 Topps #5

#12 Atlanta Hawks 1970-71 and 1971-72 alternate

Now obviously I didn't get to see this jersey being worn when it was current, as I was not born until 1984. But...the Hawks did wear this as a throwback in the mid-2000s. (I have a Jason Terry replica in my wearing stash) I saw the throwback night so on a technicality I did see this jersey being worn. It's very bright...not really captured in the scan. It's not neon, but it's really, really bright!

2015-16 Donruss #7

#11 Atlanta Hawks 2015-16 through ? road standard

We go from the oldest jersey design on the list, to the newest, as the Hawks debuted an all-new brand identity this current season. The Hawks' new jerseys feature a very unusual design pattern that they call feathers but is really just a series of triangles. It looks very cool. I actually like the red alternate slightly better, but the alternate only says ATL- and I hate abbreviations, especially on jerseys. It was enough to keep the alternate off the list. The white home jersey also has the design. Something not really captured on the card- the yellow trim is neon. Really, truly neon. I grew up in the 1990s, neon is something I love, and this is, surprisingly, the first time neon has ever truly appeared on an NBA jersey. The red may be neon as well- I'm not 100% sure- you can tell on the TV broadcasts that the yellow really glows but the red is harder to tell. It might. I suspect I won't know until/if I get a patch from the new design. This is a very complex and unique jersey design, which probably means that they won't wear it for a long time, which is a shame. This is the only jersey design to make my Top 20 that's currently being worn.

1996-97 Stadium Club #145

#10 Charlotte Hornets purple alternate, 1994-95 and 1995-96

I've always had an affinity for the Charlotte Hornets, largely for two reasons- the fact that the first NBA game I ever watched was a Hornets game, and because of this guy, Muggsy Bogues, one of my all-time favorite players. The Hornets have always had teal and purple as team colors, and, lo and behold, more pinstripes. While teal has always been the primary color of the original Hornets (both in Charlotte and New Orleans) they have worn purple as an alternate and the first time was in 1994-95 an 1995-96, in this jersey. The current Hornets team, which was the Bobcats, also wear purple and teal but they aren't as nice as the originals, at least in my opinion.

1996-97 Hoops #165

#9 Vancouver Grizzlies 1995-96 through 1999-00 road standard

Remember I said above that the list will be heavily favored by my favorite era? You should know that's the mid-1990s. I have always favored the Grizzlies and Raptors, mainly because they both entered the league the same year I did- 1995-96. the Raptors have always found more success than the Grizzlies did, especially in the early days. The Grizzlies wore these great seafoam green designs when they entered the league, and they wore them until 1999-00, although they started to phase them out in 1998-99, when the black alternate design was introduced and began to be used more and more. (The black alternates would become the standard road jersey in 2000-01, the Grizzlies' final year in Canada, although like I say, they were the de facto road jersey in 1999-00 as well. I never noticed, or forgot, that these jerseys- or at least the shorts- are asymmetrical- until I began scanning my card collection.

1996-97 Collector's Choice #201

#8 Atlanta Hawks home standard, 1995-96 through 1998-99
The Hawks' third and final appearance on the countdown, surprising as the Hawks have never been my favorite team, which is not to say I root against them- they are just kind of there to me.
This is also the only home white design to make my Top 20. White jerseys are just kind of boring- but this one has a great hawk design that puts it well into the Top 20, and even into the top 10. When I went to get this image, I was originally planning to have the road black here, but the home white is actually a better design; the road jersey has a wide red area under the hawk design and down into the pants, it detracts from the overall design.

1996-97 Stadium Club Shining Moments #SM4

#7 Houston Rockets road standard, 1995-96 through 2002-03

Look at that, more pinstripes! This design's home white was the first two cards out of my first ever pack, the only two cards I remember from pack #1. These jerseys are actually dark blue, although they do appear black sometimes. They are not. When I got a patch card of Steve Francis from this jersey was the first time I realized that the jerseys had shiny, metallic, sparkling threads in the patches. The number, the Rockets logo- all metallic silver. Once I knew what to look for I was able to to determine that several teams have been using that kind of thread since at least the 1989-90 season!
Positions 7 through 2 were actually the hardest for me to figure out- 7 and 6 are a virtual tie, and 2-4 would probably be different every day, just how I am feeling as I write this on May 16th, 2016 is how they got ranked for this countdown.

