General Forum

I collect basketball and baseball cards.  I was thinking the other day that Topps is pretty much THE brand for baseball cards.  Not just because of the exclusive license, but for the history of baseball cards in general.  

Any thoughts on what THE brand would be for basketball?  When collected cards as a kid, there were so many different basketball card brands to choose from.  But for whatever reason Fleer seemed to always be the one that felt the most basketball to me.  Whether it be the flagship, Ultra, or Metal etc.  That’s not to say in the 90s that I don’t also have fond memories of Topps Chrome, Finest, and Stadium Club.  Skybox was there too.  

I am thinking ever since Panini revived Hoops for 2011-12, maybe Hoops is essentially becoming THE brand dating back to the late 80s.  

That's an interesting question. I'm not a huge collector of basketball but the 2 I think of first are Fleer and Hoops. Fleers iconic since it was the first of the modern era but it's not around anymore which probably gives Hoops an edge in the long run

I am also interested in this question.  I know ultimately it is my decision to collect how I want, but it becomes pretty messy real fast.

I am mostly a player collector first, but I also am a team collector.  I wanted to collect the team sets for my local teams for the Bucks, Brewers and Packers.  Topps was the logical choice.  But once basketball and football lost their licensing, I have become too scattered.  For example, I liked some of the "new" brands or some of the brands that were purchased by Panini...but should I collect backwards to make a complete run of Fleer, Hoops or Donruss that overlaps the Topps?

I added tons to my want list at that point to try them out, all it did was bring in inventory via trades of brands that didn't pop in my eyes.  I have such a mess in basketball and football.  I am actually losing my interest in collecting the team sets.  If (once) baseball loses the Topps license, I will run into the same mess.  I completely understand that it is my choice on how I collect, but it is also my choice to maybe step away.  Maybe basketball and football will find some sort of consistancy that I can get behind.  Maybe team sets just isn't that important to me anymore.  I don't know...

Historically I'd rank them 1. & 2. Fleer or Topps, 3. & 4. Star or Upper Deck, 5. Hoops, 6. Panini and 7. Skybox.

I would say topps during the topps years, then hoops during the non-topps years (and fleer of course for the few years that are in between)

mark

I've thought about this in the past, and Hoops was my conclusion.  Covers a long period of time, and also doesn't exist in any other sports.

Hoops, absolutely. It's the only brand that even comes close to accurately documenting the sport, even though Panini only puts 300 or less players in a 525 man league every year. 

The Hoops brand is also owned by the NBA itself- not Panini- which is why it's been published by Skybox, Fleer, Panini and standalone. So no matter who is making the cards the Hoops brand will probably go on...even though it went away for a few years, that was more due to the landscape of the hobby at that time. 

I've always been an Upper Deck supporter, but their hobby product after LeBron 2003-04 was awful up to the end

As "THE BRAND FOR NBA CARDS", I'd also pick Hoops. It's more continuous than any other brand, even though it was produced by multiple manufacturers over the past 30 years. Topps and Fleer had a long presence in the NBA hobby, but they fluctuated a lot.

Personally, I liked Upper Deck products the most and Skybox was the most interesting before they merged with Fleer. So that would make me say that Fleer and Fleer/Skybox is #2 for me in NBA with UD as #3. Any Hoops product would still be #1. But Panini is quickly diminishing the history of all the brands they have acquired.

OH, somebody mentioned Donruss in this thread. The original Donruss (or Leaf) brands never made NBA cards! All of those branded cards are from Panini and I kind of wish they would stop using Donruss as a brand in sports other than baseball. I don't like seeing old Donruss designs used as new NASCAR cards or NBA cards or NFL cards!