Community Hoops

We're in the thick of the NBA playoffs right now, which means we're going to take a slight detour today and show off a little bit of basketball cards. This will probably be the only basketball post I do between now and June's draft, so for those of you who immediately tune out when it comes to the sport with the bumpy Spalding ball, feel free to come back tomorrow?

Jon from Community Gum (come back from hiatus soon, please) sent me a bunch of 2012 Triple Play cards as well as some needs from the 2010-11 Donruss basketball set last month, so I thought I'd show off a few cards from the latter set. The stolen-from-Seattle franchise is certainly missing James Harden right about now. Their decision to deal him to Houston a year before they really needed to address his contract became one of the worst trades in league history, and last year's Western Conference champs are now on the verge of being knocked out by the Spurs. My jaw dropped when I first heard about this trade, and that was before Harden solidified himself as one of the top shooting guards in the game.

Speaking of the Spurs, old man Duncan is playing about as well as he ever has in his 16th (!) year in the league. Wow.

Paul George has emerged as a star of the upstart Indiana Pacers team, who themselves are on the brink of a date with the hated Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Jon also sent me some Blazers for my team collection. Here's Clyde Drexler facing off against Michael Jordan decades ago when the Blazers could actually make an impact on the playoffs. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Several of the cards were actually Spanish versions of their more commonly seen counterparts. I'll have to check the binders to see which versions I have and still need.

This set is almost 10 years old, but I appreciated seeing ex-Blazer greats that aren't Drexler or Bill Walton.

Jon also sent some cards of former Duck Luke Jackson. Jackson was one of the greatest Ducks scorers ever, but all sorts of injuries derailed his NBA hopes at every turn. He's now turned his focus to coaching at the college level.