Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects is a unique set because ¿0ait’s almost three-in-one. Every pack has a parallel Bowman card and also ¿0aincludes two Chrome versions. Hey, everyone loves Chrome, and the fact this is ¿0aTopps’ first issue of the season big on rookies is a benefit to all collectors.

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The Cards and The Odds

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The box features Andrew Bogut, the number-one pick in the ¿0a2005 draft from Utah who went to the Milwaukee Bucks. Open the box and there is ¿0aa neat feature: The checklist for the set is printed on glossy paper and also ¿0afeatures brief scouting reports of all 51 rookies featured in the set.

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Each pack contains seven cards: Four regular Bowman cards ¿0a(usually one rookie), one thick parallel card, and two chrome version cards. ¿0aThere are 24 packs in a box and 1 autograph and 1 relic a box, based over a ¿0aprint run.***image6:right***

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The base cards have a black border that goes all the way ¿0aaround. The veteran cards have a red strip at the bottom with the player’s name ¿0ain white while the Bowman logo go up from the bottom right in silver embossed ¿0aprint. The team name is in white running the same direction, but can be hard to ¿0aread because it’s printed on the picture. Rookie cards have a blue strip at the ¿0abottom and feature

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The parallels are identical to the base cards except they ¿0afeature a gold border (instead of black) and gold embossing.

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The Chrome versions are identical to the base cards but ¿0ahave silver borders and have the great chrome finish. The also have the normal ¿0arefractors (1:18 packs) numbered to 300; X-Fractors (1:36) numbered to 150; gold ¿0arefractors (1:57) numbered to 50; and SuperFractors (1:2831) numbered to 1.***image3:right***

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Of course there are also autographs and relics. 10 of the ¿0arookie base cards are autographs (1:63 packs). They include Raymond Felton, ¿0aGerald Green, Rashad McCants, Andrew Bogut, Chris Taft, Sarunas Jasikevicius, ¿0aHakim Warrick, Deron Williams, Sean May, and Monta Ellis – set collectors, take ¿0anote. These also come in chrome and all its permutations. There are also Signs ¿0aof the Future (1:41) autographs featuring mostly different rookies (Jasikevicius ¿0ais the only one in both) and Back to the Future autographs (1:511 or 1:8263, ¿0adepending on if the player falls in Group A or B) featuring veteran stars like ¿0aTim Duncan, Allen Iverson, and Tracy McGrady.

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There are four different relics: Skills Nation (1:81) ¿0afeaturing veterans like Ben Wallace and Jason Kidd; Bravo! (1:60) featuring ¿0amostly young guys but also the five celebrities that are ubiquitous in Topps ¿0athis year; Bowman Beginnings dual relics (1:324) featuring veterans and young ¿0aplayers who went to the same school; and Welcome to the Show! (1:41) featuring ¿0arookies.***image1:right***

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Nope, not done yet – there are also two sets of ¿0aautographed relics: Welcome to the Show! (1:8614) featuring a subset of the ¿0arookies; and Bravo! (1:8098) featuring five veterans: Carmelo Anthony, Tim ¿0aDuncan, Ben Gordon, Shaquille O’Neal, and Dwyane Wade.

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The Breakdown

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I enjoyed opening this box – take a look:

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* 70/110 base cards - no duplicates
¿0a* 25/51 rookie cards – Chris Paul, Marvin Williams, Charlie Villanueva, among ¿0aothers
¿0a* 15/110 parallel base cards - highlights include Jason Richardson and Corey ¿0aMaggette
¿0a* 8/51 parallel rookie cards – highlights include Andrew Bogut and Carmen ¿0aElectra
¿0a* 32/110 chrome base cards - highlights include Amare Stoudemire, Kobe Bryant, ¿0aand LeBron James
¿0a* 13/51 chrome rookie cards – highlights include Nate Robinson, Channing Frye, ¿0aand Shannon Elizabeth
¿0a* (2) refractors #/300 -Antoine Walker, Jenny McCarthy
¿0a* (1) X-Fractor #/150 – Baron Davis
¿0a* (1) Draft Picks base autograph – Rashad McCants
¿0a* (1) Bowman Beginnings relic – Grant Hill/Luol Deng ***image2:right***

