Elton Brand Career Retrospective

News I had been dreading, but feared was coming, broke yesterday, August 11th, 2015. Elton Brand announced his retirement from the NBA.

Based on how little he got to play the last several years, I suspected it was coming...but I still dreaded it.

As I've mentioned before, Elton is my all-time favorite player. He is a Hometown Hero, from Peekskill, NY, where my family is originally from. I began following him while he was still in high school, through his years at Duke and then into the NBA. I originally began following him because he was a local, but his character off the court and his playing ability on it locked him in as my #1 favorite player.

Unfortunately Elton suffered several serious injuries that robbed him of his quickness and more than a full season's worth of playing time; he missed almost two seasons at around the same time that I stopped paying as much attention to the sport- but when he came back, the games he played in were usually the only regular season games I was watching at that time (Although, as I have since stated, I now regret that).

As a long time card collector, I naturally have tried to get as many different Elton cards as I could- and I still do. As of right now, I have 408 NBA cards of him, 7 college cards, and three jerseys that I wear. I can't show all of them here on the blog- it would take days to do that- but I will provide a link to my website where all his NBA cards can be seen together in one place at the end. That does not include cards that he shares with anyone else, including league leaders and team cards...just cards of him.

Many years ago, I had somebody create this logo for me to use in my signature line on Trader Retreat, which was the premier card forum at that time. I don't remember who made it for me, but I uploaded it to my website on December 5th, 2005. I don't even know if TR still exists. I still use that email address, although I only check once a week or so.





Now, let's take a look at Elton's career, and some of my favorite Elton cards, beginning with his time in college:
1997-98 and 1998-99 Duke University.
Elton played two years of college ball for a combined total of 60 games. I generally do not collect college cards but for him I make an exception.

1999 Press Pass Autograph

1999 Press Pass Authentics Team 2000 #T1

Elton went #1 in the 1999 NBA Draft to the Chicago Bulls. He did not expect to go #1 but he parlayed it into co-Rookie of the Year honors with Steve Francis of the Rockets.

1999-00 Fleer Tradition Roundball Collection #203RB

Elton played 81 games during his rookie season, starting 80 of them, and it actually turned out to be his third best season in scoring, with 1627 points scored. Elton would play 81 games twice more during his career, he would never get the opportunity to play all 82 games.

1999-00 Hoops X #89

1999-00 EX E-Xceptional Red #14XC

1999-00 Hoops X New Style Parallel #4NS SN 0488/1989

48 different cards of Elton from 1999-00 reside in my collection.

2000-01 was his second and final year with the Bulls, and with 80 different cards in my collection, the largest year for Eltons. It was the season I got my first autograph of him during, and he also got the #1 slot in several Topps sets, which is prestigious.

2000-01 Bowman's Best Flashback Rookie Locker Room Autographs #LRCF

2000-01 Fleer Triple Crown #137

2000-01 Stadium Club #80

2000-01 Topps #1

During the off-season between 2000-01 and 2001-02, Elton was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Tyson Chandler and Brian Skinner. It was the only time Elton was traded during his career, and the Los Angeles Clippers became his home for the next seven seasons. Elton reached his peak during this time frame, unfortunately the Clippers' owner was a famously bad person, and also famously poor at team management. The Clippers were the butt of many jokes throughout the years, but Elton's star shined brightly and he became, I believe, the first Los Angeles Clipper player to ever receive MVP votes.

Elton had a great year in 2001-02, and made his first All-Star Game that season. My collection of him dips slightly in 2001-02, coming in at 51 cards.

2001-02 Fleer Authentix #5

2001-02 Fleer Focus Trading Places jersey

2001-02 Fleer Marquee We're #1. This was my first Elton patch card, and it comes from the time before they treated patches specially.

2001-02 Stadium Club Lone Star Signatures

2002-03 was the first year Elton missed significant time with injury, playing in only 62 of 82 games. However, it is when my card collection began to grow the most, between 2002 and 2005, and my Elton collection for 02-03 rebounds to 64 cards.

2002-03 Fleer Tradition #187

2002-03 MVP #72

2002-03 Topps Chrome White Refractor #44 SN115/249

2003-04 saw Elton rebound slightly to play in 69 games. Totally coincidentally, that is also the amount of cards I have for him from the season. My two lowest serially numbered Eltons come from this season, SN1 and SN7.

2003-04 Bowman Signature #16 Red - One of One!

