Are you happy with basketball selection?

[Falcon]

I'm curious, how do people see the current selection and if they dont like it how should it be improved? What advice would you give to Panini?

Starting with me, all products Panini has for basketball in the 60-130 price range are bad with exception of Select basketball. Most people here seem to be largely purchasing select. For me , I liked the parallels and on card autos and the fact that it has 12 packs. I like boxes with at least 10 packs. However, besides select there is nothing I like. The national treasures and other products are too pricey , I won't get them because I dint see what value I'm getting. It's not justifiable for me.

This is why I prefer products with 80-130 range that have more than 12 packs. Panini needs to make something like the UD authentic basketball and topps triple threads. When I was a child I only purchased retail. But I remember that topps had some neat products that were fun and also upper deck. I wish Panini gets better designs in their products and better value.

It would be nice if topps and upper deck can also produce basketball. Right now I'm not satisfied with selection and considering UD football as my next purchase.

What about you?

[smalltown]

I actually think panini has done a good job tweaking their lineup this year. Haven't liked it all. But really enjoyed hoops, prestige, prism and now select. Donruss and court Kings were ok, but I didn't enjoy them as much. I never have gotten into gold standard and paramount was a hot mess. But overall I think they've upped their game this year.

[Kosmo Kards]

Panini would probably make a lot of people happy if they would start using game action photos on their cards. That seems to be a main complaint on them. Plus I know it won't happen but I would like to see some Jordan and LeBron AUTO's in NBA uniform. It sucks that UD doesn't have a NBA license and Panini can't have MJ or LeBron AUTO's at all. It hurts the hobby overall, at least a little bit.

[Kosmo Kards]

I actually think panini has done a good job tweaking their lineup this year. Haven't liked it all. But really enjoyed hoops, prestige, prism and now select. Donruss and court Kings were ok, but I didn't enjoy them as much. I never have gotten into gold standard and paramount was a hot mess. But overall I think they've upped their game this year.

They have gotten better. I have to admit. It appears that they are at least trying.

[ReggieEvansPC]

I actually think panini has done a good job tweaking their lineup this year. Haven't liked it all. But really enjoyed hoops, prestige, prism and now select. Donruss and court Kings were ok, but I didn't enjoy them as much. I never have gotten into gold standard and paramount was a hot mess. But overall I think they've upped their game this year.

Really? I thought the Penmanship set was one of the nicest sets this year. Different strokes I guess.

[SHowley2003]

Really? I thought the Penmanship set was one of the nicest sets this year. Different strokes I guess.

I agree. Paramount had some of the nicest patch and auto sets released to date in the 14-15 season, plus legit buy back autos. However in terms of value it is a hot mess. Way too pricey with minimal value.

Overall I like the releases this year but other than some Prizm to chase the base set and a box or two of Court Kings there has been nothing to make me start busting wax like I was in 2012-13. I wish they would do a release with all action shots on quality card stock, a 200 card base set, high quality inserts and very few parallels (/25, /10, 1/1) and one relic and one auto per box. Autos are on-card relics are jumbo with Prime versions SP. I would want 12-20 packs per box and a price of 140-160 per box.

[Bigalloyd13]

My advice would be go back to redemptions. I thought the rewards system was to get rid of redemptions, but they are still putting them in there .offer the rewards cards only for replacements if they cant offer a comparable card (also randomly insert them into packs as extra hits maybe). Put some pressure on the athletes to get those redemptions done or pay a penalty of some sort (breach of contract). That's my advice to Panini.

[IronMonkey415]

Yea we don't have the Odell Buckham problem like Football. Panini delivers what they say when it comes to their basketball product.

[gatorboymike]

When Topps and Upper Deck were producing NBA cards, I would say I liked about 60% of the products they released. By comparison, I like about 20% of Panini's products.

[hermanotarjeta]

Frankly, i've stopped collecting basketball. I'll gamble with some panini high end now and then, but I really don't have the desire to keep anything.

[sportscardmania]

The only nice looking cards for 2014-15 Basketball are the Select Rookie Patch Autos so that is what I bought. I have the Wiggins, Parker, Embiid, and Lavine. And Gold Standard Jersey Auto of Julius Randle. My 2014-15 Basketball purchasing is done.

[Beavers98]

Panini does make some nice cards, some I think are very good, but I don't buy on release like I did with Topps and even Upper Deck...LIke the OP I like some of the high end stuff, but can't justify the price....I've been waiting and busted a ton of $100+ product on release for $30-40 a box now. My Most recent box break by year, 13-14 Crusade, paid 29.95 on Black Friday......Back when Topps and UD had a license, there would be no way I wouldn't have busted a box of the current year, No way no how, and here I sit, not even a pack from 14-15...


.....

[XARZY]

Just wanted to pop in and say no, I'm not happy

[tmar214]

@sportscardmania I'm surprised you don't like the rookie autos. Good design, on card auto, not much going on. Agree in general though.