1993-94 Ultra #16

#6 Charlotte Hornets road standard, 1988-89 through 1995-96

I talked about the Hornets above, when their purple alternate made the list. But this is the jersey I think about when I think about the Charlotte Hornets. That is despite the fact that they only wore this jersey for half a season that I saw; they added more stripes to the side in 1996-97, but that's not the iconic jersey to me.

1994-95 Collector's Choice #199

#5 Phoenix Suns road standard, 1992-93 through 1999-00

I've never been a big fan of the Suns. They aren't my least favorite team...but they are close to it. If I were to rank the 30 teams in the league in order of favorites...they would be below #25. (I don't plan to make that list, because basically there's #1, then a tie from #2-26 and then a few teams I don't care for...but I still watch all of them and collect cards of all of them). But they had this great design as their road standard from 1992-93 through 1999-00, and it's a great design. Good enough that it made my top 5! They also had a black alternate which switched the black and purple, and the home jersey was the same design but the white in the logos and the purple of the field are reversed.

1996-97 Collector's Choice #111

#4 Orlando Magic road standard 1994-95 through 1997-98

The Magic appear again on the list. Like I said with their original road uniform, they have usually had great jerseys. This one is my favorite in franchise history, and was what they were wearing when I discovered the sport, which make up exactly half this Top 20 countdown. There aren't many players who epitomize the 1990s like Penny Hardaway.


1993-94 Upper Deck Special Edition Electric Court #52

#3 Philadelphia 76ers road standard 1991-92 through 1993-94

The most colorful jersey design in the 76ers' long history, like most complex jersey designs it lasted only three years before being replaced by a single color design. What is not really visible on this card is that the color/star stripe comes out of the belt and goes down onto the left leg. Even with the abbreviation on the front I liked these enough to rank them #3.

1996-97 Hoops #153

#2 Toronto Raptors road standard, 1995-96 through 1998-99

When I wrote up my Uniform History: Toronto Raptors post (not yet posted!) I stated that this jersey design was one of my all time favorites. When making up this post today, I realized how true that really was- this jersey ranked in at #2! This was the Raptors road standard from the team's foundation through the lockout shortened 1998-99 season, and was worn as a throwback in 2014-15 to celebrate the Raptors' 20th Anniversary. As I stated above the Raptors and Grizzlies have always been teams I've been drawn to as their history is closely intertwined with mine with the sport. The Raptors have had more stability than the Grizzlies, but they hadn't found as much on-court success. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001-02 and made it to the conference finals, the Raptors had only ever won one playoff series...until this year. Tomorrow, the Raptors will be playing in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

And now...are you ready to see my all time favorite NBA jersey design....

.....

any guesses as to what it might be?

I'll give you a hint, it's from the 1990s....

1996-97 Fleer #62

#1 Milwaukee Bucks alternate, 1995-96 through 1999-00

What a great design! Of course, by being my all-time favorite NBA jersey, I think that'd be a given. The Bucks wore this jersey as an alternate in 1995-96 through 1999-00, although some sources say they last wore it in 1998-99. It was worn again as a throwback in 2012-13 or 2013-14. (or possibly both- there is nowhere I know of to see where/when throwbacks were worn so I'm going off memory)
I first learned of this jersey when I saw it being worn in a game in 1996-97. It's green, my favorite color. It's got a cool graphic design, in the buck itself. The text is interesting in that the Bucks logo fades, from white to purple, which is more visually interesting than a single color.

It's been my favorite since the first time I ever saw it, it just clicked with me.

Thanks for reading! My 20th anniversary season is rapidly coming to a close - the conference finals start tonight- and this is the 22nd and final post that I have planned to celebrate my 20th anniversary of watching the NBA. If anybody has read them all, I appreciate it.

