If Money Didn't Mean Anything...

2005-06 Upper Deck Portraits Quad Kidd/Stockton/Nash/Billups

Limited to only 10 copies, this 8x10 card would be the centerpiece of any playmakers collection. These four point guards are the NBA's best ever, minus Cousy, Magic, Thomas... okay, so it might not be the best-of-the-best (see Today's Top 5), but it's still damn cool.

This Week's Best: Week 7

1995-96 Flair Hot Numbers

I'm a big fan of anything lenticular (3-D) and when these were released I was in college it was a big purchase (or gamble) to buy a pack at a whopping $5 per pack. A high price then, I wonder what they'd be selling for now? I was lucky enough to pull a Jason Kidd from the set and still think they are one of the best basketball insert sets of all-time. They have a timeless design that's still attractive and there's a decent player selection. Inserted at a rate of 1 in 36 packs, the 3-D effect would normally give anyone a headache if you look at them long enough, but the plastic process to produce the effect makes these good grading candidates (check out today's top 5), with over half of all that are submitted getting Gem Mint or higher grades. The set includes; Barkley, Hill, Jones, Jordan, Kemp, Kidd, Malone, Mourning, Mutombo, Olajuwon, O'Neal, Robinson, Rodman, Sprewell, and Webber.

This Week's Best: Week 6

1998-99 SkyBox Molten Metal Fusion

This huge insert set (50 cards) features plenty of stars and a very cool die-cut design that follows that "less is more" motto. Inserted in packs that were very unique, the regular Fusion issue (left) had the first 30 cards inserted in packs, but the last 20 are serial numbered. There is also a "Titanium" version (right) that features the same ratio. But there was a printing problem. 15 of the 20 numbered cards from each set were printed wrong (essentially, the Fusions were numbered to the Titanium's numbering, and the Titaniums were numbered to the Fusion's numbering). Cool set with a cool story.

This Week's Best: Week 5

1999-00 Upper Deck HoloGrFX Shoetime

Released in the early days of memorabilia, this 19 card insert was the one bright spot in a very heavy retail set. The set features some of the few memorabilia cards of some big names like Iverson, Barkley, Ewing, and Pippen. Plus there were autographed copies of the Karl Malone and Michael Jordan cards. Not only did the full-bleed design cause condition (chipping) problems, but if you were lucky enough to pull one (1 in every 431 packs) you had issues locating a case that it would even fit into. Still the unique memorabilia and all the big names are enough to consider this set one of my favorites.

This Week's Worst: Week 2

1994-95 SkyBox Head of the Class Exchange Set

SkyBox had a good thing going with the Head of the Class exchange card starting with the 1991-92 Hoops release. But in a possible attempt to mirror the success of the Hoops Draft Redemption sets, they decided to go with a multi-card format instead of the single card with three players on each side. With a simplistic, blurred background, bad photography (specifically the Grant Hill), and the absence of individual serial numbers (differing from the previous issues), only Topps remains as the leader in ruining a popular series (Beam Team).