2003-04 EX Essential Credentials Now #7

2003-04 SP Game Used Authentic Patches. Taken from the L in Clippers.

In 2004-05, I started to trail off a little in cards, and my Elton collection is only 34 cards from that year. Elton rebounded to play in 81 games.

2004-05 Bazooka #42

2004-05 Fleer Throwbacks Hardwood Classics. My only NBA Logoman, albeit taken from the tag. Fine with me!

2004-05 Luxury Box Main Reserved #56 SN 22/25

2004-05 Upper Deck #76. San Diego Clippers throwback jersey.

2005-06 was Elton's best year. He only played in 79 games, but he played the most minutes (3099), scored the most points in his career (1953), put up his highest totals in field goals made, attempted, (both regular and free throws), blocks, and he even made a three pointer for the first time in his career. (He only made two- one in 2005-06 and one in 2006-07- he only attempted 20 his entire career, and most of them were desperation shots at the end of the shot clock/buzzer). He also made his second All-Star Game and if memory serves me correctly he finished third in MVP voting.
I really start to trail off this year, I only have 22 different cards of him, and most of them came much later- as in, 2015.

2005-06 Bazooka Gold #86. The blue alternate jersey was always a favorite of mine. I actually got to see this game. In the days before League Pass I only got to see Elton a couple of times a year, when he would play the Knicks and Nets...or the Clippers got a rare Nationally televised game.

2005-06 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics.

2004-05 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Signatures

2006-07 was the year where I thought I was done collecting NBA cards. I was not overly happy with what was being produced, or the way the game was being played. I realize now it was me, but I took a break between late 2006-2012. I only have 8 Eltons from the year, and I only got three of them when they were new. This was Elton's second best year, as he put up his second highest point total, minutes played, baskets scored, assists and blocks.

2006-07 Bowman #9. Between 2006 and 2011 I believed this would be the last Elton card I would ever get. That has of course since changed.

2006-07 Bowman Elevation #2. This card was damaged in the flood of 2/5/15.

2006-07 Ultra #63

2007-08 was Elton's last year with the Clippers, and it was not a good year at all. Injuries limited him to only 8 games. He still played great when he could, but he couldn't for most of the season.
I only have 5 cards of him from 2007-08, one of which I just got 2 days ago. (You can see it in my 2015 Elton Brand chart up above)

2007-08 SP Game Used #118

2007-08 Topps #10

In 2008-09 Elton joined the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent. However, he was limited to only 29 games due to injury. I did not get to see him play at all for the second year in a row, I believe. I have only two cards of him from 2008-09, only one of which shows him in the Sixers uniform.

2008-09 Topps T-51 Murad #1

2009-10 saw Elton bounce back, playing 76 games. I have 6 cards of him from that season, all of which I've gotten in the last two years. 2009-10 was also when the NBA took the license away from Topps and Upper Deck and gave it exclusively to Panini, a huge mistake.

2009-10 Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Prime #TOTT9 SN 01/25. The patch is from either the B or R on the back of his jersey.

2009-10 Panini Crown Royale #14

2009-10 Upper Deck #146. I am not sure when this image was taken. I suspect it was taken during 08-09, and that these jerseys were dropped after that season. UD usually used photos taken the previous season, and I know from some of the rookie cards I have that they did not use current season photos. I know I never saw Elton play in this jersey.

2010-11 was when I started to watch again, during the playoffs mostly. It was Elton's rebound season, which saw him play 81 games, set his career high in steals, and put up 1000+ points and 100+ blocks for the 9th and final times during his career. I again have 6 cards of him, all of which I got after the fact.

2009-10 Absolute Memorabilia Spectrum #74

2010-11 Prestige Bonus Shots Black #90 SN 3/10

2010-11 Rookies & Stars Longevity #12- the first Elton I got in 2015

2011-12 was the second lockout, which shortened the NBA season to 66 games instead of the usual 82. It was Elton's last season with the 76ers, and although his stats were down due to only playing 60 of those 66 games, it was still a good season. Then, at the end of it, the Sixers waived him due to the salary cap shenanigans that resulted from the lockout. The Sixers have been tanking ever since. Due to the Lockout, Panini only produced a handfull of sets, and I only have one Elton from the entire season- and it's a set I have only one card from as well. I did a box of 2011-12 Hoops but was not lucky enough to pull Elton's card from it.

