It wasn’t simple to comply with its 1996 set, which contained rookie playing cards for future Corridor of Famers, comparable to Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, and Ray Allen.
However the 1997 Topps basketball set featured a couple of extra Corridor of Fame rookies in Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady and Chauncey Billups.
Not too shabby…
And, as if that wasn’t sufficient of a purpose to love this set already, the truth that 34 gamers within the 220-card guidelines are Corridor of Famers ought to do it.
That is proper, greater than 15% of the 1997 Topps basketball guidelines is enshrined in Springfield.
So, whereas it is probably not an enormous guidelines, it packs loads of punch.
And on this information, we have a look at the 15 Most worthy.
Let’s leap proper in!
1997 Topps #115 Tim Duncan Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $75
The “Massive Basic” was essentially untouchable when he stepped on an NBA court docket for the primary time.
Chosen first general out of Wake Forest within the 1997 NBA Draft, Tim Duncan was ready-made as the whole energy ahead within the league.
The 21-year-old already had a developed bag of tips and a number of ending strikes in and across the paint.
Duncan additionally joined Corridor-of-Fame teammate David Robinson on protection to create the NBA’s most impenetrable rim-protecting duo.
San Antonio completed 2nd in defensive ranking in Duncan’s rookie season, up from useless final within the 1996-97 marketing campaign.
The 99.4 mark was the perfect in franchise historical past as much as that time.
Duncan ended his near-unanimous Rookie-of-the-12 months marketing campaign averaging 21.1 factors, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and a pair of.5 blocks.
The NBA All-Defensive Second Teamer positioned within the prime 5 of the league’s MVP voting and have become the primary rookie since Larry Fowl (1980) to make an All-NBA First Group.
Most significantly to San Antonio, Duncan impacted uncooked wins and losses, rocketing the 56-26 Spurs to a 36-win enchancment and a run to the Western Convention Semifinals.
1997 Topps #171 Kobe Bryant
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $75
19-year-old Los Angeles Lakers swingman Kobe Bryant did not care that he was the youngest starter in All-Star Sport historical past.
He wasn’t going to behave all shy and wide-eyed when he knew he might ball.
As a substitute of deferring to the sport’s legendary forged of Corridor-of-Famers and veterans, Bryant went proper on the largest canine within the yard, taking it to a flu-stricken Michael Jordan from the opening tip.
“It was enjoyable,” Jordan mentioned later. “I used to be making an attempt to fend him off as a lot as I might. He got here at me fairly early. If I see somebody that is possibly sick or no matter, you have to assault him. I like his angle.”
It was an announcement of intent from a head-turning sophomore season.
Ending second to Phoenix’s Danny Manning for NBA Sixth Man of the 12 months, Bryant averaged 15.4 factors, 3.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.9 steals in 26 minutes per sport.
He began simply one among his 79 regular-season video games, however the growth of his two-man sport with franchise huge man Shaquille O’Neal set the 61-win Lakers up for sustained success.
It was an important growth that helped Los Angeles punch its ticket to its first Western Convention Finals look since 1991.
1997 Topps #123 Michael Jordan
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $65
Michael Jordan’s 1997-98 “retirement” season did not merely reaffirm his standing because the NBA’s GOAT.
It strengthened his standing because the league’s most significant cultural ambassador, a seismic impression that carries on at present.
Take “The Final Dance,” for one.
For these quarantined through the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, the multi-part NETFLIX sequence was required viewing.
It gave basketball-starved followers an insightful, entertaining, and controversial have a look at the occasions surrounding the Bulls’ head-spinning run to a sixth NBA title.
It additionally opened the door to a Jordan we have by no means heard from in a public discussion board.
The particulars of Jordan’s ultimate stand with the Bulls are actually NBA folktale.
The 34-year-old capturing guard overcame Scottie Pippen’s accidents, an getting older & drained roster, and off-the-court shenanigans to win his tenth scoring title and fifth MVP award.
The Bulls have been now not bulletproof, however Jordan did not care.
He was defiant and uncompromising to the tip, punctuating the story with a 45-point blitzkrieg within the deciding Sport 6 of the NBA Finals.
The six-time Finals MVP’s game-winning steal and swish scarred a era of Utah Jazz followers.
It is also a required spotlight for almost each NBA retrospective you watch.
1997 Topps #125 Tracy McGrady Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $35
A ninth-overall choose ought to earn a child some respect.
That wasn’t the case for 18-year-old Tracy McGrady.
“My first coach informed me I used to be going to be out of the league in three years,” McGrady remembers. “I used to be so excited within the second half to be taking part in.”
When the Toronto Raptors grabbed McGrady within the 1997 NBA Draft, they knew it might be a protracted growth course of.
Nevertheless, head coach Darrell Walker wasn’t feeling it and buried McGrady deep within the rotation throughout his rookie 12 months.
