PC'ing a Player , "Investing" , Risk ...

[OMG]

Eh guys

Lately Ive been wanting to PC one player and have a collection dedicated to that player .


My biggest worry is Investing too much time & Money in a player then in 2 years he ends up playing overseas or turns out to be a Huge bust . I remember when Johnny Flynn , Michael Beasley & Terrence Williams cards were selling in the couple hundreds/thousands , now nobody wants them .

Nowadays seems like ALL rookies have potential & its pretty difficult to grab some cards since the prices they sell for are just stupid high.


For the experienced Vets here, any advice you could give a member whos starting a PC collection ? What do you look for when you decide which player to collect ?

Also, could you share some of your PC players that did well & others that turned out to be busts.



Thank you

[Highroller]

Best to just have the PC as a PC and not an investment. If you don't worry about the money you can enjoy the PC. If you plan on investing I wouldn't buy a ton of one player as if something happens it's all gone at once.

[EMD34]

I would stick with more established players. You are a lot less likely to lose money doing that than trying to determine which rookies will be all stars (although you wont make as much money either).

[bullrose23]

pc players from your favorite team that's what I do , I have never purchased a card as an investment I collect for the joy of it , but I know most collect to invest which is smarter I guess , but if you pc players from the team you love then when ...if they are a bust at least your team pc can stay strong id be lying if I said I don't care what the value of my cards were ,but since I don't plan on selling value is just for bragging rights , so I love looking at my jay Williams ,ben Gordon eddy curry ....well not curry,lol cards
almost as much as my mjs and roses ......almost

[CubKings]

Investing is a stupid way to collect. Collect something you will enjoy and can keep around regardless of how they turn out.

[msrozen]

Originally Posted by CubKings

Investing is a stupid way to collect. Collect something you will enjoy and can keep around regardless of how they turn out.

i wholeheartedly agree

[puregreen5]

If you know what your doing, its bleeing easy as pie. I use cards to buy nice things for my life (for my home(s), going on nice vacations, clothes, women and charities), I profit 70% of time. To me its as good as the stock market is and its a lot more fun too!

[SHowley2003]

+1 to what everyone else said. If you choose to PC the rookie du jour you can almost guarantee that you will pay a premium that you will never see back unless they turn into the next Kobe AND you happened to grab the one card that becomes "the" card (chrome refractor). If you focus on more established players the price will be more set. Still not an investment though. I have had great luck collecting Paul Pierce. Still plenty of nice rookie cards available to grab and I have landed autos, SPs, GUs etc. The only challenge I have is the premiums on hot releases. So when everyone is scooping up NT I'm focused on Prizm and Select.

PC based on what will get you excited about the hobby, and find prices that you are comfortable spending. I spend on cards as entertainment, not investment. I don't go to the movies hoping to sell my review to Rollngstone for thousands, and I don't break a box of wax hoping to cover my studen loans. If I hit a nice Celtics card I am pumped. Then if I get something that has high trade or sell value it is a great bonus.

[nepatsfan12dt]

Originally Posted by puregreen5

If you know what your doing, its bleeing easy as pie. I use cards to buy nice things for my life (for my home(s), going on nice vacations, clothes, women and charities), I profit 70% of time. To me its as good as the stock market is and its a lot more fun too!

+1. I agree. Even if a player you buy (say Kevin Durant) is already established, you can still get good deals on cards of him. You're not going to make millions, but if you make $20 on an auto of him and you do that 100 times within a year..there's $2,000 profit to spend on other stuff you want.

I agree with buying stuff for the house etc. It's nice to have assets that you know if you wanna buy something cool, you can just sell some cardboard.

[puregreen5]

Originally Posted by nepatsfan12dt

+1. I agree. Even if a player you buy (say Kevin Durant) is already established, you can still get good deals on cards of him. You're not going to make millions, but if you make $20 on an auto of him and you do that 100 times within a year..there's $2,000 profit to spend on other stuff you want.

I agree with buying stuff for the house etc. It's nice to have assets that you know if you wanna buy something cool, you can just sell some cardboard.

Very true, I feel the same!

[Exquisite Man]

I collect for the pure joy and fun of it. But its nice to know if you made money on your cards but as someone else said its really only bragging rights if you have no intention of selling them.

[OMG]

Originally Posted by puregreen5

If you know what your doing, its bleeing easy as pie. I use cards to buy nice things for my life (for my home(s), going on nice vacations, clothes, women and charities), I profit 70% of time. To me its as good as the stock market is and its a lot more fun too!

Women are prob the most expensive of that list haha , well worth it !