I really like the idea of select. 12 packs, 5 cards per pack, 3 hits along with a few more numbered cards per box. I'd really like to see something similar to select but with 6 hits per box, a slightly higher floor for the quality of the hits and a price point in the 150-225 range.

it sucks that nowadays once you get over the 100-150 a box range it's all 1 pack "boxes" where the excitement of opening packs isn't really there.

[UltimateDeron]

Yea we don't have the Odell Buckham problem like Football. Panini delivers what they say when it comes to their basketball product.

Hopefully this isn't something new they are starting to do. I know that I will wait until I see a Wiggins RPA pulled from Immaculate before I bust any of my cases.

[drobfan8]

I think Panini do a great job of providing a range of different sets, the problem is most of it seems like junk.
I have not busted one box from Panini and have now started an 80s set chase.

I don't like the pumping out of parallels and they're a'll The same colours across sets, yawn.

I like Immac but they seem to hardly tweak the design year to year.

The monopoly is bad.

[Falcon]

Agree with most responses, there's no fun for me in opening one pack of cards. The design of prestige, select, national treasures and flawless are nice but 3 of them don't justify price point. The patches in select are pretty small , at least the on card autos are decent. I hope Panini adds new releases, get rid of court kings and threads and add 24 pack boxes with 3-4 hits. With good designs.

I really dint know what my next basketball choice willbe, maybe select again. If I have better luck I'll try it again. Other than that there's nothing that I want, besides maybe spectra but it's one pack and over $300.

It should be 7 packs and 5 hits for around 200$. So get topps/UD football while you can. Since Panini is going exclusive for NFL too. I'm going to try to get notable lettermans from the UD football.

[bjho852]

Yes and no.
Am I content with what I have now? Yes.
But do I want to add more if chances come? Definitely.

[sportscardmania]

@sportscardmania I'm surprised you don't like the rookie autos. Good design, on card auto, not much going on. Agree in general though.

I really like the idea of select. 12 packs, 5 cards per pack, 3 hits along with a few more numbered cards per box. I'd really like to see something similar to select but with 6 hits per box, a slightly higher floor for the quality of the hits and a price point in the 150-225 range.

it sucks that nowadays once you get over the 100-150 a box range it's all 1 pack "boxes" where the excitement of opening packs isn't really there.

I agree, the Select Rookie Autos do look nice, should have mentioned those.

[ThoseBackPages]

Yes. i like Prizm, so i am happy

[xavieronly1]

For most people, the "selection" is great as long as there is just one good product. For all other 29+ products, no one even mentioned in this thread.

[AbraCalabro]

I liked the one year of Prizm, I think it was the second year and a few others here and there with my absolute favorite being the Throwback Threads cards from...I want to say, 12/13...

http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/attachments/basketball/274701d1427601451-official-poverty-mail-day-thread-002.jpg

This set is one of the greatest ever, everything is ON POINT.

...but for the overwhelming majority of Panono stuff, it's poop. That's what happens when only ONE company has the license to print NBA stuff.

[IronMonkey415]

Yea they deliver what they say on the sell sheet, when it comes to basketball product. With football they usually wait for the 2nd or 3rd wave to release the better cards.

[JasonM32]

No. I'm pretty much done buying new basketball.

My advice for Panini would be to do less. Less sets and much fewer parallels.

Also, while I understand how hard it is, the high end stuff is all starting to look the same.

[TBarn291]

Personally I am 100% satisfied as a singles buyer. I don't typically buy wax so I can't really speak on value compared to price when opening boxes. I have been impressed with the quality and variety of this years releases. I wasn't happy to see such a drastic change with Preferred but I still think it looks really good. I never really liked Upper Deck, a lot of their releases were similar, and to me... boring. I have boxes upon boxes full of worthless U.D. junk. I wouldn't mind seeing Topps come back to some extent. I find it humorous that so many people think that just because they don't like a product it should be scrapped..... like cards should only be created if it suits their exact tastes. I absolutely loved Court Kings and Gold Standard this year, and prices were much higher than typical for my PC stuff in Gold Standard this year. I would think it's safe to say that most products released this season have done fairly well.

[Kosmo Kards]

Personally I am 100% satisfied as a singles buyer. I don't typically buy wax so I can't really speak on value compared to price when opening boxes. I have been impressed with the quality and variety of this years releases. I wasn't happy to see such a drastic change with Preferred but I still think it looks really good. I never really liked Upper Deck, a lot of their releases were similar, and to me... boring. I have boxes upon boxes full of worthless U.D. junk. I wouldn't mind seeing Topps come back to some extent. I find it humorous that so many people think that just because they don't like a product it should be scrapped..... like cards should only be created if it suits their exact tastes. I absolutely loved Court Kings and Gold Standard this year, and prices were much higher than typical for my PC stuff in Gold Standard this year. I would think it's safe to say that most products released this season have done fairly well.

Yeah I stay away from wax as well. I also like your point in bold. Remember 2003 SP Authentic? Getting 22 packs of nothing but base cards?