Welcome To The NBA Hall Of Fame

 Today the NBA welcomes 10 new members in to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The class includes Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Sheryl Swoopes, Tom Izzo, Jerry Reinsdorf, John McClendon, Darrell Garretson, Zelmo Beaty and Cumberland Posey (Who is also in the Baseball Hall of Fame).

Shaq was the reason I returned to collecting in 1992, specifically the hunt for his 1992-93 Stadium Club card. A card which I consider such a big part of my collecting that it is my wallet card…I really need to take that out and take some photos.

The player out of this group that I collected was Allen Iverson, maybe not the most pleasant guy and he had an issue with practice but he played with heart and ferocity and he carried the 76ers to the 2001 NBA Finals. The thing about Iverson is he is the athlete out of all sports that I have pulled out of packs the most hits.

The NBA Hall Of Fame List Includes:

The 2016 NBA Hall of Fame inductees were announced today with Shaq leading the list. In addition to Shaquille O’Neal is Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Sheryl Swoopes along with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and the Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. This is a solid group, though I am not completely sold on Yao Ming, and very collectible.

Shaq is the reason I returned to collecting in 1993, his 1992-93 Stadium Club #247 is my wallet card (though he didn’t get many photo ops last year), and his autographs are still highly collectible.

AI is one of my mini PCs, I actually pulled this autograph in 2007, one of my favorite auto pulls. His career didn’t flower like it should have and he definitely has a grating personality but he definitely is worthy of a HOF plaque. As long as there are no practices required Allen Iverson will be there.

When it comes to (recent) women’s professional basketball there are three names held in reverence, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes. Cynthia Cooper was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 2009, Lisa Leslie was inducted in to the Hall of Fame last year so this year it is Sheryl Swoopes turn.

The final player being inducted is Yao Ming. I do not know how I feel about him being included, he had a decent career being an 8-time All-Star and was among the top centers during his career but he spent much of the time injured, never pushed the Rockets to an elite team and many are saying he is being included simply for being a foreign player that opened up the league to China, essentially an ambassador for the sport.

 

My Wallet Card Entry With Shrinkage... Not By George Costanza

 I have been spending the last few days trying to figure out which direction I wanted to go with the card that will spend the next year in my wallet. After spending the past 23 years collecting I had plenty to choose from too.

In case you are not familiar with Gavin's Wallet Card Game, here are the origins on Baseball Card Breakdown.

My first thought was a Ken Griffey Jr. card, being a Griffey collector it definitely would suit me well but which one would I select? The 1989 Upper Deck #1 is iconic and the first Griffey card that I purchased when I came back to collecting.

Then I considered Ryan Bader, my favorite MMA fighter and one of my personal collections. He is a local guy and I do hit his Power MMA gym from time to time so how cool would it be to get him to sign my wallet card?

I finally decided to go with a card that has some meaning to my collection, the 1992-93 Stadium Club Shaquille O’Neal #247 rookie card. When I came back to collecting in 1992 it was right in time for Shaq Attaq and I bought so many boxes of Stadium Club looking for his rookie card (along with his Beam Team and a Michael Jordan Beam Team) that I definitely put some Topps employees kids through college.

Now that the card was decided I found myself in a predicament when I realized that a regular sized card would not fit in my wallet without damaging the card. I went back to the drawing board and searched my mini collection and was not satisfied with any of the cards.

I was about to just skip the Wallet Card game when I remembered that Gavin stated there were no rules and that is when inspiration hit…

 

I shall call him mini-Shaq

 

 

A little bit of scanning here and a little bit of Photoshop there, toss in a couple of pieces of HP matte photo paper and my Xyron sticker maker and I have a card that measures 2 x 2 ½ (roughly 2/3 a regular card size).

Hopefully this is acceptable to the blogging community. I know this is not a pack issued card but it is identical card to the original card, just smaller, to fit in to my wallet.

