Basic help on Basketball card collecting...

[xavieronly1]

Just think collecting cards as hobby, not investment, you will feel happier. If you miss out a lot of cards like I do (I skip playing from 2000 to 2009), I just bought a cheap GU/AUTO lots. I get to see a lot of good design and good players.

As far as value goes, you can't guarantee the coach will play that rookie. Some players just couldn't make the cut. John Wall card will start really high (#1 or #2 pick anyway). If he couldn't keep up the expectation, his card drop so bad.

[tarheelsnipe]

Not sure how high end you want to go, but if you like the 07-08 Artifacts, take a look at 07-08 Chronology. It's a high-end product (second only to Exquisite IMO), and the cards have a classic look. Just a beautiful set all the way around. The only negative that I can think of is the fact that there are only 6 or 8 cards per box. Most new collectors feel uneasy about that... but if you're truly going to go for high end breaks, a few packs or cards per box is a reality. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[shaqattak]

If you have about $300/mo to spend than you should be straight. I had about $50/mo to spend when I got back into it a few years ago, but being so new to it I really only bought retail stuff and, looking back on it, blew a lot of money for nothing. But, at the time it was really fun and nostalgic to open these boxes they had at Wal-Mart that had packs from the early to mid nineties in them at the time. To your question I would say do some research on some of the older hobby boxes from 07 to 09 and get a few of those to wet your appetite. I think you can find some of these cheaper now so you don't spend a lot of money on older stuff and if you buy UD you usually have a long shot at pulling a Jordan, but if not you can still get a shot at a quality break. If I were you and was really wanting to concentrate on the newer players in this year's draft I would save up your $300/mo and when the boxes for this draft class come out buy some of the higher end ones, but split your money up and buy singles also. I guess I'm just reiterating the same thing the other's have said, but the key is you have to have fun w/it. If you don't then your waisting your time b/c you'll soon loose interest.

[Boondox_Saint]

What would be the best way to get rid of my old cards?

I only collected as a kid so the majority of my basketball cards are 92-96....

Most of them aren't even worth a whole lot. I pulled out every single card that books but the majority of them aren't even worth over 50 cents. I do however have a few insert cards that are worth a couple of bucks and I do have a Michael Jordan card booking for almost 38 dollars?

[shaqattak]

I was the same way and my older cards were also in bad shape b/c I kept a lot of them in a shoe box. I just threw them away and figured I'd start over. W/the better cards I had that were still in binders I kept. I have what I call an old school binder where I transplanted the best of my old cards into a new binder w/new pages. When I purchased newer cards I started a new school binder and I have a separate binder for just my SHAQ's. If I were you I'd put the older cards that you only really don't want to part with and maybe put them in toploaders like the Jordan you talked about and put them in a whatever size count box you need and unless you really want them I'd just toss old commons.