which cards to buy?

[mostsmooth]

once upon a time i use to collect some basketball cards. i want to start collecting again.
i seem to remember skybox hoops series 2 and topps stadium club series 2 as containing rookies and were better selections than series 1?
anyway, what brands/series would i be wise to start collecting now?
i will be doing this with a child, so i may be buying boxes at a time and putting sets together, if that matters
also, what are the chances these days that the boxes i buy have already been searched? i guess it would matter where i got them, but say i could score some at like walmart or something, what would the chances be then?
thanks in advance

[chabullsfan]

retail usually have more pack feelers and stuff i think its because you dont have the store owner watching you so they can get away with it but then again its still possible hobby boxes will be to if i had to pick a set to put together for a child id pick topps or bowman draft picks and prospects is a pretty fun break

[GamerJK23]

it all depends on what kind of money your looking to spend, if you dont want to spend a ton, i would stick with your regular base brands such as Topps, UpperDeck, and almost all Fleer products. If your looking to get cards that have some good values on them, or are looking to score some autos and GU (which you can still do with the other bradns, just not as easy) i would go with Donruss and Leaf products, their boxes can be anywhere from $125 and up (not quite sure what their most expensive is, thinkin around 300 though)

Good Luck.

Oh, and about the retail thing, i really wouldnt trust a box that they open for packs, i would buy one of their $19.99 boxes that still have the plastic around the outside taht you know havnt been searched.

-Gamer

[mostsmooth]

Fleer Hoops Hot Prospects
are these cards respectable? will they show any value later?

also, i saw a box of these for $20 last night, there were 8 or 10 packs in a box. online i see a box of these cards for $129. what gives? the online site didnt mention how many packs per box. but maybe the online site refers to boxes as a big box of the 8 or 10 pack boxes?

finally, wow, theres sooo many different cards out there these days. i read the side of the box to find out how many cards in the set and then i see base set 80 cards, special xxxx set 11 cards numbered to 300, white hot parrallel numbered to 15 blah blah blah. very confusing to me, how is a kid supposed to figure it out? how do i figure out which brand is the that will hold/increase its value and which are worthless to pursue?

[deveandepot1]

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