Atlanta Hawks Team Set - 2013-14 Panini Basketball

Time to look at another of the Atlanta Hawks team sets.  This one is the 2013-14 Hoops.  I was excited because the package stated "Find 1 Bonus All-Star Card Inside!".  There was no all-star card.  Bummer.  There were a total of eight cards in this pack.  The cards are pretty nice with most photos taken at the hoop.  The team logo set against a hardwood pattern is nice.  The Kyle Korver card is my favorite with him just prior to a game.  The fronts are ok but again they are missing the player's position.  The backs start the "no color on the backs" era for Hoops cards.  Bad. Look it doesn't have to look like a rainbow but it would be nice to have some color...ANY color.  Otherwise the backs are fine sticking closely to past designs.  Overall I like the cards but that is mostly due to the fronts 

 

2013-2014 Hoops Basketball Cards Part 2

I wrote about these cards in a post in March that you can see here.  Since then I purchased a retail box containing 11 packs (110 total cards).  I love opening boxes and just wanted to show off a few more of these good looking cards.

Great shot on the Paul George card. 

More great shots from around the rim which is a definite theme. 

2013-2014 Hoops NBA Jumbo Pack Break

I've posted on these cards once before.  I was a little on the fence about this set due to the backs but the fact that I purchased them again says something.  The jumbo packs have more inserts and I wanted to take a look at what they had to offer.  This is how the pack broke down:

Cards - 50
Gold Bordered Cards - 5
Hall of Fame Heroes - 2 (Calvin Murphy and Drazen Petrovic)
NBA Hoops Dreams - 2 (Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard)
Class Action - 2 (Blake Griffin and Gary Payton)
Board Members - 2 (Kevin Love and Nikola Vucevic)
Action Shots - 2 (LeBron James and Kevin Durant)
Courtside - 2 (Paul Pierce and Tony Parker)
Spark Plugs - 2 (Gerald Green and Jamaal Crawford)
Rookie Cards - 4 (Alex Len, Isaiah Canaan, Nerlens Noel, Reggie Bullock)
Basic Cards - 27

No complaints with any of the inserts.  After seeing Lebron and Durant actions shots inserts it was all good.  Those two cards ore nice.  I won't say they are my favorites but nice cards.  None of the inserts rub me the wrong way.  My favorites are the Spark Plugs cards.  Nothing special but different enough to get my attention.  The Hall of Fame cards are nice but I wouldn't have minded something a little more something.  That is vague I know but they just seem to be lacking something. 

To be honest what catches my attention is the front of the basic cards.  Fairly simple, good photography and design that catches my eye.  It.  Sometimes the inserts try to put too much on fronts of the cards and it distracts from the player.  That may be more of a personal preference but that is my take on cards as a whole.  Again I recommend these to anyone who won't take too big of an issue with the back.  The price point ( I paid $12) isn't too bad though it looks like I could have found these a little bit cheaper online if I had put some effort into it.  Still it isn't enough to worry too much about.  Pick you up some of these if you like NBA cards.  I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

Review: Panini NBA Hoops 2013-2014 Trading Cards

I picked up a 45 card rack pack of the 2013-2014 Hoops NBA trading cards at Wal-Mart for $4.98.  Besides the base cards I received one blue border and one gold border card (George Hill seen above). 

The front of the cards are appealing visually to me.  The border is white.  At the bottom is the NBA Hoops logo in silver against a background color of the player's team.  The players name is found at the top on a background color which is associated with the player's team.  The team logo is in the upper right on a parquet floor background.  The photos themselves take up the rest of the space.  No issues with pictures with the majority being action shots.  It seems like the majority are pictures of the players at the rim. Not a big issue but seems different.  Some rookies were pictured playing in the summer league or in posed shots.  My only beef would be the lack of the player's position.  Again a nice front which I can't find much fault with. 

The back is a whole other story.  It is vertical in design.  An example is below though it isn't a card I received in my pack.  My first impression was not negative.  The back is completely black and white with Panini's logo in the upper left hand corner with the card's number.  The year of the set and Panini's information is at the bottom of the card.  The player's team logo is centered at the top.  I think it is a bit too large and could have been shrunk to help out the font size.  Below the logo is the player's position, name, a brief snippet on the player and then the player's specifics (Ht, Wt, Birthdate, Drafted - round only, school).  Each section alternates the background color between black and white.  Then come the stats (season, team, g, fg%, ft%, 3pm, rpg, apg, stl, blk, pts, ppg).  Kudos as always for putting all the career stats of a player on the back.  I really enjoy being able to look back at all the years of a player's career.  I would rather see steals and blocks per game as opposed to totals but that isn't a huge point.  What is is the size of the font.  Without lots of squinting I'd never be able to read the back of the cards.  I'm thinking they could have gone horizontal with the design and made the logo smaller to allow for a bigger font.  I'm sure 20 years-olds don't have the same issue as someone my age but it seems this could be done better. 

Good draw in the 45 cards.  I grabbed a Stephen Curry who is a big star in the league today whom I really like.  Other cards of note were the gold bordered George Hill who is also making a big name for himself.  The Dwayne Wade card has a cameo by Tim Duncan.  Andrew Bynum's pic is a good one of him holding his new Cavalier's jersey.  Just looking at that you actually have hope he may play well again someday.  Grabbed a Damian Lillard and George Teague card from each of my favorite teams which is always nice.  The rookie Nerlens Noel card was also a nice pickup.  It is a picture of a staged dunk.  Manu Ginobili's picture is of him slamming one down and is one of the pictures that stood out to me.  I think it might have been against Miami no less.  The Pau Gasol card just made me laugh.  Kind of an awkward position they caught him in.

I struggle on this one as the back really turns me off.  At first I was ok but I just get more irritated the more I try to read anything on the back.  Overall I'll say pick these up with the caveat that the back might be frustrating.  I may put more importance on the back than most.  The fronts are visually appealing and I think most would enjoy as well.  The price is also a win and I'm sure they are available at most retailers.