Basic help on Basketball card collecting...

[Boondox_Saint]

First of all, I would like to just say WOW! Its been so long since i've collected cards and opening pack nowadays seems so exciting between the GU/Auto cards and parallels. That also tells you how long its been since i've been collecting. Most of the cards I have are from the late 80's to the 1997 and include mostly baseball and basketball cards.

Anyways, back on track, I've recently here in the past few weeks gotten interested in Basketball cards again. I'm from central KY and watching Patterson, Bledsoe, Wall, Orton and Cousins play for the University of Kentucky was such a joy that even though we didn't make the final four, it still ranked up with our almost 3peat in 96-98. I started thinking about how awesome it would be to collect those guys cards and as soon as I went to the card shop, I felt the bug starting to bite again lol.

What I would like to know is when I could expect for a series of cards with their rookies in it to appear (Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton). I know it won't be until after the draft but maybe you all know a time frame for after the draft for them to come out.

A second question I have is what type of basketball cards do you all suggest to buy? I'd like to buy a brand/series that would have potential to make some money one day. So many of my older cards while being awesome and nostalgic, just aren't worth hardly anything due to oversaturation.

Do I really need to buy the boxes with only 5 cards in it for over a 100 dollars for them to be rare enough to rise in value? I see the Exquisites and Timeless Treasure but really hate paying 100 bucks for 5 cards that I have no guarantee of what I'll get. Especially when the Panini classics are 85 dollars for an 18 pack that has guaranteed gu/auto's in them. Which end of the spectrum do you all feel is the better deal and is it worth it in the long run to just buy a couple of boxes of the ultra premium cards. Do I even have any other options that like meet in the middle between those two?

Also, is Panini the sole makers of NBA cards now?

Thanks for reading and helping. Despite all the talk about money, I don't plan to just try to speculate on cards. I want to concentrate on building up an awesome former UK players collection but don't want to buy cards on the way that will just sit there and not appreciate in value.

[Jprk31]

Welcome back to collecting. Panini is the sole makes of Nba cards right now. UD still makes bbasketball cards but only at the college level since they don't have the rights anymore. Ebay is probably the best place to buy single cards if your not into buying the boxes. I don't know if UD will still be making exquisites but Panini should be coming up with their high end boxes I think (Absolute??). Anyway goodluck with getting the University of Kentucky players you'll be collecting.

[snoozeallday]

here are the basketball releases for this year:
https://www.sportscardforum.com/annou...php?f=58&a=160

check that out, if you click preview it will show you some detail about each one. I just got back into it recently also, and that helped me choose.

From what I understand, no one REALLY likes panini, but we are all desperately trying to considering its going to be one of our only options.

I pre-ordered a box of panini crown royal already, and plan on getting timeless treasures closer to its release date.

Also check out blowoutcards.com for box prices and pre-orders. Just a general sense of whats going on. Their website is built pretty nicely, at least for my eyes.

[KD35durant]

welcome back to collecting! i'm pretty new myself (only been in for a couple months)

as far as i know the first set with this year's draft class will be UD Draft Edition, although from looking at box breaks of this set, its very unimpressive. and especially with upper deck going downhill fast, i dont plan on getting any of there more recent stuff. i don't think panini has planned to release anything yet with next years rookies, but i may be wrong.

panini is the only company licensed to make nba cards in nba uniforms, as said above. and they have made some sort of mid-end stuff. if classics is too many packs for you, you might wanna check out Panini Certified. for about 80 bucks you'll get 10 packs with 5 cards per pack i believe. absolute memorabilia is a bit more expensive but if you pre-order a box of absolute ull get 4 packs w/ 4 cards per pack for 130 bucks. it sounds like that may not be what ur interested in, but certified might be what your looking for.

i hope that u find what your looking for and enjoy collecting! good luck!

[Velvet Hoop]

If you want stuff that will rise in value or at least hold, you're going to need to stick to star players (exception being a few fan favorites). Pretty much everything goes down after the hype. The superstars slowly rise in value over the years or at least maintain.

If you buy a bunch of rookie stuff in their rookie year, you will almost certainly lose money unless one of the guys takes off or you sell at a point where the guy is generating some buzz.

[Boondox_Saint]

I wanted to thank everyone for their help and want to extend an invitation to anyone to give their opinion and advice on my situation.

I'm on a budget of at most 300 dollars a month on basketball cards so I can afford a few boxes of High end stuff a month, I just wanted to know if the lower end stuff like classics and studio's(although, they seem high end to me) would still be a sound investment? Just because they're cheaper, does that mean that they will have the mass production problem that haunted the early 90's baseball cards?

