Box Breakdown: 2005-06 Upper Deck
Upper Deck every year seems to top itself in every ¿0aproduct they create and this one is no different. Once again the team at UD ¿0acreated a very clean base set, added in some rookies, mixed that with a hint of ¿0asome big card chances, and came out with a winning product that isn’t going to ¿0abreak your pocketbook.
¿0a
The Cards and The Odds
¿0a
This set features UD spokesman LeBron James on the cover ¿0aand has 24 packs, eight cards a pack. The base cards feature a borderless ¿0apicture of the player, with the team logo on the bottom left of the card on a ¿0ateam-colored strip with the player’s name embossed in silver. The Upper Deck ¿0alogo is embossed in silver in the upper left corner. The back of the card ¿0afeatures complete statistics and, space permitting, a little tidbit about the ¿0aplayer.
¿0a
Rookies are seeded at 1:4 packs, but there are 10 short ¿0aprint rookies seeded at 1:20 packs. The SPs? Charlie Villanueva, Hakim Warrick, ¿0aRashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Martell Webster, Gerald Green, Deron Williams, ¿0aAndrew Bogut, Marvin Williams, and Chris Paul.***image5:right***
¿0a
At 1:48 packs are some kind of parallel: Silver spectrums ¿0anumbered to 100 and gold spectrums numbered to 50. The rookies also have silver ¿0aand gold spectrum parallels with the same numbering.
¿0a
The packaging advertises memorabilia comes three to a ¿0abox. All-Star Weekend Authentics features many of the stars from All-Star ¿0aWeekend 2005, from LeBron to Kyle Korver. UD Game Jerseys features an extensive ¿0alist including players Tracy McGrady, Shawn Marion, and Tim Duncan. Rookie ¿0aReview Materials features second-year players like Josh Smith, Dwight Howard, ¿0aand Sebastian Telfair. UD Materials features a more select mix than UD Game ¿0aJerseys, mostly All-Star caliber players like Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, and ¿0aRichard Jefferson.
¿0a
Randomly inserted are UD Game Patches numbered to 25, ¿0aSignature Sensations numbered to 25, Performance Clause Jersey redemptions ¿0a#/250, and Performance Clause autograph jersey redemptions #/50. The way ¿0aPerformance Clause works is the collector gets a card with a player on it. On ¿0athe front of the card is a performance clause – something like player X needs to ¿0ascore 20 points in a game this season. If the player does that, the collector ¿0acan scratch off the code and go to ¿0ahttp://www.upperdeck.com, put in the code, and get mailed the redemption ¿0acard.***image4:right***
¿0a
There is also the bonus LeBron/Michael pack, featuring ¿0afour cards: Two of Jordan, two of James. Randomly inserted in those packs are ¿0aparallels numbered to 23, autographed parallels numbered to 1, jersey cards ¿0anumbered to 23, and dual jersey cards numbered to 10.
¿0a
The Breakdown
¿0a
I enjoyed opening this box – take a look:
¿0a
* 183/200 base cards - No duplicates
¿0a* 6/20 rookie cards – Julius Hodge, Andrew Bynum, Travis Diener, Daniel Ewing, ¿0aJarrett Jack, Wayne Simien
¿0a* 1/10 SP rookie cards – Gerald Green
***image2:right***¿0a* (1) UD Game Jersey – Michael Finley
¿0a* (1) UD Materials – Dajuan Wagner
¿0a* (1) Rookie Review Materials – Beno Udrih
¿0a* (1) Performance Clause jersey – Shane Battier: Redeemable if Battier scores 20 ¿0apoints in a single game in 2005-06 (he’s done it five times already)
¿0a
* Michael Jordan/LeBron James pack – MJ2, MJ38, LJ3, LJ37
¿0a
Favorite Card: This will probably be surprising to ¿0amost, but I’m going to go with the Dajuan Wagner card. Why? Wagner was a great ¿0aplayer in college, a prep legend, and he was supposed to be the savior of the ¿0aCleveland Cavaliers before they had a shot at that LeBron James guy. Check out ¿0ahis bio on ¿0aNBA.com – some of the things he did in high school are simply amazing. ***image1:right***¿0aUnfortunately the professional ranks have not been kind to the kid from Jersey. ¿0aHe missed way too many games during his three seasons as a Cavalier for all ¿0asorts of injuries – including things like bladder infection and a stomach virus. ¿0aBut now, like some other players from the past (where is Harold Miner?) Wagner ¿0ahas disappeared from the basketball landscape. No one offered him a contract ¿0alast summer and now all that is left of the Wagner Era, the only remnant of what ¿0acould have been, is this card. It’s sad in a way, but as a collector in 25 years ¿0awhen you show your kids your collection they will ask – Who was Dajuan Wagner? ¿0aAnd you can tell them: He once scored 100 points in a high school game…
¿0a
Rookie Breakdown: Julius Hodge is barely getting ¿0aoff the bench in Denver. In fact, he’s played all of one game¿0a¿0aaccording to his bio, but not sure what game it was. In fact, NBA.com ¿0adoesn’t even list him on their Players ¿0apage. Andrew Bynum has played 16 games for the Lakers, including one against ¿0athe San Antonio Spurs on November 29th where he scored six points, grabbed six ¿0arebounds, and blocked two shots. If that keeps up, he might take time from Kwame ¿0aBrown – if Brown comes back from injury. Travis Diener has played three games ¿0afor the Orlando Magic, but he’s made them count. He is 8-12 from three-point ¿0arange in those games – that’s amazing. Daniel Ewing has played 15 games for the ¿0aLA Clippers – including a start – and posted highs of 12 points and four steals ¿0aagainst the Bucks on November 15th. Jarrett Jack was asked to fill up the backup ¿0apoint guard spot in Portland behind Sebastian Telfair and has done a very ¿0aadmirable job. His defense and his confidence on the floor has Coach Nate ¿0aMcMillan playing him serious minutes and he gives the Blazers a very different ¿0alook at the one. Wayne Simien has played 10 games for the Miami Heat, scoring ¿0anine points against Indiana early in the season and grabbing six rebounds twice. ¿0aGerald Green, a high school player with a lot of talent, has yet to see the ¿0acourt for the Boston Celtics. Some of that is due to inexperience and some due ¿0ato a mild injury, but the Celtics say he is improving every day.***image3:right***
¿0a
The Conclusion
¿0a
Grades are given on a five-point rating scale – five¿0abeing the best.
¿0a
Basic Card Design – 4.25
¿0aRookie Card Design – 4.25
¿0aInsert Card Design – 4.25
¿0aBig Card Chances – 4.0
¿0a
Overall – 4.25 stars
¿0a
Upper Deck kept things basic with this set, but at the ¿0asame time sprinkled just enough memorabilia cards in the boxes to make it ¿0aexciting to open. The photography is excellent and makes a great series for the ¿0aset builder, especially if it is to be displayed. At between $50 and $60 (after ¿0asome browsing around the net) that makes it a pretty good deal, especially if ¿0ayou hit it big on a memorabilia card or with the special Jordan/LeBron packs.
¿0a
Loading ...