Monday, February 15, 2016

NBA 20th Anniversary Countdown- my 6 LEAST favorite sets

I just finished an intense project where I counted down my top 20 favorite NBA sets ever, and I can't say it was easy. I put a lot more effort into those posts than I normally do...I acquired some knowledge during the process of building the posts that I never even thought to think about, and I dredged up a lot of great memories to go with a lot of great sets.

Now, after reading more than 100 posts from me, you should know that I don't really badmouth anything. I'm guessing no readers (except my mom, who reads every post!) could accurately gauge my least favorite player or team. (My least favorite player actually made his first Cardboard History appearance during the Top 20 countdown) I am of the feeling that only good things should be talked about, and bad things ignored/shunned, not worth the time and effort to whine and complain about. A lot of sports fans spend most of their time on the internet whining about everything- it's why I've left some message boards/facebook groups in fact. That's not me, and that's not enjoyable to me.

But with that said, there are some sets I dislike...there are 653 major sets that I am aware of; of those, I am missing 64 of them, (one is not out yet) meaning I have 589 of them. While there are some I don't have in my collection that I dislike the concept of- for instance Panini just came out with a six thousand dollar pack (!) - those cards are not in my collection, and probably never will be...and that would put them last on my list. But I'm not going to cover them. I'm going to cover my 6 least favorite sets in my collection and tell you exactly why I dislike them.

After I finished writing up the bottom 5, I came across a small batch of a set I had forgotten how much I disliked and had to edit it in.

#584: 2000 Topps USA

Why I dislike it: There are multiple reasons. First, the cards are made of plastic and they are sticky and greasy. They leave your hands sticky after you touch them. Then, you have the worst photoshopping EVER to appear on cards. Just look at that. Horrible...Who thought this looked good? A blind 5 year old? This was the last USA Basketball set...because this one was so bad it killed the concept.

#585: 2001-02 Fleer Genuine

Why I don't like it: The way the cards were made. Each border is mirror foil, but it's printed over the top of the holofoil, which is used for the player and team names and the stripes. They chip easily...seemingly by breathing on them. I remember the first time I got any was when I purchased a box, and I remember being taken slightly aback by the fact that every card out of the box was chipped...and not only that, they must have chipped instantly while being made because little blobs of the various colors are stuck to the back of each card. The lines across the picture are from my scanner, not on the actual card.

#586: 1976-77 Topps.

Why I don't like it: The cards were postcard sized. That's why. There's no way to store these with your other cards, which to me is the most frustrating thing of all. I like to sort my cards endlessly, by player, by set, or by other ways that I don't even remember since it's been so long. (I think I sorted them by team once). You can't do that with these cards. Naturally, I have the entire set. (the only set in the bottom five I have completed) If I had been alive when these were issued, I probably would have liked them even less, considering 1975-76 Topps was the best set of the 1970s. Because the Blogger format sizes the images all the same, here is a scan that shows it compared to a regular card and also one of the tall cards, a size that was used in 1969-70, 70-71, and again in 1993-94 through 1995-96 and one final time in 2001-02, which is the set shown in the image.

#587: 1980-81 Topps

Why I don't like it: What the heck was Topps thinking? Did it ever seem like a good idea to put three cards onto one card, and expect collectors to rip them into thirds? And if you are going to do that, why would you put them out in a way where you ended up needing to get duplicates of some cards to get them all, while short printing some at the same time? There's just so much stupid here that it is baffling...but even more baffling is why it was not only done this time in 1980-81, but also again by Upper Deck (1996-97 Collector's Choice), Topps (2003-04 Rookie Matrix) and Fleer (various years of Fleer Tradition, but only 2004-05 was perforated). I count each different panel as a separate card. Most people do not. It makes record keeping very difficult...I can only hope I didn't accidentally count any of the panels more than once. I have not separated any of the cards from 1980-81 Topps, but I did separate the cards from 1996-97 Collector's Choice. I'm not sure if I counted those at all!

#588: 2003-04 Fleer Avant

Why I don't like it: There's multiple reasons. The set is very short- there are only 60 base cards. (90 with serially numbered subsets) That's strike one. The design is terrible. You have a photo of a player edited to have various colors behind him, and it takes up roughly 2/3rds of the card, with the rest being empty white space? Strike #2. And then there's the back.

