Jerry West Passes Away

Jerry West passed away last week.  While I never saw him play, I'm a big fan and love his game.  He was a baller.  His competitive fire had few peers.  Think MJ.  His game was amazing.  He played defense.  He could shoot, he could score and he could pass.  In the second act of his life became an great executive.  I read his autobiography some years back.  It isn't for every NBA fan but it's a good book.  Jerry West is a true legend of the NBA.  The Logo will be missed.

Boston Celtics Win the 2023-2024 NBA Championship

The Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks four games to one to win the 2023-2024 NBA Finals.  The series played out like it probably should have.  We all wanted seven games or at a minimum some close games but it wasn't to be.  The Celtics won two games by seven points but the three other games were blowouts.  Boston was the better team hands down.  Too much talent and really good defense that came from multiple players.  Luka and Kyrie had good stretches in games but overall they didn't seem comfortable.  Neither could hit a three either.  Tatum and Brown couldn't either but the rest of the Celtics picked up the slack.  Jaylen Brown was MVP but I could make an argument for Jrue Holiday.  No complaints from me though.  Brown guarded Doncic a lot and he did a good job.  I had no dog in this fight but I've always been an Al Horford fan so it was fun seeing him be so happy at age 37.  Tatum, Brown, Holiday, White, Porzingis and head coach Joe Mazzulla all deserved this too.  Boston was great all season, great in the playoffs and great in the NBA Finals.  Congratulations Boston Celtics.

Random Wax: 2021-2022 Hoops Blaster with 2500 Panini Points

21-22 Hoops:  Devin Booker had another outstanding season, but he and the Suns still struggled to stay healthy and assimilate Bradley Beal into the lineup.  Nice photo of Michael Porter Jr. trying to chase Booker down.

Purchased plenty of this when it came out.  Beal is a Phoenix Sun, Ayton is a Trail Blazer and LaMelo is hurt.

Cade Cunningham is a star in the league but the Pistons are just bad.

All three of these are pretty nice though the Skyview inserts don't give you much space for the photos.  I used to subscribe to Slam magazine and I like these cards.  This Gary Payton Slam is a Yellow Parallel.

I really like these horizontal Lights Camera Actions cards and I think basketball cards could do more like this.

Nice photos of Fox and Zion.

Brook Lopez, Star Wars fan extraordinaire.  

That red parallel is #/75.  I also pulled 2500 Panini Points.  I sold it pretty quickly on eBay when I pulled it.  I've never collected enough of those to make it worth my while and I haven't found much that interested me when I did think I wanted to use them.

Fun box of cards.  Hoops has done well in recent years, and this is one of those examples.

BREAKDOWN:

88 – Total Cards

12 – RC

2 – Blue Parallel

2 – Lights Camera Action

1 – Slam

1 – Skyview

1 – Class of 2021

1 – Retired Great

1 – Purple Parallel

1 – Frequent Flyers

1 – Red Parallel #/75

1 – Panini Points (2500)

McFarlane Kilowog & Kyle Rayner Green Lantern Gold Label Two Pack

 

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.  Today I'll show off the Gold Label Green Lantern two pack with Kilowog and Kyle Rayner.  I was very excited to see Kilowog being released and I was also wanting this version of Kyle Rayner with the white uniform front as well so it was a win win.

The Kilowog figure is a McFarlane megafigure standing 9" tall and he comes with a nice looking hammer as well as his own lantern.  I'm a big Green Lantern fan and wasn't sure we'd ever see this guy coming from McFarlane

This is a great looking figure.  Kilowog is one of the favorite Green Lanterns and is a drill sergeant training new Lanterns.  He's famous for calling newbies "Poozer" which means useless rookie.

Solid sculpt and look on this figure.  He's very solid in hand.  Fairly poseable considering how large he is.

No real complaints with this guy.  Love the look and figure.

Kyle Rayner, one of earth's Green Lanterns, also comes with his own lantern.  Rayner took over as earth's sole Green Lantern in the nineties as DC rebooted the series.  I've always liked his character but I admit it felt odd to go in a direction without any of the original earth Lanterns.  His character has a complicated history after he came onto the scene.

