Category Archives: Basketball Reviews

Review: 2012-13 Panini Limited Basketball

  By Sports Card Blog | January 16, 2013 - 4:31 pm | ,
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The Limited product from Panini continues on this year, including some of the same types of hits and rare memorabilia cards that you come to expect from this long-time Panini/Donruss product. With at least 3 hits per one pack box, you will be able to find some autographs and memorabilia from some of the top young players, superstars, and retired legends of the game. With the double rookie class, you’ll be able to find top autographs from some of your favorite rookies and sophomores. Let’s see what we were able to pull in our box.

Design:4 stars blue

The design of the product is actually pretty nice overall. The one thing I absolutely love is the base cards. Similar to last year’s product, the foil background behind the player is tinted in their team’s team colors. That little addition just really makes the card come together. It looks especially nice on the Rondo base, which I don’t take a picture of for some reason. Although small, I love the change of the logo of the product to an Old English style “L”. It looks like something that would fit in very well with basketball culture. The inserts are nothing really eye catching or new to Panini products in terms of design. They aren’t terrible, it’s just something you’re used to as a Panini collector. I think a new style insert could really transform the product.

Checklist:4 stars blue

Now the double rookie class is something that I find to be sort of a detriment towards sets this year. It seems like every rookie has an autographed card and that puts a damper on finding veteran autographs in a product like this. While Kendall Marshall was a top 15 pick, and as was my redemption of Kawhi Leonard, this product contains a lot of rookie cards. Luckily, my memorabilia card was of Celtics GM Danny Ainge from his playing days. It was cool for me to pull Ainge as he used to babysit a good friend of mine. But other than that, I’d still like to see more veteran content in this product. However, you can’t complain about two top 15 first rounders.

Value:4 stars blue

The value of the product is difficult to discern as Limited has always been a hit or miss product. Even more so in the double rookie class as you have more chances to pull rookies (or sophomores) in the league. You can find the product currently for $87 a box over at DA Card World, which is actually a decent deal compared to past years. With the amount of rookie cards from the past couple of years Panini has been putting out this year, at that price it’s probably worth a shot at a Kyrie or another big name rookie.

Overall:4 stars blue

Overall, this is a solid product from Panini, but nothing earth shattering. I still think Panini needs a big makeover on the Limited line, but this product can still hold its own in the basketball realm. The design is nice with the team colors incorporated into the foil, but I’d like to see more out of the inserts. The checklist, while okay with the double rookie class, feels a lot like one of those rookie only products. I’d like to see a guaranteed veteran autograph in a product like this as I’m not a big rookie collector. But the value, with the lower price, is a better than past years and it’s worth a shot if you want to try and pull a big name right now.

Thanks again goes out to Panini America for providing this product for review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

You can find the full checklist of this product over at Cardboard Connection.

And check out the images below for our hits, or subscribe to us on YouTube to sell the box breaking video.

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Review: 2012-13 Panini Totally Certified Basketball

  By Sports Card Blog | December 16, 2012 - 10:12 am | ,
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Totally Certified? Yes, it has returned again with the bright colors and all the hits you could ask for in one box. The parallels have returned as well, featuring some of the most collectible non-auto/memorabilia cards in the business today. Basketball collectors are unlike a lot of other collectors in that they go ga-ga for low numbered parallels. Panini fills every void with this product at multiple hits per box and multiple parallels. Let’s see what we got:

Design:4 stars blue

Not a ton has changed since the last installment of this product, but the design is still a solid one. The starburst style of design returns, but it feels like it is more…shiny than the last time this product came out. I really liked the more of a matte feel on the last ones as foilboard isn’t the answer to everything. I do really like the slight changes in the parallels as well. Very sharp looking and easy to distinguish. I just think there are enough foilboard products out there that this could use a change of direction. The colors are still bold and bright however which looks nice with the player featured. The design on the rookie autographs I can’t quite put my finger on them, it looks like it’s meant for a sticker autograph but they were on-card…kinda strange. But all together, a solid design.

Checklist:4 stars blue

The checklist is similar to the last go around as well, but this time I’m guessing there are just going to be more rookie signatures because of the double rookie class. It’s something I’m not a fan of, but probably will have to get used to for the rest of the season. In order to fit all of them in, you have to take out something. Oh well. The rest of the product is again filled with veterans and legends alike, like the sweet Lakers patch we pulled. You’ll have to check the video for that.

Value:4 stars blue

Value is again a little rough, but what makes up for it the possibility for some high valued parallels and some great rookie autographs. This is a tough product to judge because while it does have some plain jerseys in it, the autographs and parallels make it hit or miss as well. While we didn’t hit any low parallels, we did hit a low rookie parallel autograph, numbered to 15. The patch was nice as well from a Lakers old timer. It’s just trying to fill out everything else that makes this product difficult to judge when you purchase it for $120 at DA Card World.

