Box Review: 2012 Panini Preferred Basketball

Panini's 2012 Preferred basketball went live last Tuesday as the second hoops release this years from the company. Panini is touting Preferred as a high-end product that combines previously successful designs like Crown Royale, Donruss Signatures, Panini's Choice (formerly Cramer's Choice) and my favorite Silhouettes. I checkout all the press releases for upcoming products months before they go live, and every once and a while I get excited for a product to come out just like I did with Preferred. Luckily for me, Panini was nice enough to send me a box for review. So a big thanks goes out to Panini and The Knight's Lance. Now for all the fun.

Each $200 box contains four individually wrapped cards. I know that four cards for $200 seems steep, but you can see the prices for singles on eBay justify that $200 price tag. Also important to note about these four card boxes is that each card is either an auto or jersey booklet. So every card is a hit. Here is everything else you need to know about Preferred:

• - Every autograph will be limited to a print run of 99 or less
• - Tons of on-card auto's
• - The first Panini America autographs of new Clipper Chris Paul
• - 10 Autographed Crown Royale die-cuts will feature retired legends
• - Three distinct autographed Rookie Card designs for each player — Silhouettes, Crown Royale Die  Cuts and Preferred: all limited to 99 or less
• - Next-level memorabilia cards showcasing never-before-seen player combinations on each booklet

You can see the cards I pulled in the box of Preferred I opened. The Walton is the gem for me. I love collecting cards of legends like Walton and it's a pretty limited at 04/15. The foiling on the Panini's Choice cards really shines and adds a level richness to the product. Also, the on-card auto's really pop off the cards against the white background where the signatures are located. The jersey booklet is nice as well. I love the themes of these booklet cards. You really can't go wrong with a Slam Dunk theme in a basketball trading card, especially when you have the likes of Dr. J, Dominique Wilkins, Blake Griffin and Larry Johnson featured. The only gripe I have with my box break is the Patrick Paterson. Admittedly, I don't collect Patterson, but my grip is less to do with the player and more to do with the design. Where it looks like the Panini team nailed it with every other card in this product, these preferred signatures just lack the effort or higher standard of the other lines in Preferred. It's almost like the Preferred Signatures don't even belong in the product. I know some of the cards are on-card autos for certain players like Kevin Durant, and maybe that would make a difference, but the Preferred Signatures just don't make the grade compared to an otherwise flawless product.

THE VERDICT: Aside from the Preferred Signatures, Panini hit a home run on this one, or should I say slam dunk. The Silhouettes and Panini's Choice are amazing. The on-card auto's are great and the list of current NBA superstars and legends is more than extensive. If you are a collector who is looking for hits, than this is the product for you. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Hoopography Top 25

Just before I made the switch from iWeb over here to Blooger.com, I started a little series of posts counting down my favorite 25 cards I've been luck enough to add to my collection called, "Hoopography Top 25". I started the countdown off with an honorable mention post, consisting of cards that just missed being in the top 25. Those honorable mention cards can be seen in the image to the left. Most of those cards are Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'neal 90's inserts with an Iverson RC refractor thrown in for good measure.

It's really fun going through a countdown like this because it gets collectors to really appreciate the cards they have, instead of the cards they wish they had. I've been lucky enough to add a number of really great cards with a limited budget. No card in my entire collection has cost over $35 and no card you see in this post cost me more than the one outlier at $23. In fact, many of the cards in the countdown I purchased for right around $7 - $12.

I got all the way to number 18 in the countdown before I made the switch over to Blogger.com. The first third of the countdown is pretty diverse. There're some cool old school basketball auto's (early 90's is old school to me), some NY Yankees cards and a few of my hometown Buffalo Bills cards. With some of these cards it's really about the player like the Hoops Dreams co-star, Arthur Agee, but it's also about the card design for a few of the others. I love the '97 SPx Cornerstones Jeter/A-Rod design. It's basically the same as the '97 SPx ProMotion basketball and football sets that I'm currently attempting to put together. The '98 EX-2000 Credentials card of Andy Petite also features one of my all-time favorite card design. All-in-all, these are some great cards and they were really fun to add to the collection.

So these are some of my favorite cards, what are some of your own favorites that you've been able to add to your collection? Stay tuned for a post on number 17 in my "Hoopography Top 25" countdown!

Remember When These Guys Where The New Guys on The Court?

While riffling through a box of cards, I came across this gem. I'm not sure what company produced this card, but I know its from '90 or '91. Check it out. The card features a young Shaquille O'neal, Kenny Anderson, Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson. At onetime, these players were the future of the NBA. Certainly, O'neal fulfilled all the predictions of his potential and then some. I was a huge Larry "Grand Ma Ma" Johnson fan back in the day. I thought he was simply a beast during his time with the Charlotte Hornets earlier in his career. He also knocked down a four-point play for my Knicks during the '99 NBA Playoffs (click here). Augmon had a solid 15 year career with five teams. Also known as "The Plastic man", Augmon was a standout defensive player. Kenny Anderson was a basketball prodigy from his days in grade school. By the time the Queens, N.Y. native attended Archbishop Molloy High School, he was one of the heaviest recruited amateur athletes of all-time. Although the speedy left-handed point guard never achieved the unrealistic expectations placed upon him since he was in the sixth grade, he did make the '94 NBA All-Star Team.

This is really a fun card. I love the 90's font on the top lettering of the card. It's really cool to have a card with three separate pics of these players on it. I also like the back of the card. The rad font continues on the back with the top lettering. There's also some really cool descriptions and predictions for each player featured on the card. I blew the card up so you can read them for yourself. Enjoy this little gem and… "Every Bounce of the Ball".