[Velvet Hoop]

Unless you're buying just for the fun of opening boxes, I would either stick to buying singles or save up and buy a case of something high-end when it first comes out. Those two options probably give you the best chance at protecting your investment.

[Manute Bol]

I started again about 6 months ago.

I stuck to Topps Chrome because it retains it's value.

If I were you, I would save $400 and buy a Tyreke Evans Gold Refractor on Ebay.
(there aren't many left).

Then, I would buy a $300 Kevin Durant Auto Rookie on Ebay.
(on card auto, when they sign their auto's on stickers, those blow and on card is worth more)

After that, I would save up and buy Lebron James Chrome rookies. You can still buy them pretty affordable $75 (around) and they will retain.

and here is my BEST piece of ADVICE.

For 2011 NBA Season Rookie Class (which is your chance at good investments) buy their big cards from Panini on Ebay right when they go up.

Here is what I mean - when 2009/10 Topps Basketball was released (last year of topps). You could buy a Tyreke Evans Gold Refractor Rookie (hot darn card) for as low as $30 bucks. Once the season started, he got HOT and by All Star Break it's a $300 card. You could by Brandon Jennings for absolutely nothing until he scored 55 points a few games into the season ( I bought a mint gold refractor 2 weeks after the game for $379 on ebay). With all that said, I also went to the card shop and offered the owner $70 for his Tyreke #125 Rookie Auto Patch (which at the time didn't book). Now it is a $200 card.

Anyway, I have been collecting 6 months, spent about 4k and have a pretty sick collection. You can get 4x that value at $300 a month, just listen to good advice, most of these guys write a thread about a pack they get from Wal Mart, which is fine and glad they are a part of the community, but it's not that advice you need.

$300 a month you can be balling.

Get yourself an ebay account to sell your junk, I mean extras.

Good Luck.

[Manute Bol]

and btw, the days of opening a box for $100 and getting a $500 card are close to over.
Panini is absolute junk and you can't get many more 2009/10 Topps Jumbo boxes on ebay anymore.

[Boondox_Saint]

I started again about 6 months ago.

I stuck to Topps Chrome because it retains it's value.

If I were you, I would save $400 and buy a Tyreke Evans Gold Refractor on Ebay.
(there aren't many left).

Then, I would buy a $300 Kevin Durant Auto Rookie on Ebay.
(on card auto, when they sign their auto's on stickers, those blow and on card is worth more)

After that, I would save up and buy Lebron James Chrome rookies. You can still buy them pretty affordable $75 (around) and they will retain.

and here is my BEST piece of ADVICE.

For 2011 NBA Season Rookie Class (which is your chance at good investments) buy their big cards from Panini on Ebay right when they go up.

Here is what I mean - when 2009/10 Topps Basketball was released (last year of topps). You could buy a Tyreke Evans Gold Refractor Rookie (hot darn card) for as low as $30 bucks. Once the season started, he got HOT and by All Star Break it's a $300 card. You could by Brandon Jennings for absolutely nothing until he scored 55 points a few games into the season ( I bought a mint gold refractor 2 weeks after the game for $379 on ebay). With all that said, I also went to the card shop and offered the owner $70 for his Tyreke #125 Rookie Auto Patch (which at the time didn't book). Now it is a $200 card.

Anyway, I have been collecting 6 months, spent about 4k and have a pretty sick collection. You can get 4x that value at $300 a month, just listen to good advice, most of these guys write a thread about a pack they get from Wal Mart, which is fine and glad they are a part of the community, but it's not that advice you need.

$300 a month you can be balling.

Get yourself an ebay account to sell your junk, I mean extras.

Good Luck.

Thank you Manute. That was some much needed insight. Do you really think the Evans and Durants will go up by a whole lot more? No offense to anyone thats big fans of them but I really couldn't give two ™™™™s about either of them, atleast at the moment, as far as playing basketball goes. Just my opinion as the only stuff I really know about them is their basketball cards are skyrocketing lol.

I've been looking at cards and while I know that these may not be worth a lot, the 07-08 Artifacts have caught my eye. I'd like to buy a couple of boxes a month of those, maybe get something good from Jordan or an older school player and while doing that, saving up money for the 2011 class which is where my passion will be.

The only problem I could see coming from them would be how much I love them as players. When one of their values went up by a whole lot, it would be hard for me to sell (which in the long run would only make me sell it for more)