The latest and greatest from @PaniniAmerica and their basketball line.
Donruss Optic is hot off the presses, and I was surprised to see it on the shelves already when I was out shopping last Friday night. Of course, by the time I finish writing this, there will probably be three new Panini products out on the streets that I don't even know about. Such is life in the crazy sports card world.
I picked up one of those three-packs-and-a-bonus $9.99 rack pack deals, along with one of the same from Panini Prizm (that one was a bit of a dud.)
In the old SAT analogy style, the answer to Optic:Donruss is Chrome:Topps. Of course, Topps Chrome fans are way more likely to go for Panini Prizm than they are for Donruss Optic, but I can't really figure out if that's a supply thing or if the Donruss designs are just less exciting. (They're less exciting for some reason.)
Someone else can have this insert card.
Ditto. Ugh.
Oladipo suffered a gruesome injury and was just replaced with Wesley Matthews, which makes me wish I was a Pacers fan. I am not a Pacers fan, though.
Troy Brown Jr. was just a one-and-done guy at Oregon, but this is still a good reminder that I just completed some extensive work on my Oregon Ducks collection. You can check out my newly updated wants page here.
Here's the bonus pack. These are exclusive "blue velocity" parallels... whatever that means. I could have done a lot better with player selection, but someone might give one or two of these a home?
I almost forgot... here's the announcement! Did you happen to wonder why I included images of players I normally cringe at in this post? Doubtful, but... in any case, I am planning on re-launching the Guilt-Free Basketball Card Club soon, and thought if I showed off some of the more interesting stars in these packs, it might help spark some interest. The goal, of course, is for me to get rid of cards! I am expecting this to function pretty much like how it always worked, but I wanted to make sure to give new opportunities to people who may have been left out, as well as flush out anyone that isn't so into getting/sending cards through the mail anymore. Some of us, understandably, have the High Postage Blues.
As always, I will take anything. I collect the entire sport, and always will. I have not been adding too much lately so my trade stock for Blazers is kind of low, but hopefully that will change in the not too distant future.
ReplyDeleteBased on your scans these seem better this year than in previous years. I have not seen any yet. I still have packs I saved in my stash for last year's Card of the Day project. I guess I should locate and open them now that the project's over.
I appreciate seeing the cards from other sports. I don't mind the inserts too much. Panini basketball is definitely better than Panini baseball.
ReplyDeleteI'm not big on the Chrome/Optic/Prism brands. Every so often I see some I like. I'll stick to the regular Donruss but won't swear off buying a pack. Nice pull of stars though.
ReplyDeleteI wish the Rockets had a more personable guy as their current superstar, but Harden's play style fits their mathematical front office approach. I'll still be a Rockets fan, and hope that they can find a way to win it all each year.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I would be very much interested in any Lebron James cards you want to unload. I would imagine your distaste for the King has grown even more since he is in the Western Conference now. The Lebron card showed on this entry is pretty sweet looking!
ReplyDeleteI prefer Prizm over Optic as I think the colors pop more. As a Pacers fan, I would love to get that Oladipo. The team has kept their heads above water surprisingly since the injury. Basketball inserts are so much better than baseball.
ReplyDeleteHaven't been into basketball in years... but I gotta say...those blue parallels and the blue jerseys make a great combination.
ReplyDeleteI like the Optic brand a lot, but I think I prefer the base holos to the blue craziness. The inserts are really nice, too.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to learn more about this Guilt-Free Basketball Card Club now that I have some traders to offer up. That said, if my meager collection isn't on par with the quality of cards you and others are offering, then I'll stay on the sidelines "guilt free" or not :)
I'm fully in for any cards of the guys I usually collect! If you have any Clint Capela and Mo Bamba cards, I'd be interested in those too. I've got a stack of Blazers and Cardinals that'll be coming back your way soon. Optic is always too pricey for me.
ReplyDelete