2011-12 Gold Standard #101

In 2012-13, Elton signed with the Dallas Mavericks, and while he did play in 72 games, his minutes dropped dramatically- for the first time, he didn't have to be THE go-to guy on the team. It was the last year Panini truly included him in card sets. I have 11 cards of him on the year, 7 of them I actually got during the 2012-13 season.

2012-13 Absolute Basketball Spectrum Silver #9 SN 2-10. This was the first set released to show Elton in a Mavs jersey.

2012-13 Panini #56

2012-13 Panini Brilliance Game Time Jerseys Prime #47. The entire card is mirror foil so it does not scan all that well. There are also two layers of white in the patch.

2012-13 National Treasures Material Treasures #40. This is the only card I have from this brand, not just this set. They have done National Treasures for several years but they are too pricey for me, and had I not gotten this card as a gift the entire National Treasures brand would be missing from my collection. Note that in this caption by brand I am not referring to Elton Brand.

In 2013-14 Elton joined the Atlanta Hawks and it was the beginning of the end. He suffered through 57 DNP-Coach's Decision over his two years with the team, although only 9 of them came during 2013-14. Panini stopped doing their job as well, and only issued ONE card of Elton (with 6 parallels) during his entire 2-year stay with the Hawks. Disgraceful. And, to be honest, a large reason why I have not gotten as many cards as I normally do during 2014-15. They can't be bothered to do it right, why should I spend what little money I have on something that they get so wrong repeatedly? In 2013-14 Elton only played 36 games, and scored only 96 points for the entire season. He actually scored more points in 2007-08 when he only played 8 games due to injury. The majority of his time on court during 2014-15 was at the very end of quarters when they just wanted to waste time. I watched every single Hawks game on League Pass during the two seasons he was with them; it was a wholly frustrating experience for me. During 2014-15 Elton wore #7. It was the only time in his career he did not wear #42.

2013-14 Pinnacle #131. The only card issued of Elton as a member of the Atlanta Hawks.

All in all, Elton played in 1041 NBA games, starting 867 of them. He scored 16,757 points, 8977 rebounds, 2166 assists, 931 steals and 1820 blocks.
In a league that has had over 3000 players play in an NBA game, he ranks in the top 100 of several categories: 94th all time in games played, 89th in scoring, 20th in blocks, 49th in rebounding, 70th in career minutes played, and that's not even getting into the PER stuff.
He also led the league in offensive rebounds twice.

Off the court he runs several charitable organizations. I know of at least two, but there may be more. I have no way to research them to provide more info.

If you would like to see All of my NBA cards of Elton. I have a special album for the on my website, which you can look at Here. My copy of his 2002-03 Topps base card has gone missing so it is not present in the album.

I also have three jerseys I wear, which I will show. I would have a Hawks jersey too but they don't make it big enough.

Clippers red, from 2002-03 season. This is one where it's just painted on and it's cracking so I don't wear this one too often.

Clippers Blue Alternate, also from 2002-03. This is an official jersey, where everything is sewn on. This is the jersey I wear the most. It was, for many years, also the only one I had a photo of myself wearing. I was going to share the photo but I can't find it now.

1971-72 Buffalo Braves throwback. I am not sure if the Clippers ever actually wore this as a throwback, but I found it for sale at retail and had to have it.

Updated! Throwback Thursday: 1953-54 Topps World of Wheels #135 1911 Reeves Octoauto

A Thowback Thursday post today to show one of my favorite sets. Issued in two series in 1953-54, Topps's World on Wheels sets was part of their 1950s transportation theme, one of several sets that featured cars, planes, trains, etc. It's one of the more common car sets of the early 1950s but that doesn't make it common by any means- it took me years to hunt down more than 3 of this set. This was the second card I found, and it's one of the more unique issued in the set.

The cards were of simple design, with a colored panel, a white panel, and an illustration of vehicle in question. The majority were cars, but there were also trucks, at least one tank, a motorcycle or two, etc.

Series 2 cards are significantly rarer than series 1, I have not been able to hunt any of them down. The cards are early 50s standard size, which is slightly larger than the current size. They fit in a toploader, but not in a penny sleeve.

I would love to have seen this driving! I don't know if any Octoautos survive, I don't know how many were made. After it failed, Reeves also made a Sextoauto, which had only one set of wheels in the front, but two in the back. I don't know if any of them survive either, and I would not be surprised if it was created by removing a set of wheels from the front of the Octoauto. The early years of the automobile (pre-WWI) were a wild and occasionally wacky time, and many of the creations of that time period do not survive, which is truly unfortunate.

