2008-09 Upper Deck Basketball

My household (okay, just me) is in full-on Hoops Mode at the moment, and despite my vow to myself that I would not be lured into collecting basketball cards and would just stick to one sport, I found myself buying my second basketball pack of the year last weekend. Last time it was Topps and this time it's Upper Deck. Much like the baseball packs (and presumably football), there are lots of cards crammed into a $2.99 pack. You also get the full bleed photos and nice photography that's sometimes lacking in other brands.

51 - Richard Hamilton (I wonder if Rip wears his scary mask to bed at night.)
46 - Marcus Camby (Camby actually played a career high 79 games last season. He's only played more than 66 games 3 times in his 10 year career.)
69 - Jermaine O'Neal (O'Neal has looked really good this season as a member of the Raptors, which makes me think he was dogging it for awhile in Indiana. Unfortunately for him, he rather gruesomely hurt his knee last night, though he was able to walk off the court under his own power. I once stood behind him in line at a snack cart at the Rose Festival in Portland when he was still a teenager.)
5 - Josh Smith (A still fairly under-the-radar shot-blocker and dunker who has improved his scoring every season he's been in the league.)

2 - Al Horford (He's young and promising, much like his team, the Hawks. The Hawks were, for a time, my second favorite team behind the Blazers. I thought Dominique Wilkins was amazing and I used to be able to see their games on TBS.)
44 - Kenyon Martin (Another oft-injured Nugget.)

63 - Shane Battier (Battier has managed to shake the Duke NBA curse and establish himself as a premier defensive stopper. I just wish he played in the East.)
81 - Jordan Farmar (Part of me dies inside every time I see a Laker uniform. The Lakers are officially stupid for not starting this guy in favor of Derek Fisher, however.)

168 - Bruce Bowen (Interesting photo.)

127 - Chris Paul (If I was starting a franchise and I could choose anyone in the league, Chris Paul would be my pick. If someone else got to choose first, then I'd go with Dwight Howard.)
116 - Nenad Kristic

158 - Martell Webster (Webster is a deadly 3-point shooter. He's still recovering from an injury he suffered in training camp. Last season he scored 24 points in one quarter against Utah, and pretty much everything positive against Utah makes you awesome in my book.)
171 - Robert Horry (One look at Horry's stats on the back makes one aware about just how terrible of a player he is. It just goes to show how much a few clutch baskets and reputation can keep a lousy player earning a decent salary.)
110 - Rashad McCants
169 - Manu Ginobili (Ginobili is receiving his Sixth Man Award, but you can see in his face that he'd rather start.)
113 - Bostjan Nachbar

U-19 - Gheorghe Muresan Ultimates (Uhh... okay. I don't even know what to say about this. This is part of the Target exclusive insert set mentioned on the wrapper.)

SQ-17 - LeBron James Starquest Common (And each one of these packs, I'm guessing, contains one of the shiny Starquest cards, like all the other sets.)