03 January 2016

A Trio of Cheap Dreams


I picked up a trio of Hakeem Olajuwon cards for my collection in December. Nothing too crazy, but some pretty good-looking cards. I overpaid for this 2000-01 Upper Deck Slam acetate card. I'm not very familiar with cards from this era, so I assumed that an acetate card from the time period would be something special. Turns out it's a base card that could've been had on Sportlots for less. Oops. It still wasn't that expensive, so I lost less than a dollar on the deal. Do your research, folks!


These next two cards made up for the mistake, as I got them together for a pretty small price with the benefit of combined shipping. Swat Team is a retail-exclusive insert from 2015-16 Panini Hoops Basketball. I love sets that focus on shot-blocking, as the checklists contain many of the players that I find most entertaining, like Olajuwon, Shaq, David Robinson, Dikembe Mutombo, DeAndre Jordan, and Anthony Davis.


Here's a nice camouflage Crusade card from 2014-15 Panini Crusade. I assume this is the base version, since all the listed parallels have listed print runs and carry serial numbering. It's a nice-enough card although the green color doesn't quite match up with the Rockets' red, white, and gold scheme.

I don't keep up with the deluge of Olajuwon cards coming out of Panini and Upper Deck, but I do try to pick up a few of his cards every so often. He was the first player I collected heavily and remains my favorite basketball player of all time. These three cards were a nice affordable way to keep my Olajuwon PC growing.

4 comments:

  1. This is the first time I have seen that color version from one of the crusade sets. It sure is an attractive card.

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    1. According to the checklist it looks like there was a whole set of camouflage parallels in various colors. The Crusade design is really nice, even if Panini has been rolling out a whole ton of them lately.

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  2. Haven't focused on basketball in a few years now... but back in the day, I always enjoyed watch Olajuwon play. Love that image used on the Swat Team card.

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    1. I don't watch much basketball at all these days. I play fantasy basketball and keep up with highlights / news in the NBA, but that's about it. The Rockets have sure been frustrating this year.

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