Luckily, we have cards like this and photos taken during the time period so they won't be forgotten.

This is the only card ever made for the Reeves company, Octoauto or otherwise, that I am aware of.

There will be lots more Throwback Thursday posts showing this set. It's one of my favorites and I've hunted them extensively. I have 129 cards from this set in my collection, and they may all get posted as Throwback Thursdays eventually!

Edit: Here are two photos of the real car as posted to the "Cars of the 1900s-1930s" Facebook page.

Expanding Horizons

I felt like writing something, but didn't know what to write about...so, a topic I've been thinking about for some time now.

My card horizons have really expanded as of late. 2015 has been an extraordinary year, Things have happened this year that I never could have predicted, never could have imagined when the year began. I also have hunted down some cards that I thought I would never be able to get but that's not the scope of this post (and besides, I've already shown them!)

First, some history...

I've been collecting cards since 1988. From 1988-92 I collected non-sports exclusively. At Christmas 1992 I was introduced to the world of NASCAR and that took up about 80% of my collecting from 1993-1995. In April 1996, I was introduced to the world of the NBA and that was when I went all-out with cards. I collected more than 72,000 different NBA cards between 1996 and 2005. I mostly ignored NASCAR cards for a large portion of this time, and I stopped collecting non-sports totally in roughly 1996. Essentially, if it wasn't an NBA card, I just didn't care. (Even today, I have very little NASCAR from the 1998-2000 seasons, when I finally wised up and spent more time on my NASCAR cards, it was during 2003 and later and the boxes from that time are expensive due to the chance of getting Dale Earnhardt's autograph)

I had no interest in anything else.

Sure, I got some other kinds of cards, usually by them being inadvertantly put into my preferred method of getting new NBA cards, getting them in mixed boxes.

In 2006 I got burned out. I was not happy with the cards being produced, I was not overly happy with how the NBA was going, and and while I still enjoyed NASCAR, I have never been a fan of Press Pass's sub-par cards.

I trailed off. I actually stopped collecting the NBA in late 2006, and while I still technically collected NASCAR cards, I was not actively chasing them. This hit an all-time low in 2008 when I only documented 1 new card...for the entire year! That is not to say it was the only card I got; it was the only one I documented. My card listing is one of my favorite parts of the hobby and if I wasn't even maintaining that, then you know I was in a bad place with my hobby.

Things would change though, in 2009. My brother bought me a couple of packs of Wheels Element at the local Target, and I really liked the set. It is one of those things where I really, really liked the set when new, but then as time went on, it lost it's impact to me. I went crazy for this set when it came out, and I eventually did a box of it- it was the first box I had done since September 2006. I was enjoying cards again, and at that time I was collecting NASCAR only.

Then, in 2010, I discovered the Star Wars cards currently being produced by Topps. Perhaps discovered is not the correct term; I knew they were produced, I just didn't bother with them...even though I love Star Wars. (My earliest memory of ANYTHING is watching Empire Strikes Back). The Galaxy sets and, more importantly, the Empire Strikes Back 3Di set. It was already fairly old by Target card isle standards so I only was able to get a handful of packs. But it brought me back into the non-sports side of the hobby full time. I really enjoyed it, and since my "Card Renaissance"  I have truly enjoyed the non-sports world more than I have ever before, and more than even the NASCAR side. Unfortunately there is not a lot produced for non-sports these days, and even less that I have access to. Several of the sets I really wanted I missed out on totally like the Cult-Stuff Civil War and World War 1 sets. I know that I'll probably never be able to get them now. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that I have been able to get a lot of vintage stuff- stuff I never knew even existed, so I couldn't even dream about one day owning a copy of my own.

