Best to invest in:

Check out these articles for some investing ideas on basketball cards:

Best Forwards to invest in for August 2008

Best Guards to invest in for August 2008

Trades Galore

This year’s trades have been exciting.  Three big trades in one year.  Jason Kidd is back in his rookie uniform and Shaq is in a stylish Suns uniform. 

 The NBA west is stronger than ever.  The top six teams in the standings all have a chance to be the number one seeded team.   I am most surprised by the New Orleans Hornets who are tied for first in the west right now.  That really speaks for the talent of Chris Paul. 

 Interestingly, the Kidd trade is not finalized yet and has hit a snag due to protests from DEVEAN GEORGE, that’s right the same one who rode on the coattails of  Shaq and Kobe to a championship and contributed little else.  Okay, I understand when superstars like Vince Carter gets a little bit demanding.  I don’t like it, but fine.  But when DEVEAN GEORGE starts to complain and hold up important trades.  That’s just ridiculous. (Notice how none of his highlights showed him in a Dallas uniform.)

The NBA. . . where crappy role players who think too much of themselves happens. 

Gasol to Lakers

 The grizzly Grizzly is now a Showtime.  The Lakers are poised for a championship run come April when everyone including young phenom Andrew Bynum.

Gasol is an underrated center to some, and overrated to some.  Gasol was an integral part of the champion Spain national team.  He is a better passer than most would think.  I think he is probably the rich man’s Vlade Divac.

 I am beyond excited with the possibility of a Lakers v. Celtics finals this year!

 For some reason, Gasol reminds me of Mark Eaton:

Lost of Respect

I used to think Lebron James was something great.  Why used to?

Youtube has the answer

 Just because you are a NBA all-star, million/billionaire possible hall of famer, the greatest thing since Magic/Jordan/whatever, does not, DOES NOT, mean you can express your displeasure in whatever way you feel like.  Kick over a trashcan and walk off so some poor janitor will have to clean up your mess.  Way to be a role model.  I have lost all respect for this delusional “King” and will no longer collect his cards.

Is there any class left in the NBA?  Did it ever exist? 

Trading

I finally started trading with others online.  I like sports card forum the best so I’ve mainly been on that site only.  It’s nice to be able to trade cards with fellow card collectors especially when none of my friends collect. Whee!

Where Shaq happens

I log into yahoo sports one day and this is the first picture I see:

 

The mighty Shaq is out with a hip injury right now.  The last dominate season he had was 2005 and a distant memory.  This picture pretty much sums up his career as of right now.  It’s hard to imagine that the once unstoppable freight train has made his last stop.  Here’s to Shaq’s good health. 

 P.S. It’s still amazing to see him go coast to coast in his younger days.  Wow!

Excitement

I’m absolutely excited.  I finally found a hobby shop close to my home.  Well, it’s about 15-20 minutes away compared to the 2 minute drive to Target, but 15-20 minutes is well worth it!

 I went today after work to check it out.  Card Pavillion is a small card shop and the selection was not huge.   In fact, it did not carry any 06-07 Bowman that I need to complete my set.  The owner was friendly though and answered my questions and humored me with some hobby talk.  A hobby shop finally, no complaints here!

 I finally stocked up on some important items like penny sleeves, top loaders, and a couple of cardboard boxes.  Mojo! =)

Historical Cuts

Upper Deck has came out with Dual Mystery Exchange Cuts inserted randomly into one of three Upper Deck products: 2007 Ultimate Collection, 2007 UD Black and 2007 Exquisite Rookie Signature awhile ago.  These mystery exchange cuts include dual signatures from famous personalities in history.  Take a look at the check list.  Here are some photos of the cards.  Even though the cards are kind of ugly and I don’t care for the , the concept of owning an Einstein/Edison dual is blows my mind! My second favorite would have to be Churchill/FDR.  It’s a really shame that they only release this for baseball and not basketball. 

07-08 Topps Stadium Club

Stadium Club is back this year.  It looks exactly, well almost exactly, like last year’s Topps FullCourt product which I enjoyed.  I decided to try one pack while at Target today picking up some medicine for my wife.  I didn’t expect much as the Target packs looked like they were well searched.  Here’s what I got:

I got bases of Jermaine O’Neal, Mo Williams, Jason Kidd, Danny Granger, and Kenny Smith.

I love how they include retired players in the base set.  While I don’t care much for Mo Williams, I do like Kenny Smith . . . maybe not.  

I really like the photography in this product.  I do want to get a rookie from this, so maybe I’ll try a couple more packs soon.   

Bargnani

Andrea Bargnani certainly had a lot to smile about last year.  Number 1 pick in the draft, a relatively strong rookie campaign with nice averages, some strong games throughout the season that showed his potential.  This year?

Not so much.  

Check out these stats:

Year		G	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%			RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO		PPG
06-07		65	2	25.1	0.427	0.373	0.824			3.9	0.8	0.5	0.8	1.65		11.6
07-08		34	21	22.7	0.385	0.383	0.790			3.4	1.0	0.2	0.5	1.38		9.1

Way to NOT make any progress my friend.

In my fantasy league, Bargnani fell into my lap during the auto-draft.  I was pretty stoked to land him.  He was going to be the one shining star playing 3 positions in my otherwise bleak draft.  Lo and behold, last night 0 for 5 in FG, 5 rebounds, 2 assists.  JUST BEAUTIFUL!

I know it’s only your second year, but I cannot stand dead weight on my Fanball league, so I must say arrivederci Andrea!