Kyle comes with two swords as well as armor which are all generated from his ring.

I prefer the smaller of the two swords.  My only issue with his figure is the mouth.  At some angles it looks like a goofy smile or even that he's had Botox injections. 

Outside of the face decisions they made, I like this figure and I'm very happy to have it as part of my collection.

Always fun when you can add favorite figures to your collection and Kilowog in particular will be a favorite of mine.

  

Mike Trout eBay Card Lot

Mike Trout is such a great player and I've always been a big fan.  Picked up this lot off eBay last month.  This photo is just a classic batting stance of Trout's but combined with the Gypsy Queen design it is my favorite of the lot.

This is another great looking card.  So simple but something about the look and the colors really stand out to me.

More classic looks from Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter.

Love the classic Angels uni in this one.

League leader cards are fun and he's been on his share.  That middle card is a checklist card with a nice Julio Rodriguez appearance.

Nice Topps Chrome card.  Not a fan of the current Diamond Kings.  No logos are a killer and the designs themselves are a bit lacking. That Fire card looks nice.  That brand is hit or miss with me. 

Love All-Star Game cards and I like photos where it seems the players are enjoying themselves.  I really like that first Bowman card as well.  The design and photo are solid.

These cards always make you do a double take.  A card of another card.  Of course, that auto card would be a sweet one to own.

All these cards are good cards and glad I found the lot.  None are big money cards, but I needed some of them and the extras are always fun to have.

  

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Prizm Hanger Pack

23-24 Prizm: Jimmy Butler and the Heat had another disappointing season.  There are rumors he could be moved this offseason as Miami hasn't been keen to give him an extension based on his injury history.  Butler has played 60 or more games only twice in his five full seasons with the Heat.  His high was 64 games last season.  Still his time in Miami has been excellent as they've reached the NBA Finals twice.

This Prizm look is one I like.  Nice pull from this pack as well which had 20 cards.

Amongst these rookies we see an Orange Ice and Green Parallel.  Orange Ice Parallels are exclusive to hanger boxes.  Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a solid first year averaging 11 points per game.

Keldon Johnson regressed some this year but with the arrival of Wemby I'm sure he's not the only Spur to have his stats go down.  San Antontio was really bad.  It'll be interesting to see what they do to build around their young and talented core.

I really like these Dominance inserts with the red as opposed to blue seen in my previous Prizm post on the  Kyrie Dominance card.  It helps these are both favorite players of mine.  Not sure why they scanned differently sitting side by side though.  Unsure about Deep Space inserts but I'm always good with a LeBron pull.

BREAKDOWN:

20 – Total Cards

4 – RC

3 – Orange Ice Parallel

2 – Dominance

1 – Deep Space

1 – Green Parallel

 

Random Wax: 2023 Score Football Blaster

2023 Score:  Khalil Mack had the best season of his career getting 17 sacks for the LA Chargers who struggled mightily to a 5-12 record.

Great trio of quarterbacks.  Really hoping Joe Burrow can stay healthy.  That Tua is one of the Gold Parallels.  This is a design I like.  My favorite score design in some time.

Great celebration photo.  I'm glad they didn't limit these to the players.

Really nice CJ Stroud pull on this 2003 Throwback Rookie card.  Jordan Addinson had a great rookie year with 70 receptions for the Vikings.

Protential are solid inserts.

Base card rookies.

Not my favorite Huddle Up design but I do like the huddle photos.

Big fan of the First Ballot inserts.  I really enjoy that we get to see retired greats in this set.

Really nice action photo of Chris Jones taking down Russel Wilson.

More retired great greatness.

Great photo.

That Gerald Everett card is a Lava Parallel #/565.

Fun.

Three of the best receivers in the league.  Justin Herbert is hoping Jim Harbaugh can cure all the Chargers' ills.  Won't be that easy but there's hope in LA.   Great box of cards.  

BREAKDOWN:

132 – Total Cards

34 – RC

11 – Retired Greats

6 – Celebration

5 – Protential

4 – Huddle Up

4 – Gold Parallel

3 – Sack Attack

3 – 2003 Throwback Rookie

2 – First Ballot Hall of Fame

1 – Lava Parallel #/565