2012 is when I finally came back to the NBA. I realize, in retrospect, it was really ME that had the problem, not the cards. With my various health problems, I suspect (or, I should say, I'm about 99% sure of) it was me not thinking totally straight, because when I came back...I realized how wrong I was to leave. I regret that now immensely. And not only because I don't remember where some of my cards went off to, either. On the plus side, I now appreciate my cards much more than I once did. Before, I would get so many of them that I didn't take the time to do anything more than take note of which cards I got, before it was on to the next cards. I didn't even read them most of the time. The biggest, glaring example of that: I opened the entire box of 2002-03 Topps Chrome in the parking lot of a local Dunkin' Donuts while my mom went in to get lunch. It may have even been two boxes, I no longer remember, but back then I used to be able to afford two boxes of each NBA set, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Now I collect the NBA full time, I would collect NASCAR if they were still being published, and I collect the non-sport topics I follow regularly. (By collecting full time/following regularly, terms I use interchangeably, I mean that I add new ones to my collection as often as I can, I keep detailed records of my collection on paper and the computer, I spend time thinking about them when I am not working on them, etc).

Now, to get back to my topic of this post, in 2015 I've spent more time on the other cards that are around than ever before in my life. Going back to January 31st when my friend gave more almost 3000 hockey cards, as well as several hundred football and baseball cards. I actually finally sorted and counted my other sports collections. Before that day, I had a grand total of 28 hockey cards.
I have an actual collection now of all the major sports, and since then I've picked up a few cards for each of them...while I don't foresee me taking on any other sports on a regular basis, I have enjoyed working with the cards I was given.

But it's more than that. I decided that I wanted to contribute something to each of the categories available on the Trading Card Database, so I actively hunted down some cards of the other sports- tennis, golf, MMA, soccer and boxing- some of which I was only able to add the pack itself to the Database, the cards themselves already posted. (Truth be told, I have not actually opened the boxing pack yet) I enjoyed opening something totally new, even if I don't actually watch the sport. I was able to hunt down two horse racing cards as well so I was able to contribute to the Misc. Sports category as well. There are some other sports that have cards that are not present in my collection, for example I learned in the past few weeks that they made cards for curling. (I actually enjoy curling, but I enjoy almost every event of the Olympics, even though I believe it's only an exhibition there)
I have not actually purchased any wrestling cards, but I was able to contribute an advertisement so I have something for wrestling under my stats. I do have 5 wrestling cards in my collection; 1 promo that I have currently misplaced, and 4 1980s cards that I was given.

I never imagined that I would ever purchase some of these cards, and I doubt I will purchase any more soccer or MMA cards in the future as I just can't get into those sports.

I could, actually, see myself collecting some of the other sports....(thinking about maybe getting some Allen & Ginter, but mostly to look for the non-sports inserts included) but it would require one big thing for that to occur...a lottery win. I can barely afford to collect what I do now, what with having to spend at least $500 a month on medicine...each and every month.

I just love cards...pretty much every card. The concept of trading cards as a whole...it's just perfect.

I am truly lucky to be able to have the collection I do. It means so much to me to be able to spend some time with my cards...the happiest memories of my life all mostly revolve around my cards. 

And in case you are wondering, I opened up the boxing pack while I was composing this post, and did a page of scans, so I could include it in the New Horizons image.

What a fool believes

That fool is me. I really feel pretty stupid right now.

Yesterday, I made a post celebrating the 2500th person milestone in my collection, and I promised to create a chart of all the people in my collection. I've spent all day creating that said chart - it's 8:38 in the morning but it's the end of my day- and I found that, once again, I've made a big mistake.

I actually hit the milestone back in MARCH! My count was off. Way off. Mirotic, the person I had credited as #2500, was actually #2512.

I don't know how the heck I made this mistake, as I LET THE COMPUTER DO THE MATH. Yet, I still managed to mess it up. The computer may do the math, but when you are as apparently inept as I am in entering the info, you still get mistakes.

I kind of want to just smack my head on the wall a few times now. But I don't want to dent the wall.

It also really makes me wonder about just how far off my official collection count is. I've known it's been off for some time - there are some things that I am pretty sure I didn't count and should have, some that have probably gotten counted more than once, too. Someday I will find out by doing a massive recount, but not until my entire collection is scanned- not something I predict will happen in this decade. I've been keeping the official count on paper since 1998, and I've known something was off since at least 2000. (I certainly don't rush things, do it?)

The actual Milestone Man was Bob Christian, from 1973-74 Topps. It turns out he's also a One-Hit Wonder, but I'm too frustrated right now to do the research necessary for one of those posts. Not just at myself for making yet another big error, but at my internet connection, which my computer drops at least once every 3 to 4 minutes. In the 12 minutes it's taken me to compose this short post, I've lost my connection 5 times.

You can see the chart of all 2512 people in my NBA collection at the tab conveniently labeled "People in my NBA Collection" at the top of the page.