Modern basketball question about rookies

drewsef

For modern basketball rookie cards, without including auto or memorabilia cards, what are considered the most followed. My experience is limited in this genre but my take is Topps Chrome seems to be the favorite from the mid-90's to late 2000's, but what would be for, say 1992-1995 and 2008-present?

Bravesfan007

92-95 you're looking at Finest as the premiere set. Topps made Chrome until 2009. That set had some nice RCs in it (Curry, Harden, Griffin, etc). After that, it's debatable. 2011 was the strike year so there were very limited releases. I'm partial to the Prizm set which Panini makes. I think the 2012 set was pretty nice. That one had Davis, Lillard, Irving (considered his RC), Thompson and others.

MrNearMint

I think from 92-95 Finest is right. However, Finest didn't come out until 93, so if your looking at player specific rookie cards (shaq, class of 92), I'd say his upper deck or upper deck trade card is/was pretty big along with his Topps Gold card. Also his stadium club and stadium club "members only" are pretty good cards that can get a decent price in high grade. 1995 was KG and finest was his best rc I believe. His Ultra and Hoops rc's are pretty cool looking though. And of course 96 has tons of popular/expensive sets full of future hof rookies, you could take your pick.

For what it's worth, I still love the look of the 90's skybox premium base/rookie/insert cards. As well as Ultra.

rtimmer

1992 is my favorite year in the 1990s and the Stadium club series two followed by Upper Deck series two boxes I feel are the best to collect. It has both Shaq and Mourning rookie cards and when Shaq make the hall of fame in two years it will be the best year for the decade with 1996 being a very nice runner up.

MrNearMint

<< <i> when Shaq make the hall of fame in two years it will be the best year for the decade with 1996 being a very nice runner up. >>




No way 92 beats 96

VitoCo1972

You're going Fleer from 86-92. Finest from 93-95. Topps Chrome in 96, SP Authentic from 97-00 and Topps Chrome from 2001-09. After that it's probably Panini prestige 2010-2011 and Painini Prizm 2012-Present.

ThoseBackPages

i have been thinking about this very thing the last few weeks.

The thing that hurts me is the lack of continuity when it comes to base RC's in the NBA

Baseball has Topps from 1952 - the foreseeable future.
Football has Topps from 1956 - 2016 (#ThanksPanini)
Hockey has Upper Deck from 1990 - the foreseeable future.

Basketball?

Nothing even remotely close to continuity, and as a base RC (no ink, no fabric, no individually numbering) collector, it makes me sad that there isn't any

drewsef

Thanks for the responses, it seems like it's confusing to more than just myself but easy to personalize to suit your likes also. I understand the finest are considered top by many for 93-95, and PSA future HOF sets seem to agree, but that makes me wonder if I like the 95 SP or 95 Upper Deck Kevin Garnett(way better looking cards imo compared to the finest issue) if the future value will hold up as well since it is not in the PSA Registry? I know collect what you like but at least a part of everything I purchase I like to feel I'm at least getting decent value.

I have the Upper Deck trade card Shaquille O'Neal PSA 9 currently, and will probably do the PSA rookie set of him since it's fairly limited to the major issues. I was opening packs of basketball primarily from 89-93 so I dig all the cool inserts back then, like the Stadium Club Beam Team 1992 issue, the Hoops rookie redemptions, and the Ultra all rookie series and Ultra All NBA.

ThoseBackPages

it bothers me a lot more than it should that Topps stopped making NBA cards from 1982 to 1991