The Florida native performed round ten minutes per sport underneath Walker earlier than the Raptors head man was ousted amid an 11-38 begin.
New coach Butch Carter fared no higher (5-28), however at the very least he gave McGrady some rope to indicate what he might do.
Total, it was a making an attempt and unproductive first 12 months for the long run Corridor-of-Fame swingman.
McGrady averaged 7.0 factors, 4.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.8 steals per sport.
He confirmed promise down the stretch, however the Raptors’ 16-66 end left everybody feeling chilly.
1997 Topps #1 Scottie Pippen
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $30
The Chicago Bulls would not play ball with Scottie Pippen on a brand new contract.
Pippen responded in form.
The Bulls’ small ahead injured his ankle through the 1997 NBA Finals and will have opted to bear surgical procedure after the workforce’s title win.
This is able to have allowed him to begin the common season, able to go.
As a substitute, the pending free agent delayed surgical procedure as he pushed for a profitable new contract with Bulls proprietor Jerry Krause.
Krause would not budge, and Pippen responded by not doing something.
“I had a ruptured tendon in my ankle, and I made a decision to have surgical procedure late as a result of I used to be like, ‘ what? I am not gonna f**okay my summer time up making an attempt to rehab for a season, you understand?” Pippen mentioned. “They are not gonna be trying ahead to having me, so I will get pleasure from my summer time, and I will use the season to arrange.”
Pippen performed simply 44 regular-season video games, but nonetheless did greater than sufficient for an additional All-Defensive First Group nod.
He additionally landed on the All-NBA Third Group and within the prime ten of the league MVP race.
Within the playoffs, Pippen averaged 16.8 factors, 7.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and a pair of.1 steals in an NBA-high 21 video games en path to his sixth NBA championship.
1997 Topps #54 Allen Iverson
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $30
Larry Brown and Allen Iverson have been the perfect issues that would have occurred to 1 one other.
Brown helped Iverson evolve into the participant who gained 4 scoring titles and an NBA MVP award.
Iverson gave the journeyman coach a springboard to a late-career renaissance.
It was a useful pairing for each of them.
Nevertheless, the combination of oil and water led to loads of battle of their early days collectively.
“I simply felt if I had a slight remorse to something that has something to do with my profession, I would not have been taking part in tug-of-war with him early in my profession,” Iverson mentioned. “He needed all the pieces that I needed for myself and for our workforce, and I did not take constructive criticism the way in which that I used to be purported to.”
Brown joined the Sixers for the 1997-98 stint recent off a four-year stint with the Indiana Pacers.
The Sixers have been capable of submit a nine-game enchancment to 31-51 in Brown’s first 12 months, nevertheless it was extra regardless of the 2’s relationship than due to it.
Nonetheless, Iverson had a robust 12 months, averaging 22.0 factors on a career-best 46.1% capturing with 6.2 assists and three.7 rebounds in 39.4 minutes per sport.
1997 Topps #106 Dennis Rodman
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $30
Earlier than his time with the Chicago Bulls, Dennis Rodman’s NBA profession was a seemingly countless string of suspensions, controversies, and basic weirdness.
After the Bulls gained the title in 1998, “The Worm” left for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the complications started anew.
So, how precisely did Rodman preserve it collectively for a trio of Bulls title runs?
“Only a few individuals can cope with Dennis,” Michael Jordan mentioned succinctly. “We did an excellent job with that. I do not know if there’s anybody else on the market who can cope with him. He carries lots of baggage.”
It wasn’t that Rodman had modified a lot or the distractions weren’t there.
The setting helped him succeed and cope with his demons in a (principally) productive method.
That was mirrored within the 36-year-old energy ahead’s tenacious protection through the 1997-98 marketing campaign.
Ending fifth for NBA Defensive Participant of the 12 months, Rodman took house his seventh consecutive rebounding title (15.0) whereas posting the second-highest defensive win shares (5.9) for his 14-year profession.
Rodman was mainly an NBA linebacker with a shutdown cornerback’s contact.
He bullied and diminished every opponent’s largest offensive threats, primarily slicing the court docket in half.
1997 Topps #109 Shaquille O’Neal
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $30
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Del Harris knew exactly the place his bread was buttered through the 1997-98 marketing campaign.
Harris strapped the whole Lakers offensive assault to Shaquille O’Neal’s sizeable shoulders, upping Shaq’s utilization charge to a career-high 32.9%.
O’Neal made good on this elevated focus, main the NBA in each PER (28.8) and field-goal proportion (.584) for the primary of 5 consecutive seasons.
The Lakers’ offensive ranking improved from ninth in 1996-97 to second.
Their inside-out offense weakened opposing entrance traces and opened the door for late-game runs and straightforward buckets.
O’Neal was the primary beneficiary, averaging workforce highs in factors per sport (28.3) and rebounds (11.4).
