Wednesday, March 25, 2015

This Is Why We Cant Have Good Things


I came across an interesting card when I was posting my write up about Steve Nash’s retirement. This card is one of those that when you pull it you are full of excitement and then you flip it over and you feel the let down wash over your body.

So you pull it and you see Bird, Dr. J and LeBron James and you think “Hell Yes!” Six relics and the first three are awesome, this is when you start thinking about who could be on the back side. Could it be Magic Johnson, Kobe or maybe Derrick Rose and that is when you flip it over and you hear

 

 Paul Pierce, O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley…

OK, Pierce had just won an NBA Title and Boston was looking good and all things considered Pierce has had a very good career and a possible Hall of Fame enshrinement but he doesn’t seem to belong with the three on the front.

Beasley and Mayo were the #2 and #3 picks in the 2008 NBA Draft so Upper Deck was playing the odds by putting them on the card but both players, while decent, have had attitude and off-court issues. Both players have moved around in their young career (three teams for Mayo and 4 teams for Beasley including 3 stints with Miami and one season in China) and they have been role players at best, they will never be the face of a franchise or a power player leading a team to the playoffs let along the NBA Finals.

I wish companies would not create relic and autograph cards that pair a prospect and superstar/HOFer together. There may be initial secondary value but it devalues the cards if the prospects do not pan out. I know it is a chance with any player and the companies do not have a crystal ball so it is all a roll of the dice, but this is why it is not wise to join them together in the first place.
 
The auction ended without selling with the starting bid set at $43.21 plus $2.32 shipping. This was an overstretch by the seller, I really think that a card like this would possibly sell if the starting bid was set in the $10-15 range and even then might finish at the $20 mark.

No comments:

Post a Comment