Newbie starting to collect basketball cards, please help me guys I have some questions

[Racheal]

You guys would be the pros to ask im sure. And ANY info you give me would be auch help. Well here goes...

Okay so, I'm a big football fan. Absolutely love it. Have many great cards know everything there is too know about football cards

Recently my brother has started collecting the cards. And I have absolutely no idea about them. What does an upper deck mean? Is there a lower deck? You can laugh at me do they go together in 2 years not one? Like 98/99 2000/2001 2010/2011 ect?

Which are the good cards? I got my brother some random packs the other day and he got a signature card. I can't remember the player but he was 149/259#. And he got a card in the shape of a guernsey. Is that a good card too? So which would be the rare cards the signature cards? They seem to go for only a few dollars on eBay most of them. Why are they so cheap? Afl football signatures at least start from $40 and up. But these are like $9 buy it now.

What is a good set to begin on? As you can see I'm TOTALLY new to the world of basketball but would love to start collecting and gaining as much knowledge as I have about afl. I can't seem to find a lot of info though. on google and what not.

Are All the basketball cards American yes? How do you watch a game get to know players ect this is Australia lol.

Okay so I've probably made a massive fool of myself. But please any thing I learn will be so much appreciated

 

[GoMoto]

Hi Racheal, to answer your questions
1. Upper deck is the name of a brand of cards, in afl card terms, think select or teamcoach.
2. they go over 2 years because the basketball season goes across 2 years. eg: this years season will cover the 2012 and 2013 year.
3. Basket cards are aimed at a world market and are mass produced. Cetain players autograph 1000s of cards over a season, hence reducing the value of the players signature.
4. A good set to start with in my opinion woukd be hoops. Cheap yet you can can the biggest stars.

Hope it helps.

 

[drob50]

You guys would be the pros to ask im sure. And ANY info you give me would be auch help. Well here goes...

Okay so, I'm a big football fan. Absolutely love it. Have many great cards know everything there is too know about football cards

Recently my brother has started collecting the cards. And I have absolutely no idea about them. What does an upper deck mean? Is there a lower deck? You can laugh at me do they go together in 2 years not one? Like 98/99 2000/2001 2010/2011 ect?

Which are the good cards? I got my brother some random packs the other day and he got a signature card. I can't remember the player but he was 149/259#. And he got a card in the shape of a guernsey. Is that a good card too? So which would be the rare cards the signature cards? They seem to go for only a few dollars on eBay most of them. Why are they so cheap? Afl football signatures at least start from $40 and up. But these are like $9 buy it now.

What is a good set to begin on? As you can see I'm TOTALLY new to the world of basketball but would love to start collecting and gaining as much knowledge as I have about afl. I can't seem to find a lot of info though. on google and what not.

Are All the basketball cards American yes? How do you watch a game get to know players ect this is Australia lol.

Okay so I've probably made a massive fool of myself. But please any thing I learn will be so much appreciated

To be honest?? A Little! hahaha But we all did at one stage when we started!

OK, the basics -

Upper Deck is one of the biggest manufacturers of NBA cards, and now US College cards (NCAA) and they have been since the early 90's.

Currently, the only company with legal rights to produce NBA cards (license) is Panini, who used to be called Donruss. Every NBA card produced during or after the 09/10 Season, are made by Panini.

Other brands, that previously made NBA cards, before Panini got the exclusive are Topps, Bowman, Skybox, Hoops. Upper Deck acquired some of these brands over the years and they became one of their release names

As far as the years, the seasons start in October and finish in March, therefore they are in 2 different years, so the cards are released to reflect that. The cards for this season are 12/13.

Now, the 'good' cards!

That is completely up to you! There are so many releases every year, that auto cards become plentiful and the ones of the less popular players become worth very little! The market in the US is HUGE compared to Aus (AFL/NRL) so there is a demand for lots of different releases, but naturally, people only want the best players or teams.

Generally speaking, anything that is numbered /25 or less is going to retain some sort of value. Is specific, cards with a multicoloured piece of material in them (patches) are highly sought after.

As a general rule, the better the player, the higher the card's value!

And, to be able to watch the NBA from Aus, we have to use NBA League pass which is an online program that allows you to watch anytime.

Hope it helps for a start, but let us know if you want to know anything else!

 

[bruntyblue]

Hey Rach, PM me your address and I will send you an assortment of various NBA cards, Topps, Upper Deck Etc, then you can see difference between AFL/NBA. will even send a Jersey card so you can see what they are like.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Welcome aboard! Most people have answered your questions well. As Adam said, to be able to watch it your best bet is to get NBA League Pass, which costs about $45/month during the season and allows you access to watch any game you want as they provide access to every single game played. You can also see games if you have Foxtel or something else that carries ESPN; however this only carries a couple of select games each week. There used to be games broadcast one "One", but they went away when One decided to stop being a 100% sports channel.

 

[Racheal]

Wow, you guys have been amazing help! Haha now I feel a bit silly for asking. I can't beleive I thought you could get a lower deck you guys are awesome and I appreciate your help so so much!

Oh wow really rob! That would be so cool!!!!!! do you collect afl cards? Or I could at least send you some dollars as I would feel guilty that you would just send them too me for nothing

I can't beleive this place is full of such helpful and nice people willing to go out of there way to help me. And even offer to send cards for nothing wow. It just goes to show there are good people in this world

Thank you

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

This IS the best card forum in the world

 

[wolvesjr34]

Best cards in NBA is very subjective. For me the best card is a card that fulfils a want in what I collect. There are valuable cards, which as explained are of the more popular stars of the game both past and present, players like Michael Jordan, Blake Griffin, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant etcetera would fall into valuable, as well as the top draft picks each year - you will find at least for the first year their autographs are highly sort after as people wait to see if they become the next Jordan or Lebron or Kobe etc.

But personally I would prefer a Kevin Love base card over a Michael jordan autograph in my collection (although a Jordan autograph could fund a lot of Kevin love base cards lol) so to me the better card is the Kevin Love so to speak, but the Jordan would be more valuable.

Hope that helps some.

 

[ozballer23]

Pm sent your way!