Which way is up? I rotate them to make the stats readable, but not everyone does. Which way is right? Who can say? Strike #3! And really, congratulating you for getting a card of this set... that's like congratulating somebody for catching a cold.

#589: (My least favorite set ever!) 1998-99 Fleer Brilliants

Why I dislike it: Multiple reasons! First off, it's mirror foil, which I dislike. Secondly, the cards are sticky, and they have been since new. I have to literally go and wash my hands after touching these cards because they make your hands greasy and make you leave fingerprints on other cards. They collect dust like I collect cards- and forget trying to remove it. With most cards, you can remove dust that sticks to it by brushing it with your shirt, or, failing that, a fingernail. If you do that on this set, the coating on the card chips off yet sometimes....the dust stays. You can't use your shirt because it leaves streaks in the grease of the card. Nasty. You can see some spots where this card chipped right above Kerry's left wrist. There are three chipped spots.

Surprising to see three Fleer sets on here, isn't it? Fleer has always been my favorite card company, but when they produced a stinker, it stunk to high heaven.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

NBA 20th Anniversary Countdown #1- My all time favorite set!

Here it is, the big one...the set I like the most. I did a little research and determined that there are 653 main sets in NBA history. To be the best you have to be pretty darn good and I think this set is.

But first, a little review. Each set name is clickable to take you to that post, by the way. My #20-#2 favorite sets...

Why I like it: Everything. I thought long and hard about what to say about this set, and I couldn't come up with something that accurately described it than "everything". The memories are there. The design. The many, many memories I have of this set coupled with the design that I think is the best ever in card history propel this set to #1.

Set size/Completion: 300 cards, of which I have 283, or 94.3%. I really want to complete the set (naturally!) but I don't want to force it by going out and buying all the missing cards. Weird, perhaps, but getting them through my normal course of card acquisition is much more thrilling- if slower. I do have a wantlist posted though if any reader wants to help out.

Everything about this design just screams perfection to me, from the full bleed photos that were better than anything else Ultra had ever used before, to the holofoil name and bar plus Ultra logo, to the team-color coded shadow behind the name...even the font of the name just looks so good to me.

Just because I like the design so much, I'm going to post more than one base card. I have tried not to make these posts too long but I hope you'll indulge me for my favorite set.

I could show lots more...and I don't even have all that many scanned yet. Unfortunately I only got to post 18 scans to the Database as other people did the rest. I will probably over-wright some of them some day but I'm in no hurry.

I have so many memories of this set from when it was new...memories of the cards themselves and random oddities like the time we were walking through the mall at a card show, and found a partial pack half buried in one of the planters, with some cards missing. Unfortunately whoever did that was a jerk and bent the cards they didn't want, right in half. At least one of those cards remains in my collection as I have not been able to replace it yet, although I did replace several of them.

Backs of the cards featured two photos- neither of which was a repeat of the front- with one of them part of the colored background. Eastern conference teams got blue, while Western Conference teams got red. Full stats were superimposed over the images.

Because this is my favorite set, I'll show all the subsets as well as the inserts.
On the Block and Ultra Effort were in Series 1...

...while Rookie Encore and Play of the Game were in Series 2. Play of the Game was slightly Short-Printed but not to the levels of '98 Greats would be a year later.

Seeing this set...it just makes me happy, happier than any other set, and that propels it to #1.

There were 13 insert sets and two parallels.

Gold Medallion was used for the full set for the first time, although as Gold Medallions go it's fairly weak. In fact, they were so non-descript that in Series 2 they actually put Gold Medallion Edition on the front of the card. I never had any trouble telling them apart, as the gold foil is clearly different than the normal silver foil, let alone the G in the card number on the back, but then again, I actually care about the cards, not just how much they can be sold for, unlike most Beckett readers.

