As of early 2022, your favorite brands in basketball card history
 

As the title suggests, I'm curious about Blowouts' favorites looking back from the present.

By "brand", I mean something that appears in a product name - what you'd be looking for if you were looking to buy wax - and I mean to be distinct from "company". So Hoops is Hoops regardless of what company currently owns the rights. Fleer means a product that has the "Fleer" name explicitly featured on the card front, not simply one that mentions on the back that the company Fleer manufactured it.

You can answer how you'd like, but if you have a clear Top X, then I think ranked lists with explanations for why you like what you do would be cool.

This is intended to be entirely subjective. Factor in stuff like investment value however you want, but you can like something for whatever reason you want, and there's really no way to "do it wrong". On the contrary, I'd love to see people geek out being as quirky as they want to be.

Last note, I'm emphasizing the current point in time because it's something that changes with time, and in the next few years we're likely going to see a seismic shift with the arrival of the Fanatics takeover, so I thought capturing thoughts at the moment would be worth looking back on later.

2003 to 2009 EXQUISITE Basketball

Topps Chrome, Topps Finest, Bowman’s Best. Give me those refractors all day.

The original Upper Deck issue

Clean and crisp

Early 90s nostalgia

Good teen memories


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Topps Chrome and SP Authentic

National Treasures 2010-2017. Luka year the prices just got silly. Now it's outrageous.

Fleer Metal 95-98 not just the years with PMGs, Flair any year.

SP back in the early to mid 90’s was one of my favorite brands as well. With 95-96 SP being the best imo.

bought mostly fleer products pre panini
ultra
flair
metal
z-force

I think the 1962 Fleer is pretty good.

2018 optic holo


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Hoops, Stadium Club and SP Authentic from the late 90's

And then there is the undisputed champion....

Donruss Optic, Fleer Tradition, Panini Classics, Topps Chrome, SP Authentic. Those ones off the top of my head.


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[QUOTE=Lone Wulf;17901695]Topps Chrome, Topps Finest, Bowman’s Best. Give me those refractors all day.[/QUOTE]


The bowman’s best refractors, even the non atomic version, are so F’ing nice. I have a Joe Dumars refractor in teal pistons jersey from I believe 98-99 Best, one of my favorite PC Cards.


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Question: does brand mean like Metal Universe in general? or a specific set...

[QUOTE=Nomad;17902186]Question: does brand mean like Metal Universe in general? or a specific set...[/QUOTE]

I meant in general.

[QUOTE=PKIPP;17902183]The bowman’s best refractors, even the non atomic version, are so F’ing nice. I have a Joe Dumars refractor in teal pistons jersey from I believe 98-99 Best, one of my favorite PC Cards.


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The 2020-21 courtside remind me of the 98-99 bowmans with the wavey design

[url]https://www.ebay.com/itm/154714155513?hash=item2405aea9f9:g:Ev4AAOSwg9Zhm-Zk[/url]

[url]https://www.ebay.com/itm/224775513363?hash=item3455aa2513:g:enUAAOSwLCFh1Tl9[/url]

Anyway.. there’s a bunch I like, but top 3 gotta be fleer ultra, flair showcase and select for the courtside set

90s Fleer Ultra was great for chasing inserts and classicly designed base sets.

90s Flair was also stunning and one of my faves. It was high end back then.

Exquisite is hard to beat. Man I loved searching Exquisite every day. If only I never sold up (unfortunately I had to).

Fleer
Legacy
Metal/Metal Universe
Mystique
Showcase
Skybox Premium
Skybox E-X
Skybox Z Force


Topps
Chrome
Style 52
Pristine
Finest
Stadium Club Chrome


Generations
SP Authentic
SPx
SP Game Used
Chronology
Ultimate Collection
Exquisite Collection

Donruss
Optic
Intrigue
Gala
Court Kings
Crusade
Select
Impeccable
Flawless

Brands of 20-21?

Hoops (no premium stock to water it down, SLAM Ja Green Explosion
Origins (contemplative, snuck in only booklet patch of 2021 that I have seen)
Noir (sneaky set)
Absolute (fun trash)
Contenders (best on card autographs by far)

long hiatus....

Optic Contenders - Almost too sick to look at
Recon - short-printed base parallels/"Rookie" insert
Flux - Best inserts and overall experience ripping, as every lower mid-priced box will have a cool insert, parallel, and encased Titan. Hitting a specific player over a case (beyond 1-3 common base/inserts) is impossible. Hopefully they don't overprint to death. Maybe the fact that 21-22 product is arriving means they won't.

My favorite is the 72 Comspec set

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/ZIXyyTH.jpeg[/IMG]

Extremely rare and obscure 36 card set. I believe between BGS and PSA the TOTAL pop is less than 500 cards. Nobody really knows anything about this set other than it was distributed somewhere in California.

If anyone has any of these that I don't have please send me a PM, we can work out a deal.

E-X any years, Skybox Thunder (98-99), Skybox Metal any year, SPX (96-98), Topps Finest any year.

UD Exquisite has to be up there but I have not owned a single card in this.

I have been more partial to the Upper Deck, 90’s Fleer and Skybox sets. Really have not had any complaints on the Panini products outside of reuse of photos.


With 90’s Topps I have some nice Jordan non refractor inserts. I really like the design and shinny foils.


When fanatics take over we can look forward to Topps flagship, Topps Chrome, Finest, Stadium Club, Bowman Best.

Hope to see some nice mid to high level products.
Topps always does the retro (Ginger/Heritage/T206) products well but I don’t think this translates as well to basketball.

Your opinions?

90s SP Authentic
90s SPx
Topps Chrome
Topps Gallery
Upper Deck Base


I used to be a huge Topps Finest fan, but the designs kind of lost me after time.

[QUOTE=GOATMJ;17901654]2003 to 2009 EXQUISITE Basketball[/QUOTE]

Nailed it on the first response. ^^^