Overall:4 stars blue

Overall, the dynamics of the product really hasn’t changed much since the last time it came out, and that is a bit disappointing. I do slightly miss the rookie/jersey autographs that all the rookies were featured as and I still wish the hit content was a bit better. The parallels though continue to shine, and that was a pleasant surprise last time around. I’m glad to see that trend continue in products like this that needed that extra bit of value.

Thanks to Panini America for providing this box to review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can find the full checklist of this product over at the Cardboard Connection.

Check out the video to see our sweet hits.

Review: 2012-13 Panini Prizm Basketball

  By Sports Card Blog | December 13, 2012 - 9:19 am | ,
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2012-13 Panini Prizm is the newest product from the Panini basketball team that features a “chrome” like appearance with the shine and etching that makes a product exciting to go through. Prizm is the perfect name for the product and it looks to be a great new addition. Each box contains 2 autographs and contains some of the new Prizm parallels, or Prizmatics as I call them. Want to see what you can pull in a box? Well look no further.

Design: 4 and half stars blue

The design on this product is a design style that will last a long time for this product. The look of the etchings throughout the cards is something you normally only see in another specific product that is a bit similar. The same with the coating, although I much prefer this coating than that of the competitors. It doesn’t smell, it doesn’t warp the cards to bending (at least not yet) and it has a much smoother, almost glass like feel to them. The design is practically flawless. My only issue is that it is possibly TOO shiny or reflective. It’s really a spectacular level of reflectiveness on the product. But the “Prizms” as they call it, “Prizmatics” for myself, are beautiful all the way from the regulars to the golds. Bravo.

Checklist:4 and half stars blue

The checklist sort of surprised me. 300 total cards. With Panini coming out with their “staple” brand later this year, the one where you want to build the sets and everything, was this really necessary? I think this SHOULD be the flagship brand as it is that good and the set up is that good as well. A product featured with rookies, stars, and legends of the game. A little bit of everything for everyone. The autographed rookie checklist was interesting, and I would like to see more veteran autographs but the double rookie class probably put a damper on that. Either way, it’s what you want and what you’d expect.

Value:4 stars blue

The value is definitely there in this product. Could it be better? Absolutely. Right now you can find the product for $100 at DA Card World. Some of the highlights include some of the top rookie autographs, superstar autographs, and the “Prizmatic” cards. The parallels are selling quite well on the secondary market, especially the gold prizms. That raises a question though, why not more colors? Let’s use ROY G. BIV here and get all sorts of colors of parallels. Putting together a rainbow is always fun, but the lower numbered cards always add a bit of value. Imagine a gold prizm auto of Kyrie Irving…sweet right? Parallel the autographed cards more than just the regular parallel to 25. I would love to see some additions to the product that include some more color! It would break up that bit of monotony with just a lot of really silvery and shiny cards.

Overall:4 and half stars blue

Overall, Panini Prizm is going to be the breakout hit and maybe the basketball product of the year from the company. The design is beautifully done, and many argue better than that of it’s competitors. The checklist is expansive and good enough to build sets and the perfect number of inserts for a product this size. The parallels are a great addition to value, but I’d like to see a bit more in the veteran side, but the rookie class makes that difficult with “double rookies” from Panini. Either way though, I REALLY look forward to seeing this product next year.

Thanks to Panini for providing this product for review. You can find them online at their official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Give them a shout.

You can find the full checklist over at Cardboard Connection.

Below is the video from the product break. Let me know what you think of the product. And make sure you subscribed on YouTube, I need more subscribers over there!

Review: 2012-13 Panini Threads Basketball

  By Sports Card Blog | November 27, 2012 - 5:58 pm | ,
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2012-13 Panini Threads basketball is back after a year off and it looks like that year has paid off with a solid product all around this year. This year features the double rookie class with a ton of rookies autographs, as well a nice selection of inserts and game used cards. You should get about 3 autographs and 1 memorabilia card per box, let’s see what we pulled.

Design:

The design for threads this year is pretty solid. It actually has kind of a SP Authentic feel to them, with a Panini twist with the foil letters. Personally, the one thing I don’t like about the design is the foil lettering. I think it takes away from the rest of the card. Maybe it’s the color chosen? I don’t think it works with the rest of the card. As far as the inserts go, the Photoshop work on the photos and the design on the inserts are great. It adds a nice feel to the imagery, something you don’t see a lot of in cards. It’s not new, just under utilized. The die-cut jersey cards are cool, and I know there are autographed parallels of those, but I would just stick with the plain jersey style cards. The hit or miss addition is the wood stock autographed cards. Signed on card, they look and feel pretty cool. The only issue with some of them is the cut on the card, see what I mean below.

