Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

91-92 SkyBox:  Karl Malone was nothing short of a beast.  The Mailman played 19 seasons and had career averages of 25/10/3 with 2 MVP trophies and 14 All-NBA selections.  He was also a 4X All-Defensive team member.  He was also incredibly durable playing 80 or more games in 17 of those seasons.  And you can add 193 playoff games, averaging 41 minutes per playoff game, on top of that.  That's amazing.  

Big man love!  Moses Malone's played 3 season in Atlanta and average 16 and 10 with the Hawks.  Another unicorn, Moses played 21 seasons leading the league in rebounding 6X and 7X leading the league in offensive rebounds.  He still holds the all-time offensive rebounding average for a career with 5.1 per game.  He was also a 3X MVP and 8X All-NBA.  Crazy great career. 

Three All-Rookie cards and all three were solid players.  Derrick Coleman was a big man with a soft touch.  He averaged 16 and 9 for his career and was a 2X All-NBA selection.

I like cards like this giving us highlights from the season.

A couple of my all-time favorite players in Larry Smith and Trent Tucker and I really like Terry Cummings as well.  Like Moses, Smith was a great offensive rebounder.  He once led the league in offensive rebounds and had a career average of 3.9, good for 8th all-time.

The backs were great.  Gerald Wilkins was one of the sharpest dressed men in the league and Karl Malone was an outdoorsman and didn't disappoint.

More great highlights and two of the great shot blockers of the era.

Dee Brown with the no look dunk!  Assume this is from the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest.

The fronts o fmy Best Single Game Performance pulls.

Centennial Highlights give us game history.

Such a great set and so much fun.  Reggie Lewis was the future of the Boston Celtics before passing away too soon at the age of 27.

BREAKDOWN:

45 – Total Cards

3 – All-Rookie Team

3 – Best Single Game Performance

2 – Centennial Highlights

1 – Checklist

Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

91-92 SkyBox:   Two of the all-time great centers on one card.  Having these two in the nineties was amazing.  It's one thing to watch two stars but when you get to see them go against each other it's even better.  I was surprised that Robinson and the Spurs had a big advantage head-to-head in games where these two squared off (30-12).  Hakeem is one of my all-time centers.  Top two or even at the top depending on the day.  Robinson was amazing and probably top 10 all-time.  Their career stats were fairly even.  I'm a big fan of both.

This is a great set and there are so many memories for me.  I've always loved the NBA.  Charles Barkley had a hall of fame career and to me is just as accomplished in the studio.  Chuck, Ernie, Kenny and Shaq do such a great job on Inside the NBA with the humor and insight.  Just fun which is what it should be.  And of course Chuck is always good for honesty.

These two combined for 3 Defensive Player of the Year honors and led the league in blocks 3 times.  Hakeem 2X and Robinson 1X for each.  I like these Single Game Performance cards.

Some guard love.  I really like Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief but I will admit seeing him in a Hawks uni always throws me off.  He also won Defensive Player of the Year 2X in his career.

Centennial Highlights.  What better highlight than the man who gave us the game.

And we love the backs.  Even Charles Oakley.

Some of my all-time favorite players in Larry Smith and Trent Tucker.  They feel somewhat random in my NBA fandom but I'm big fans.  Both are in my top 10.  I've always liked the hard-nosed Terry Cummings as well.

Defensive wizards abound in this post.  Alvin Robertson led the league in steals 3X and holds the all-time average for steals per game at 2.7.

Tom Chambers was fun to watch.  He was such an athletic big.    

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards
3 – Centennial Highlights
3 – Best Single Game Performance

Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

91-92 SkyBox:   I loved watching David Robinson play.  So very athletic, strong and fun.  His career started at age 24 after serving two years in the Navy.  Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, MVP, scoring, rebounding and blocks champ.  He won two NBA championships with the Spurs.

A couple of great shooters from the era as well as one of the best defensive stoppers in the NBA.  Gary Payton was 9X All-NBA and 9X All-Defensive team.

Centennial Highlights subset.  I like the dates they share on the back.

More great shooters and Dan Majerle was also an excellent defender.

10 steals!  Alvin Robertson is the all-time leader in career steals per game at 2.7.  He missed two seasons late in his career due to injury but still averaged 2.2 steals per game in his final season in 1995-1996 with Toronto.

All-Rookie Team, Stats and Best Single Game Performance cards.  I like all of these.

Stay in School people!  I didn't know Vern Fleming as a Georgia alum.