Platinum Medallion made it's debut! I was not lucky enough to pull any, but I did acquire the Rik Smits card and a John Stockton subset as a single. These are actually fairly rare even today, and still expensive enough that I have not gotten any more. They are quite clear to make out that they are different...but they are labeled on Series 2 cardfronts as well. While the Gold Medallion is my #2 favorite parallel concept after refractors, Platinum Medallions are my favorite 2nd Level Parallel concept of all time. After this season, when serially numbered cards were very rare, the Platinum Medallions were numbered to 100 or less copies each season for the remainder of the Ultra run. There are several seasons (1997-98, 1999-00 through 2002-03) where I don't have a single one in my collection. There is a possibility they may not have been made for every year, but I've seen some online for some of the years.

There were 13 inserts, and I do not have all of them represented in my collection, or scanned.

All-Rookie. These are embossed. A copy of this card is one of the ones I found bent in half in that pack. I eventually replaced it, forgot I replaced it, and replaced it again. Oops!

Board Game

Full Court Trap. For some reason I can never remember the name of this insert- I always call it "Full Court Press", which is a much more common term in basketball. It's etched. There is a Gold version as well, where the background is a yellowish color instead of various colors.

Give & Take, a mirror foil card.

Scoring Kings. There is also a Gold version of this set but I don't have any.

Rising Stars, which features a canvas texture

And there you have it! 20 years ago today, I received my first NBA basketball cards as a gift from my mom for Valentine's day. Later that night I found the Knicks-Hornets game on TV and it was the first game I ever watched. Thousands of games, and more than 82,000 different cards later- the NBA plays a larger role in my life than it ever has before. It's even surpassed NASCAR as my favorite sport, a position I once thought was unassailable. As a special treat, tonight is the 2015-16 NBA All-Star game, so a night of excellent basketball action is guaranteed.

Two fun facts- it took me 4 solid days to type up these posts. A lot longer than I thought, I expected to have them typed up in a matter of a couple of hours, not 4 days.
I posted 192 scans (and one photograph) over these 20 posts. Normally I copy a photo I want to post to Cardboard History to a "blog" folder, post it, then delete it, but this time I decided not to do that.

Thanks for reading along on my journey down memory lane and a look at my top 20 favorite sets- as well as my most ambitious blog posting project yet. Stay tuned for a post later this week that shows my six LEAST favorite sets!

Saturday, February 13, 2016

NBA 20th Anniversary Countdown #2

The final two sets. They must be great to make it to my top 2! This one, I think, was the first box of NBA cards I ever opened!

#2: 1994-95 Hoops

Why I like it: The design is great. I can still remember opening the box I got that day in 1996. The backs give you the player's jersey number. But like most of the top 5, it's the memories.

Set size/Completion: 450 cards, I completed it on March 2nd, 2002.

Back when I first discovered the sport, the 1995-96 season was roughly halfway done. I jumped in with both feet (proverbially) and started collecting as many cards as I possibly could. But I really didn't know who anybody was at that point. It took time to learn, and the best way to do that is to look at cards...as many cards as possible. This set, I believe, was the first box I ever opened. It could be this one, 1990-91 Hoops or 1994 Action Packed Hall of Fame, but I really think it was this one. I can still remember opening it, I can still remember where I was sitting even. (Some things are so important that they just burn themselves into memory) This set, with it's high levels of text and stats on the back, and a larger checklist than any 1995-96 set, did a great deal for me to learn about the NBA. Sure, not all the players were with the same teams, or even still in the NBA. But it didn't matter. The fact that the back of the card included the player's jersey number was a great thing to me. When the guys are running at top speed, and viewed from a distance, you usually can't see their faces or can't read the names on the jersey...but you can see the numbers. I can remember literally watching games and looking at the backs of these cards trying to match the player on the card to the player on TV. Granted, I only did it a few times- back then my memory worked a lot better than it does now so I knew pretty much all the rosters of each team within a matter of a few weeks. But I doubt I would have been able to do that if I did not have this set to help me.

Look at all that information stuffed on there! You can tell that back then they really cared about the game...not something you really feel like the card companies do anymore.

There were 9 inserts, including the multi-level Magic's All-Rookie, which has regular, chrome and Jumbo versions. I don't have any of the Draft Redemption cards, and I have not scanned any of the Rainbow foil Big Numbers parallel.