[taffster74]

Because of the lockout there was no rookie photoshoot, no training camp, no pre-season, no summer league - essentially no opportunity whatsoever to get photo's. Now I know people will say what about the photo's of players in their new uni's for hoops? Those were more than likely squeezed in last minute (especially the lin) and i can just imagine the chaos caused getting those few printed. Imagine chaos trying to get not only players in new team unis but also most of - if not an entire - rookie crop onto cards in a matter of a few days? That's one thing a lot of people who do complain don't seem to be able to comprehend - the lolgistics side of the issue.

[rjcj2017]

Because of the lockout there was no rookie photoshoot, no training camp, no pre-season, no summer league - essentially no opportunity whatsoever to get photo's. Now I know people will say what about the photo's of players in their new uni's for hoops? Those were more than likely squeezed in last minute (especially the lin) and i can just imagine the chaos caused getting those few printed. Imagine chaos trying to get not only players in new team unis but also most of - if not an entire - rookie crop onto cards in a matter of a few days? That's one thing a lot of people who do complain don't seem to be able to comprehend - the lolgistics side of the issue.

We all comprehend it just fine, thanks ... and it's an excuse.

I can understand not having rookies in Hoops — sort of. Barely.

But as for the rest of the remaining products?

No matter how many times or how many posts you defend Panini on in regard to this issue, it's not going to change our minds.

Panini completely and totally sucked on basketball this year, and the lockout is just an excuse.

How about one of those "Rated Rookie" boxed sets like they did in 2010 for football?

How about Panini Update this summer?

They've had enough time to contemplate/decide/produce/execute and deliver on either one or both of those ideas, or to make a better effort to at least get base rookie cards of this year's class into the remaining products.

They've just chosen not to, plain and simple.

Basketball is definitely the red-headed stepchild of trading cards, and Panini most likely enjoyed the fact that they could use the lockout as an excuse to mail it in on basketball this year ... production time, labor costs, promotion, marketing, etc.

And I really do like Panini, especially their basketball cards. I bought almost two full cases of various boxes their first year. I pulled five different Griffin autos and a Kobe auto, so I was very pleased with their products.

They dropped the ball this year, and I only give a small amount of weight to the lockout.

[jpleazme805]

the "lockout" should not messed up anything... yes, there was no rookie photoshoot. Panini says there was no time to do a RC photoshoot or get pics.. ect... but that is all BS... they could of taken any of the 100's of thousands of pictures of film that the NBA shoots & make some action RC cards out of them... put redemptions in the packs/boxes... guess they didn't want to look stupid with a few thousand rookie redemptions, just in case they couldn't get autos or there were trades, ect....

Finest put in redemptions for next years rookies... Panini could of taken that concept.. if the player doesn't agree with signing a few thousand sticker autos... then replace the redemption with some of their hidden cards from previous products... we all know they don't package up every card & insert them in boxes... they save a few to use as replacement cards or they secretly give them to a family member, friend, or who ever... to sell on the secondary market for huge kickback... I suspect UD has done this many times.. there are crooked employees in every company... some just don't get caught... because if they didn't get caught.. they are not doing anything wrong...

I WANT MY 2012 ROOKIES THIS YEAR, NOT NEXT YEAR!!

this would of been an exception to the past redemptions we all hate.. .

[jchavestx]

All of this "we didnt have time to get the photos" is pure BS. If I recall after the 1998-99 NBA Lockout (which ended January 20th 1999). Topps and others still put out rookie cards that year. That was over a decade ago. Has Panini regressed till before 1999? Obviously they have.

By the way, in case you are wondering, Dirk Nowitzki had 18 different base rookie cards for the 1998-99 50 game NBA Lockout shortened season.

You SUCK panini.

[therobertogato]

Wow, excellent point by jchavestx. Didn't think about looking at that year. Kyrie is likely to be one of those guys, so is Rubio (although, it pisses me off when they release these foreign guys the year they get drafted and then again whenever they start playing). It'll be weird explaining in 15-20 years "well you see, Panini couldn't do it, they had a lockout and didn't have the rookie photoshoot! I swear"

Yeah....what about Season Update? I bought one of last year's hobby boxes of that mess that I haven't opened yet. I kept waiting on the price of the box to go up, but it's just gone down. I'll probably just crack it once I clean up my mess of other stuff I've gotten into and left laying around. But if they have that Season Update again this year, how could they seriously not put rookies in there?

[bbills1999]

All of this "we didnt have time to get the photos" is pure BS. If I recall after the 1998-99 NBA Lockout (which ended January 20th 1999). Topps and others still put out rookie cards that year. That was over a decade ago. Has Panini regressed till before 1999? Obviously they have.

By the way, in case you are wondering, Dirk Nowitzki had 18 different base rookie cards for the 1998-99 50 game NBA Lockout shortened season.

You SUCK panini.

There he is been waiting for your Reply LOL

[xstreaminsanity]

Again, we don't know what the terms are of the license agreement. I don't know where to access it and I don't even know if it's readily available. The rookie photo shoot has been something that's happened more and more lately. Back in 1998-99, I don't think they had a rookie photo shoot, so it may not have been a term of the license. Honestly, I don't know. I do however have faith that even if Panini did consider us the pinky toe of the card collecting world, they wouldn't want to affect their profits worse by not providing RC cards when they could. For manufacturers, it is always about profit, and they would garner more profit from having RCs than not having RC. Yes, they could have photo shopped some players in, etc. meaning that it is possible. But if the license agreement says something about rookie cards needing to be from the rookie photo shoot, then they can't break that agreement. Now, I don't know why that would be a term, that's stupid in my opinion if it is, but it is a possibility. Most rookie cards, to my knowledge, before Panini came in were from rookie photo shoots as well except for some from Upper Deck since they had an NCAA license. But honestly, you think Panini would benefit more from not putting RC in if they could? By pushing us further away and jeopardizing renewing their license? That just wouldn't be business smart on ANY level.

[therobertogato]

Ohhhhh, and another thing! I hated that they used Summer League photos for Prestige a couple years ago! Derrick Brown or somebody in a Jazz uniform? Just odd and horrible and pissed me off. GRIPE,GRIPE,GRIPE!

[jchavestx]

You know why there were rookie cards for the 1998-99 season? One word: competition.

At least next year the rookie cards "should" be featured with the players rookie year stats. Havent seen that since the 1990-91 season.

[kenarm79]

I think we will always debate this issue, lol. I can see where taff and xstream are coming from, but at the same time I believe that if Panini wanted to make it happen- it would be done. I've come to the conclusion that I will never get my hands on an actual Kyrie Irving RC. Even if Panini has a valid excuse as to why they couldn't produce this years RC crop, it will still tarnish them in the future. I've never been a big fan of their stuff (I did like Court Kings), which I know that I'm not alone, so I don't see how they are winning over any critics.

I don't believe that they can have too many more situations like this happen again without the lost of more customers. I don't believe that they are as bad as some make them out to be. I tried out their redemption process just to see how it was and was surprised that the redemption came so quickly. I haven't been to impressed with most of their products (I guess because I'm more old school and don't care for real shiny cards). The thing that upset me the most with Panini is that they didn't pave their own lane when they came in. A lot of the basketball stuff looked like the football products (which they mainly carried forward from the Donruss takeover). I did like the video card concept that they had (even if other companies had the same idea before).

Only time will tell if they can sustain. Hopefully we will see more competition (companies) come back to card collecting. I think that will help all parties involved.