Checklist:

This whole season is going to be a rookie laden checklist in all the products due to the double rookie season. This is both good and bad. Kyrie Irving and some of the standouts from last season get their due, this strong new class has some great additions, but you’re probably going to find more filler this year as well. Threads does just that. But as Panini always does, there is a great group of retired and legends in the product as well with the inserts and some of the autographs. That’s something you can’t really complain about.

Value:

You’ll be able to find this product for about $100 at DA Card World. With the rookie heavy autograph checklist and not much else in terms of value, it’s still a tough sell even with three autographs. It’s not a bad correlation from hits/price, but I still think it’s a bit high. $80-$90 feels better to me if I were to buy this product. I still feel like if you want to price a box that high, more veteran autograph content should be inside. 2 rookies and 1 veteran auto? $100 sounds better. Maybe it’s just me…what do you think about guaranteeing veteran autographs?

Overall:

Overall, Threads is a solid product from Panini. The design and checklist are definitely a lot better than they have been in the past. The double rookie checklist means there are more autographs, but it could also cause an issue with the value of the cards. Should guaranteeing at least 1 veteran autograph in a product help you pay an extra $10-$20 for a box? That’s something I’d like to think about, it will probably end up in a post eventually.

Thanks to Panini for providing this box for review. You can find them online at their website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can see the full checklist of this product over at the Cardboard Connection.

Still having trouble uploading photos, so check out the video in the mean time…

 

Review: 2012-13 Panini Prestige Basketball

  By Sports Card Blog | September 26, 2012 - 3:28 pm | ,
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With a full season prepared to launch after last year’s strike shortened season, this year returns to the standard of basketball card collecting that collectors were hoping for last season. With Prestige basketball number 2 on the list for this season, Panini has prepared a season full of rookies from the past two years and a season to think about where they’d like to go this year for sports cards.

Prestige is here and with it comes the first real taste of what will be going on this year. With 3 autographs and one memorabilia card per box, Prestige is one of the first products to feature quite a few rookie autographs and some of the early season’s better hits. Let’s see how it stacked up.

Design:

The basics of the design are actually nice, but the execution wasn’t very enjoyable. I like the player focused photos with the team color background over the action going on behind the player. It focuses on the player, color coordination, and it fits in perfectly. First, I can’t seem to understand the giant white line that goes across the bottom of the card. If it’s part of the design, why? It serves absolutely zero purpose. The second real issue I have is the going back and forth between vertically and horizontally oriented. This makes the actual pack opening experience annoying. Trying to go back and forth reading and looking at the cards is something that’s just not enjoyable. I like everything, except inserts, generally the same. I don’t mind a couple positioned differently, but when it’s 3-4 A PACK like that…as I said, it’s an annoying opening experience.

Checklist:

Speaking of checklists, why has Panini done away with adding them to the products? Anyway, I usually harp on the number of rookies in a set but it looks like this may be a problem this year with the double rookie class of cards. There are 100 rookies in this set and all of your favorite stars of the NBA and a few legends for those old school collectors. With 75 rookie autographs, you have just about anyone you would want to find. The veteran/legend checklist for autographs is kind of small though for such a big set. I guess they had to get those rookie autographs in.

Value:

My biggest issue is there are just so many rookie autographs in this product compared to the veterans or legends. Good thing it’s a strong rookie class in general, even if combined with the rookie class from last year which was kind of weak. I’d like to see more veteran content in this product besides the relic cards. It’s tough to balance things out, I just find this product to be very unbalanced in that regard. For just about $100 a box, it’s not terrible getting four hits in a box either with 3 being autographs. You have opportunity to hit some hot autographs which of course will be valuable anyways. I’d just prefer better opportunity for some veteran autographs.

Overall:

Overall, this is a decent product from Panini. The design could use some work as it has me questioning a few things. For once, the design of the product actually had me annoyed at going through cards in the packs. It just felt unorganized. But it did have some highlights with the inserts and the basic design. The checklist was full of rookies and veterans, but rookies really stealing the show in base cards and hits. This is almost like a purely rookie product just because of the number of rookie cards you can find in this product, which hurts value a bit if you strike out with a bunch of low end rookies. But as is with rookies, you can hit it huge too. I just want to find more veteran content in the hits department. I also want to mention the damage from a few cards as well, including the Jordan Williams autograph, that bottom right corner ding is pretty bad.

As always, thanks to Panini for providing this product for review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Twitter, or Facebook pages.

For a full checklist of 2012-13 Panini Prestige basketball, check out the product information page on Cardboard Connection.

Now, for the hits: