Random Wax: 2016-2017 Hoops Basketball

2016-2017 Hoops Basketball:  This is a pretty good looking set with the floorboard background in team colors.  Always fun ripping older packs to see how they age.  This was a fun pack led off by this guy and I'm a big Steph Curry fan.  

Can't argue with any of these guys either.  All three are studs.  I so hope we get to finish the season in some way shape or form.  The NBA was great this year and I'd love to see the Davis-James Lakers and George-Leonard Clippers clash in the playoffs.

Siakam is a great RC to pick up here.  Not only is he a raining NBA Champion he has taken his game to a new level this year.  23PPG/7.5RPG/3.5APG while hitting 35% from three.  He really deserved his first All-Star nod.  I like Robin Lopez and he is playing besides his brother Brook on the East leading Bucks this year.  That Dieng parallel is #/75.

Howard was on the Hawks for one season and was his usual really good self but wasn't a fit for a rebuilding team.  DeAndre Jordan was part of the big three in LA which is no more as they were all traded away.

I'm not the biggest Dwyane Wade guy but this is a pretty cool card...and he is a Hall of Famer.  This was a great pack.  So much star power.  I'll always pick these up when I can.

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards
3 – RC
1 – End2End
1 – Blue Parallel
1 – Orange Explosion Parallel #/75

Random Wax: 2016-2017 Hoops

2016-2017 Hoops:  It's tough with all sports shut down but cards help keep me going.  This dude was having such a great season even for LeBron standards.  He is 35 and was having a monster year.  I'm hoping we'll get to see the end of this season.  The Lakers and LeBron were so good.

I wasn't a fan of the NBA 2K17 cards.  They seemed a bit off to me with the game screen grabs.  And wow how things have changed.  R.I.P. Kobe.

Derrick Rose actually had a good season with the Knicks.  Most things associated with that franchise usually doesn't end well.  Brook Lopez is now the starting center for Milwaukee while DeMar DeRozan drew the short straw in Toronto and was traded for Kawhi Leonard missing out on the Raptors' championship last year.

Pau Gasol has retired while Matthews is now a Milwaukee Buck.  After two rough seasons with Boston Gordon Hayward was having a bounce back year with the Celtics before the season ended.

I really enjoy busting these packs and looking back at players in previous seasons.  Isaiah Thomas was at the height of his career here with the Celtics.  Sadly a year later an injury would derail his career.  Stay positive, stay safe my friends.

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards
3 – RC
1 – Kobe Bryant NBA 2K17
1 – Blue Parallel

Random Wax: 2016-2017 Hoops Basketball

2016-2017 Hoops:   I'm a sucker for older basketball packs so this was an easy pickup some time back.  This pack starts out with a great photo of Anthony Davis laying it up against his future team, the Lakers.  I really like that NOLA jersey as well.

    Bradley Beal is having a great year though he's going solo in John Wall's absence.  Chris Paul is on his second team since leaving the Clippers via trade.  The thirty-four year-old is having a good year but not a great one for the Oklahoma City Thunder who who are surprising me with their 26-19 record.

Nikola Jokic is a stud for the Denver Broncos so this Faces of the Future insert was pretty prophetic.  Malcom Brogdon was traded to the Pacers last offseason and is helping the surprising Pacers who have done very well even without Victor Oladipo who is still out due to injury.

Zach Lavine is having another outstanding year for the Chicago Bulls whom he was traded to in the Jimmy Butler deal.  Fun pack.  I enjoy looking back and of course finding stars but also seeing how things have changed and how players have progressed.

BREAKDOWN

30 – Total Cards
3 – RC
1 – Teal Explosion Parallel
1 – Faces of the Future

Random Wax: 2016-2017 Hoops Basketball

We'll kick off this clearance pack of 2016-2017 Hoops with Mike Conley who was traded this offseason to the Utah Jazz.  This was a great trade for Utah who get a very dynamic point guard to pair with Donovan Mitchell.  I can't say no to these clearance packs just because they are fun and with the normal price of packs at Wal-Mart going up to $5.49 the reduced prices have an even greater appeal.

