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Saturday, March 18, 2017

Old School Box Breaks: 02-03 Topps Chrome Basketball

 
So here's the first of the 3 boxes I had bought in a lot on Ebay a couple of weeks ago. I slow broke this box this past week, opening 4 packs a day. To be honest, I wasn't really targeting this box, it was the other two in the lot, this just happened to come with it, but it's still actually not a bad box to open despite the relatively weak rookie class.

What To Look For: Well, even though like I said, the rookie class is pretty bad relatively speaking, there are two prominent rookies to chase in this class. Manu Ginobili and Yao Ming. There was a time where Amare Stoudemire carried this rookie class and his Chrome was highly coveted, and although he ended up with a solid career, injuries derailed his ascent into superstardom. He's still not a bad rookie to pull, but he's a distant 3rd to Manu and Yao. Other than that? No other rookie really stands out hobby wise, with the next being Nene but that's stretching it. So obviously refractors off all kind (especially the serial numbered White and hobby exclusive Black refractors) for Yao and Manu and even Amare would be nice to pull. Also what I like about this product is the chance to pull MJ stuff since he was in his 2nd season with the Wizards. So there's quite a few MJ's to chase in this set with his base card, refractor parallels, inserts, and refractor insert parallels. White Refractor and Black Refractors in general are highly coveted so pulling a star refractor would also be nice. I know nowadays Relics are basically worthless hits, but in 2002-03, although Relics were getting easier to find by the year, they were still not a guarantee in every box in some products like Chrome. A relic in Chrome is basically one in every two boxes. Chrome also has autographs but the checklist is super top heavy with just Shaq and Yao being desirable (TITO MADDOX?! REALLY TOPPS?!). Autos are super hard to pull (basically 1:400 packs).

 
Basic Set Info
02-03 Topps Chrome Basketball
165 Base Cards
24 Packs Per Box
4 Cards Per Pack

Inserts
Topps Chrome Refractor (1:4)
Topps Chrome White Refractor (1:23)
Topps Chrome Black Refractor (1:29)
Coast To Coast (1:8)
Coast To Coast Refractor (1:40)
Zone Busters (1:12)
Zone Busters Refractor (1:60)
The Move (1:28)
The Move Refractor (1:140)
Relic (1:40) (Topps has two different relic sets and groupings within the relic set with specific odds, but I just took the relic average as a whole group)
Autographs (1:400) (Same as Relics, Autographs are divided into different groupings, just took the overall odds)

And off we go!

Notable Rookies: Manu Ginobili, Amare Stoudemire 

Refractors (1:4)
Gary Payton
Pat Burke RC
Rasheed Wallace
Jason Terry
Smush Parker RC
Tyson Chandler

Coast To Coast (1:8)
Jason Richardson
Jason Kidd 
Ray Allen

Zone Busters (1:12)
Vince Carter
Michael Finley

The Move (1:28)
Jay Williams

Topps Chrome White Refractor (1:23)
Jermaine O'Neal (#142/249)

Topps Chrome Black Refractor (1:29)
Richard Jefferson (#94/99)

Coast To Coast Refractor (1:40)
Jamaal Tinsley

Franchise Fabric Relic (1:40)
Kenyon Martin


Overall Thoughts: Definitely a fun break! No big hits, and no MJ (not even base) but still at the price where I got well worth it! I'd actually probably pick up another box if I could and might be willing to pay up to $20 more for it since I got it so cheap. The inserts are nice, the refractors are great looking, at least got a Manu Rookie which was one of the cards I was gunning for. Highly recommend if you're looking for a reasonably priced box with chances at MJ refractors. Here's pics of the main hits!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Top 5 Pulls of 2017

#1- 2016 Donruss Optic Gold Vinyl Cam Newton 1/1
#2- 2016 Donruss Optic Derrick Henry Rated Rookie Autograph (#43/150)
#3- 2016 Donruss Optic Kenneth Dixon Rated Rookie Holo Autograph   Redemption (# to 99)
#4- 2016 Panini Contenders Rookie Ticket Autographs RPS Devontae Booker  
#5- 2016 Panini Contenders Rookie Ticket Autographs RPS Paul Perkins

 

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