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Favorite Card: I’m cheating, I have two: The ¿0aMcCarthy refractor and the McCants autograph. Why those two? Well, I love ¿0arefractors as it is, but having McCarthy, whose appearances on MTV’s Singled Out ¿0awere a big part of the day in my dorm in college, on a card is something ¿0aspecial. As for McCants, I pick a rookie every year who I like in the draft and ¿0athis year it was him. He’s finally starting to get more playing time with the ¿0aMinnesota Timberwolves and it won’t be long before he’s a force. In case you are ¿0awondering, my previous picks have been Sebastian Telfair (2004), Dwyane Wade ¿0a(2003), Freddie Jones (2002), Eddie Griffin (2001), and Courtney Alexander ¿0a(2000). Oh well, you win some, you lose some…

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Rookie Breakdown: As is the norm for Bowman, there ¿0aare tons of rookies – that’s why we love Bowman, right? My full list:

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Bowman: Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra, Jay-Z, Martynas ¿0aAndriuskevicius, CJ Miles, Antoine Wright, Marvin Williams, Travis Diener, ¿0aMartell Webster, Ersan Ilyasova, Francisco Garcia, Luther Head, Jarrett Jack, ¿0aChris Paul, Ryan Gomes, Louis Williams, Wayne Simien, Bracey Wright, David Lee, ¿0aYaroslav Korolev, Charlie Villanueva, Eddie Basden, Andrew Bynum, Julius Hodge, ¿0aand Jason Maxiell. Very few of those guys are actually making a difference in ¿0atheir teams wins and losses, the notable one of course being Chris Paul. He has ¿0abeen everything advertised playing in Oklahoma City and has justified the trade ¿0aof Baron Davis last spring for the Hornets. Head is starting in Houston, Garcia ¿0aand Jack are playing decent minutes, Webster is starting to get some time, ¿0aWilliams is improving every game, and Miles might just be a huge surprise in ¿0aUtah.***image5:right***

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Parallels: Carmen Electra, Lawrence Roberts, Hakim ¿0aWarrick, Channing Frye, Jason Maxiell, Andrew Bogut, CJ Miles, and Antoine ¿0aWright. This group is a little better collectively. Roberts and Warrick are both ¿0adecent parts of the rotation in Memphis, Bogut has proven himself worthy in a ¿0afrontcourt rotation with Jamaal Magloire and Joe Smith in Milwaukee, and Frye ¿0amay well soon be the starting center in New York.

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Chrome: Shannon Elizabeth, Jenny McCarthy (refractor), ¿0aChanning Frye, Nate Robinson, Travis Diener, Bracey Wright, Luke Schenscher, ¿0aEddie Basden, Johan Petro, Von Wafer, Martynas Andriuskevicius, Joey Graham, Ike ¿0aDiogu, and Daniel Ewing. Outside of Frye and Robinson none of these players have ¿0areally made a mark yet. Petro has played decent minutes in Seattle, but he has a ¿0aways to go, Graham is getting some minutes in Toronto, and Diogu – possibly the ¿0abest of this group – has been injured in Golden State but hopes to be back soon.

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The Conclusion***image4:right***

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Grades are given on a five-point rating scale – five¿0abeing the best.

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Basic Card Design – 3.5
¿0aRookie Card Design – 4
¿0aInsert Card Design – 4.5
¿0aBig Card Chances – 4

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Overall – 4 stars

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Topps gets kudos for a set with tons of rookies and for ¿0amaking them plentiful in the packs, but marked down because the embossing is ¿0adistracting from the picture and makes the player and team names difficult to ¿0aread.

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Despite that, I would recommend Bowman Draft Picks & ¿0aProspects because the price (seen them for roughly $65-$80 online, plus ¿0ashipping) is actually a pretty good deal considering the resale value of chrome ¿0arookies, plus the autographs. Rookie autos are always a top seller. Plus, at the ¿0aprice it would make a great gift for that card collector in your life!