 

Now to get snapping around town

 

 

This Won't Fail...Right?

UPDATE 5/24: Shaq has announced that he is withdrawing his name from consideration for the Orlando Magic's open GM position.

According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, multiple sources have told him that Shaquille O’Neal will be meeting with Orlando Magic management to discuss the GM opening.

If this report is correct and Orlando is seriously considering Shaq this could have devastating results for the team if they choose to bring him on. The man can barely complete a sentence let alone negotiate a contract or hire a new coach. He has shown that he can be bitter and hold a grudge, he is immature and egotistical. To add insult to injury I could see him making himself coach too.

I am hoping that this is the team giving their one-time star a courtesy interview and not truly consider him for the job, this could end up worse than Isaiah Thomas in New York.

Late News on the Shaq Trade

The deal has been done and Shaq is on his way to Cleveland. In return the Suns receive Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46th pick in this year’s draft and $500,000. As I posted before, it does look like Wallace will retire and the Suns will buy out his contract and Pavlovic will probably be cut and only $1.5 million on his contract is guaranteed so in the end the Suns end up saving almost $10 million when you count in the Luxury Tax.

As numerous people have pointed out, the Shaq for Marion trade has been a bust for the Suns. They went from a 60-win team to only 46 wins this past season and a Lottery pick. Marion is also a Free Agent this summer so the Suns could have ended up saving $21 million, but hopefully this is a lesson learned for Steve Kerr.

There are still rumors that Amare Stoudamire may be traded, hopefully it is just that, a rumor. If a Stoudamire trade does happen we can only hope that it will not be in a disappointing Draft Day deal. The fans are still feeling the pain following the 2006 Draft and 2007 Drafts when the Suns traded away Rajon Rondo and Rudy Fernandez for cash deals.

Shaq Coutdown

Well, after sitting on the backburner for 4 months it looks like it might possibly be time for Kerr to pull the trigger on the Shaq to Cleveland trade.

I've grown up in Arizona and I have been a fan of the Suns since the mid-80s. The 1993 Finals is still a painful memory for me (along with the 2005 Super bowl, but that is a different story all together).

While I do like Shaq and he has proven to be a dominating player over the years he is now on the downward slide of his career. He can still prove to be a presence in the paint but he has slowed quite a bit and ended the season with below career numbers in rebounds, blocks, assists and points per game.

As much as I like Shaq, I felt that the trade was a very poor decision for the Suns. Taking on an aging player with frequent injuries for Marion and Banks, not to mention the 2 years and $40 million left on his contract. This was a poor fit for the Sun’s Run-n-Gun play and this was a poor fit for the Sun’s Luxury Tax. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of seeing the big guy in Purple and Orange but I would have preferred to see the Shaq Diesel of 10 years ago.

So, here we are now, the season over for the Suns and Cavaliers and its time for Kerr and Ferry to start looking at what needs to be done for the 2009-10 season. Ferry can pick up a once-dominating center that can still provide some help against the strengthening Eastern Conference and the Suns in turn can get some help towards their salary cap and allow them to begin looking towards the future and the post-Nash era.

It now looks like the trade would be Shaq to Cleveland for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. Wallace is another player I would have loved to have seen in Purple and Orange a couple of years ago, but is now also in the final stages of his career and has even discussed retiring following the loss to the Magic in the playoffs. So, if the trade were to go through Shaq’s $20 million would be gone to Cleveland with Wallace and Pavlovic coming to Phoenix. If Wallace were to retire, his contract would then be bought out leaving only Pavlovic’s $4.9 million on the books. Pavlovic is a bit-player who plays mainly garbage minutes and if was actually let go would only cost the team the $1.5 million guaranteed contract. This could turn an Albatross around the Sun’s neck in to a potential buying spree in the free-agent market.

The free-agent market over the next couple of years is looking really great so it could be an amazing turnaround for the Suns to return back to prominence once again