Loved Eric "Sleepy" Floyd.  Only a 1X All-Star but on May 10, 1987, in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Lakers, he set records for points in a quarter (29 in the 4th) and half (39 in the 2nd). He finished with 51 points and 10 assists to win, but the Warriors lost the series.

The backs are better known for their photos than the stats.  I like them for doing it.

'Cause every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man...  Props for these cards.

So many fun cards.  My favorite era of basketball.

BREAKDOWN:

45 – Total Cards

1 – GQ

1 – Stats

1 – Stay in School!

1 – All- Rookie Team

1 – Centennial Highlights

1 – Best Single Game Performance

Random Wax: 1990-1991 SkyBox Basketball Series II

SkyBox Series II:  When you look at Mark Eaton's career stats of 6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, it doesn't come close to doing him justice.  Starting his career at age 26 he was twice the Defensive Player of the Year, a 5X All-Defensive selection and 4X block champion in his 11 seasons in the NBA.  He once averaged almost 6 blocks per game in a season.

I could have easily started this post with Scottie Pippen.  Also, a defensive standout, 10X All-Defensive Team, 1X Steals champ, he had a great all-around game and of course won 6 championships with the Chicago Bulls.  Larry Nance made the All-Defensive Team 3X while Ricky Pierce was a 2X Sixth Man of the Year award winner.

We get coaches in Series II which is great.  One of my favorite all-time subsets are these Team Checklists with the team logos.  Love 'em.  Series II also had some good rookies that included Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic and Glen Rice.

90-91 SkyBox had these great backs.  The stats are different but work and we're in because of those photos.

Rik Smits had a great nickname - The Dunking Dutchman.  We'll end this pack with another team checklist and one of the great logos of all-time.  Seattle seems to be tops on the list of teams who will get an expansion team when the NBA is ready.  Can't wait to see the Supersonics again.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
2 – Coaches
2 – Team Checklists

Random Wax: 1990-1991 SkyBox Basketball (3 Packs)

91-92 SkyBox:  It feels easy to forget how great and how dominant Karl Malone was for so long.  He was 14X All-NBA (5th all-time), 3rd in points all-time and was All-Defensive Team 4X.  And a 2X MVP and All-75th Anniversary Team selection.  Averaged 25 and 10 over a 19-year career.  Don't sleep on the greatness that was Karl Malone.

Great pull in these packs.  As always, I could do these packs all day.  I love this era and this set.

Jeff Hornacek shot 42% from deep in his 7 seasons with the Jazz.

The backs are always fun.  Love the smile from Byron Scott.  Scott shot 37% from three on his career leading the league once with 43%.

Some big man love.

The graphics on the basketball are subtle but help make the fronts of these so much fun.

Johnny Moore once led the league in assists and averaged over 9 assists per game in 5 seasons.  That included 10 in 1984-1985.  He averaged 7 assists and 2 steals for his career.  More great cards.  More great players.  More fun.

 BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards
1 – Checklist

Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

91-92 SkyBox:   I've said it before, but while I knew how great Larry Bird was when I saw him play but never got to enjoy him.  He was always ruining things for my Hawks it seemed.  He won 3 MVP trophies and was top 4 in MVP voting overall 9 consecutive years.   

Kevin McHale wasn't pretty.  He wasn't smooth but he just did so many things right.  The Hall of Famer was a 7X All-Star, 3X Champion, 2X 6th Man of the Year, 6X All-Defensive and 1X All-NBA.

Dennis Scott went on to shoot an amazing 39.7% from three-point range for his career.  He would have loved today's game.

SkyBox was ahead of their time in some of the stats they highlighted on their League Leaders cards.

Who didn't like John Starks?  Wait, who did?  He was part of those gritty Knicks teams of the 90s and they had plenty of enemies.  I'm sure New York fans loved him.

They had some pretty cool looking inserts/subsets.  I like seeing the Hornets mascot on the All-Star Weekend Stay in School card.

Some foreboding for the last card of this post.  I liked how this set showcases highlights from the NBA Finals.

The backs were fun.  We get to see players in not the norm photos.  We even see Larry smile.  I'm digging Chris Mullin's tracksuit.  Oh the memories.

Jordan and the Bulls would go on to win 5 more championships after the 1991 NBA Finals victory over the Lakers, beating them 4 games to 1.  So many memories with this set and so much fun to show off.

BREAKDOWN:

45 – Total Cards

2 – Stats

1 - Finals

1 – Stay in School!

1 – All-Rookie Team

1 – All-Star Weekend

1 – Best Single Game Performance