  These are the blue parallel and Orange Explosion parallel (#/75) paired with Jaylen Brown of the Celtics.  That's Paul Pierce in one of his last two seasons playing then for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Al Horford (76ers) and J.J. Redick (Pelicans) changed teams this offseason while Steven Adams will have Chris Paul as a teammate after Paul was traded by the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.  This was one crazy offseason with so many moves by so many stars of the league.

Myles Turner is a very good young center for the Pacers while Julius Randle left the Pelicans for the New York Knicks this offseason.  Gordon Hayward looks to bounce back after a down season after returning from a serious injury in 2017. 

These End2End is nice.  This was a fun pack even if I didn't find some of the biggest stars in the game and will hunt for more of these as I get the chance.

BREAKDOWN:

30– Total Cards
4 – RC
1 – End 2 End
1 – Blue Parallel
1 – Orange Explosion Parallel #/75

Random Wax: 2016-2017 Hoops Basketball Cards

I was surprised to see I only had one 2016-2017 Hoops basketball card post and that was from the hobby box I purchased in 2017.  This is a design I'm liking today though in 2017 I think I was a bit more luke warm.  This Damian Lillard was the obvious choice to lead us off.  He had an outstanding year leading the Trail Blazers to the Western Conference Finals and for being the face of the franchise, and a great player,  received a max extension from Portland.

   That Kyle Lowry is an Orange Explosion parallel #/75 while the Jaylen Brown is a blue parallel.  Some pretty nice cards and both of these rookies have become big parts of their respective teams including Pascal Siakam winning a championship this year with the Raptors.  He was huge averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds in the playoffs for Toronto.

  More stars that help this pack really pop.  Embiid would play his first season for 76ers in 2016-2017 and Khris Middleton wasn't really on any of our radars back then.  And Klay Thompson was about to win his 2nd ring.

I like all three of these photos.  Vince Carter will finish out his career with the Atlanta Hawks this year and is surely headed to the hall after his retirement.

This was a great pack and that was lots of fun.  Tons of star power and I'm digging the design.  I'll look for more of these for sure!

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards
4 – RC
1 – End 2 End
1 – Blue Parallel
1 – Orange Explosion Parallel #/75

Card Show Find #3: 2016-2017 NBA Hoops Trading Cards

This is the last of my "finds" from last year's card show put on by After the Game Inc. in St. Louis.  A 2016-2017 Hoops hobby box isn't technically a find since I went looking for these cards.  This was the first new hobby box I've bought in 30 years?  Who knows, a long time.  I did purchase a box of the Star Wars Rogue One series 1 cards earlier this year so hopefully this doesn't become an expensive habit.  I like these cards.  Nothing too splashy but they get the job done.  Good photos though I would have liked a few more of players playing defense or showcasing their ball handling skills. Those probably aren't that sexy on the fronts of cards so I get why we don't see as many of those shots.   

Each box came with two autographs.  I nabbed Seth Curry and DeAndre Bembry of my Hawks.  Not spectacular pulls but I'm still happy.  The other notable was the #116/149 Karl-Anthony Towns green parallel though I also grabbed an artist proof #/25 and two silver parallels #/99.

The cards have a nice design and the photos are good.  I pulled very few doubles and grabbed most of the big stars so I can't complain with the makeup of the box.  The different inserts and parallels were ok though nothing that just wowed me.  Doesn't mean they weren't fun, just that I probably won't go searching for many of those later.  The NBA 2K17 cards were really duds for me.  They are video game screen shots I guess and were very underwhelming.  Considering I got three of them I would have been happy with something different.  I was hoping for a Champions Trophy Portrait card which I think look really cool. The Road to the Finals cars were my favorite insert.  They highlight players in particular playoff games.  Again good cards. 

BREAKDOWN:
288 - Total Cards
1 - Hot Signatures (Seth Curry)
1 - Hot Signatures Rookies (DeAndre Bembry)
7 - Road to the Finals
3 - NBA 2K17 Kobe Bryant
3 - Silver Parallel (1 Artist Proof #/25 & 2 silver #/99)
2 - Blue Parallel
1 - Green Parallel (#/149)
2 - Team Leaders
1 - Courtside, Picture Perfect, Spark Plugs, Highlights, Tip Off, Bird's Eye View, Action Shots