He additionally completed eighth within the NBA with 2.4 blocks per sport.
As O’Neal’s partnership with Kobe Bryant progressed, he’d change into an much more efficient weapon down low.
That is scary to consider on reflection, contemplating that the now five-time All-Star completed fourth within the league’s MVP rankings and made his first All-NBA First Group.
1997 Topps #17 Charles Barkley
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $25
The Houston Rockets theoretically gave Charles Barkley his finest likelihood at an NBA title, however Father Time had different concepts.
Houston’s super-team trio of Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Clyde Drexler entered 1997-98 with 40 mixed common seasons and 37 postseasons on the odometer.
Accidents and age reared their ugly head all season lengthy, primarily on the defensive finish.
With Drexler and Barkley huffing and puffing alongside and Olajuwon out for almost half of the common season, the Rockets slipped from tenth in defensive ranking the 12 months earlier than to the underside 5 of the league.
Houston’s Eighth-rated offense stored them afloat throughout a 12-5 begin, however collective put on and tear caught up on the street to a 41-41 end and disappointing Eighth seed within the West.
Barkley averaged his fewest factors (15.2) since his 1984-85 rookie season and the fewest steals (1.0) of his profession up to now.
His 11.7 rebounds a contest would have been good for fourth within the NBA, however he did not qualify for the league’s leaderboard attributable to time missed.
It received worse within the playoffs.
Houston raced out to a 2-1 lead of their best-of-five First Spherical matchup with the 1st-seeded Jazz however misplaced the subsequent two after Barkley tore his triceps in Sport 4.
1997 Topps #148 Kevin Garnett
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $25
The Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett went right down to the wire with contract negotiations in 1997 earlier than deciding on a record-breaking six-year, $126 million deal.
The 2 sides finalized issues a mere hour earlier than the October 1st deadline.
It was a daring transfer for a Timberwolves squad that had made the playoffs precisely as soon as in its eight years of existence.
By extending Garnett for such an unheard-of quantity, the Wolves have been chaining themselves to his growth for higher and worse.
Fortunate for Minnesota, Kevin Garnett was Kevin Garnett.
The 21-year-old energy ahead continued to develop as a scoring risk and defensive drive in 1997-98, and this was proven within the win column.
Minnesota posted its first-ever profitable season, grabbing the seventh seed within the West with a 45-37 end.
The Wolves misplaced their First Spherical matchup with Seattle in a deciding fifth sport, however the mere truth they have been in that place meant all the pieces to the beforehand beleaguered franchise.
Garnett ended the 12 months as a two-time All-Star and was thought of for Defensive Participant of the 12 months.
He averaged 18.5 factors, 9.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.7 steals in 39.3 minutes per sport.
1997 Topps #181 Chauncey Billups Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $25
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1997 Topps #203 Hakeem Olajuwon
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $25
Hakeem Olajuwon had no selection however to hearken to his physique early within the 1997-98 season.
The previous NBA MVP and two-time Defensive Participant of the 12 months began the 12 months a few steps sluggish.
Olajuwon visibly labored going up and down the court docket and did not seem like himself when matching up with opposing facilities down low.
The issue was Olajuwon’s ailing left knee.
The no-doubt Corridor-of-Famer had performed for fairly a while by regular deterioration within the joint, gritting his tooth by the ache.
He knew how integral he was to the workforce’s success and the way expensive an prolonged absence might be to their title hopes.
Early within the 1997-98 marketing campaign, his knee had had sufficient.
The 34-year-old heart underwent arthroscopic surgical procedure, which required two months of rehab time.
It was finally a misplaced season for the generational nice.
Olajuwon posted the fewest factors (16.4) and worst field-goal proportion (48.3%) of his profession thus far.
His 20.8 PER was additionally a brand new profession low.
With their celebrity heart compromised and the remainder of the roster hammered by accidents, Houston didn’t win a postseason sequence for the primary time in six years.
1997 Topps Basketball Playing cards In Assessment
The 1997-98 season was historic, with so many milestones and adjustments occurring concurrently.
It was undoubtedly an fulfilling and attention-grabbing time to be a fan.
You had so many big-name guys like Jordan, Barkley, Olajuwon and others on the backends of their careers.
And so many recent faces like Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Allen Iverson have been able to be the subsequent wave of superstars.
Subsequently, this set’s variety of improbable rookie playing cards and second-year playing cards speaks for itself.
What I feel is considerably neglected is how lots of the guys within the guidelines have been additionally huge names however not fairly Corridor of Fame worthy.
Rasheed Wallace.
Sam Cassell.
Antoine Walker.
Glenn Robinson.
Michael Finley
I might preserve going.
The purpose is, there’s a lot expertise and historical past packed into the 220-card guidelines that, even when a number of the financial values aren’t mind-blowing, the nostalgic worth is off the charts.
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