The X-Man Cometh

 

In the 1980s in to the 1990s the Seattle Sonics had some major talent with major personalities.

Obviously Gary Payton, The Glove, comes to mind. He is one of my mini-PCs and he ran things in the Pacific Northwest even leading the Sonics to NBA Finals in 1996, losing to the Chicago Bulls, before eventually getting a ring in Miami in 2006 and ending up in the Hall of Fame.

There was Shawn Kemp, The Reign Man, who was drafted straight out of high school (ignore his 1 semester at community college) and was a master of the slam dunk. He was also part of the 96 team that went to the NBA Finals but unlike Payton he never won an NBA Championship but he is in the running for the most kids by different mothers, currently sitting at 7 kids from 6 different women.

I do love my Suns and I love my Sonics so it is fitting that one of my favorites played for both teams, no not Tom Chambers but Xavier McDaniel, The X-Man. He was in the NBA for 12 years and had a decent career, he never won any major awards, championships and definitely doesn’t belong in any type of Hall of Fame but I dug him because he always looked so intense and his shaved head added to it.

He is the type of guy that I want to collect, not because of accomplishments but for some reason you will never be able to explain why. He is one of my “Just because” PCs, I collect him just because.

Part of the fun of collecting the X-Man is that his cards are laughably cheap, I am not joking either, this 2012-13 Leaf Metal Basketball auto #2/10 ran me .99 cents plus shipping. That is part of being a decent player on good teams, he showed up on many checklists simply because he was on the right team so now he has a number of relic and autograph options for very reasonable prices. I only have a couple of McDaniel's cards but they are all Suns and Sonics cards only.

The downside being a Leaf card is that there are no team names or logos but it is obvious which uniform he is wearing and I was drawn to the green parallel because it all connects together nicely.

Preview: 2012-13 Leaf Metal Basketball

The other day Leaf previewed their new Matrix technology, an etched refractor like coating that gives the card an original appearance. The first set that will include Matrix inserts will be the 2012-13 Leaf Metal Basketball set, which is scheduled for a May 21 release. The set will be made up of retired players as well as a selection of young/up and coming players.

Each $180 box will include 5 packs (2 cards/pack) and each pack will include one on-card autograph and one insert. Some of the names included on the autograph checklist include retired players like Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Shaq and Karl Malone and young players like potential ROY Damian Lillard.

The autograph insert list is made up of a nice variety to keep it interesting and includes; base autographs, jumbo patches autographs, Hall of Fame Inductions, Nicknames and Faces of the Game. There are also colored and prismatic parallels of certain inserts like the base autos and HOF Inductions though I am not certain if they are numbered or the break down. Valiant and Hoop Matrix are part of the insert list too, though those are not autographed.

Being an unlicensed product all logo and team names have been removed and in some cases it is noticeable, like with the Magic Johnson base auto. A number of players are pictures in either college jerseys or foreign jerseys when applicable. I noticed that Lillard was pictured in his Portland Trail Blazers uniform on the Hoop Matrix card that Leaf used during the announcement this past week but he is pictured in his Weber State uniform in the Metal Basketball announcement. I am not sure if this is an oversight or if he has different cards in the release.

Personally I like the release, the box price is more than I am willing to pay but I may buy a pack or two (roughly $36/pack) or pick up some singles when they hit the market. There are some very big names included in the set with Patrick Ewing leading the way. Apparently he appears in less than 20 autograph checklists and with his last auto being released about 10 years ago so you figure there will be people chasing his cards. I think Pippen, Cousey and Russell will also be big draws.

I am disappointed that Leaf chose to use a picture of Shawn Kemp in a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform instead of a Sonics uniform. The Reign Man is best known for his Supersonics years… and for having a ton of kids.

Autograph Inserts:
 Autographed Jumbo Patch, Base Autographs (Base, Green, Red, Black, Super Prismatic), Faces of the Game, Hall of Fame Inductions (Green, Red) and Nicknames

Base Inserts:
Hoop Matrix and Valiant

Leaf Matrix Is Unveiled

During the Las Vegas Industry Summit Brian Gray had alluded to a coming change to the Metal technology that Leaf is known for using in many of their releases. He did not go any further in to what to expect, leaving collectors waiting until things were ready for a proper release announcement.

 

The time has come and Leaf has finally introduced Matrix, an etching in the card coating that works with a refractor like color creating an interesting appearance. To a point it can be described as similar to Topps Finest or similar to Panini’s Prizm technology.

 

The first product to include Matrix inserts will be 2012-13 Leaf Metal Basketball which is scheduled for release sometime in May. The basketball inserts, Hoop Matrix, appears to have a basketball type texture on the face of the card, which is appealing to me. I like when there is a connection like this, Fleer started using textures in the 1990s and some companies still carry on the tradition.

 

There will also be football and baseball Matrix inserts in upcoming Rookie Retro products. These inserts, Genetic Matrix, use the familiar metal and refractor technology but add in a chemical bond like etched design (hence the “genetic”) on the face of the card. I am not big on the Genetic Matrix design; I would prefer a texture similar to the basketball related Hoop Matrix inserts.

 

Overall, besides the chemical bond designs, I like the Matrix technology. I think that Brian Gray and Leaf are on to something here, especially with Panini adding Prizm to their repertoire and Topps Finest still hanging strong in the market.