[bullrose23]

Originally Posted by Exquisite Man

I collect for the pure joy and fun of it. But its nice to know if you made money on your cards but as someone else said its really only bragging rights if you have no intention of selling them.

that was me , and I can brag all I want until you walked into the room ,that's when I take my ball and go home..lol
cause just one of your cards is worth more than my car...lol
off topic I know but seriously man sick collection

[OMG]

Originally Posted by nepatsfan12dt

+1. I agree. Even if a player you buy (say Kevin Durant) is already established, you can still get good deals on cards of him. You're not going to make millions, but if you make $20 on an auto of him and you do that 100 times within a year..there's $2,000 profit to spend on other stuff you want.

I agree with buying stuff for the house etc. It's nice to have assets that you know if you wanna buy something cool, you can just sell some cardboard.

I like this .

If Im going to PC a player, buy his top cards like logomans,1/1's which will prob cost couple hundred, then Id like to know Im making a smart move because in a couple years I might need the money badly so if I decide to sell atleast I can get back what I paid for, if I make a profit thats even better.


Im sure the guy that PCed Greg Oden spent a huge amount of cash, maybe he did it just the joy or bragging rights, but now hes left with a bunch of cards that he over spent on. Thats just my biggest fear .



What do you guys do before you decide to PC a player ? Follow him during college ? Look at stats? Gut feeling ?

[nepatsfan12dt]

Originally Posted by OMG

I like this .

If Im going to PC a player, buy his top cards like logomans,1/1's which will prob cost couple hundred, then Id like to know Im making a smart move because in a couple years I might need the money badly so if I decide to sell atleast I can get back what I paid for, if I make a profit thats even better.


Im sure the guy that PCed Greg Oden spent a huge amount of cash, maybe he did it just the joy or bragging rights, but now hes left with a bunch of cards that he over spent on. Thats just my biggest fear .



What do you guys do before you decide to PC a player ? Follow him during college ? Look at stats? Gut feeling ?

I personally don't have a certain player/team I collect. I try and get cards that will hold their value or maybe go up. HOFers/Star players etc. I don't do a whole lot with rookie stuff.

[snsdmonkey]

Originally Posted by OMG

What do you guys do before you decide to PC a player ? Follow him during college ? Look at stats? Gut feeling ?

The only player(s), I've PCed properly have been Channing Frye and Anthony Randolph. Even when I sold my PC, I have still kept all the 1/1s and rare Patch/Autos.

When I decide to 'invest' in a player, I look at stats and his position on the team. No use having a player like Anthony Randolph who sits behind 3 PFs on the Nuggets team.

NBA & ABA Basketball Statistics & History | Basketball-Reference.com - one of my favourite sites to compare stats, particularly the advanced ones

Also watch them play, I like exciting players, everyone likes exciting players.

[puregreen5]

Originally Posted by OMG

Women are prob the most expensive of that list haha , well worth it !

They are, but my girl is cool, nothing too crazy! I spend way more on cards, then I do on her and shes cool with that. Dinners, shoes and vacations.

[OMG]

Originally Posted by nepatsfan12dt

I personally don't have a certain player/team I collect. I try and get cards that will hold their value or maybe go up. HOFers/Star players etc. I don't do a whole lot with rookie stuff.

Same, I use to buy some cards of this player , a few of that player, spread the risk. Its safer to that for sure . I decided to PC sonny weems during his RC years. Got excited he went to the Raptors , then the idiot signs overseas ! haha ,oh well

Originally Posted by snsdmonkey

The only player(s), I've PCed properly have been Channing Frye and Anthony Randolph. Even when I sold my PC, I have still kept all the 1/1s and rare Patch/Autos.

When I decide to 'invest' in a player, I look at stats and his position on the team. No use having a player like Anthony Randolph who sits behind 3 PFs on the Nuggets team.

NBA & ABA Basketball Statistics & History | Basketball-Reference.com - one of my favourite sites to compare stats, particularly the advanced ones

Also watch them play, I like exciting players, everyone likes exciting players.

I like how you think. + 1

I dont usually go by their success in college .

College Success = / = NBA success

[snsdmonkey]

Originally Posted by OMG

I like how you think. + 1

I dont usually go by their success in college .

College Success = / = NBA success

True, often their success is not translated and sometimes their playing style doesn't translate either. Point in case, John Henson - horrible offensively and multiple DPOY's in college but has shown some nice post moves and been horrible on rotations in the NBA.

Often players give you plenty of time to observe them before they take off as well so no need to rush ie. Paul George, Serge Ibaka, James Harden so there's no need to jump straight in once their RCs are released.

[AbraCalabro]

I think that if you're investing in cards, you're doing it wrong. That's my opinion.

[Jwhoops]

1. Never invest in rookies

2. Young players averaging big numbers but with poor efficiency on bad teams are usually a trap. There are exceptions, but usually efficiency separates the stars from the guys who are getting shots because somebody has to shoot it.

3. Never invest in players who are hyped up as future stars but currently don't get minutes. Once again, there are exceptions, but typically if a player isn't good enough to get major minutes right now, there's no point in paying up for something that is very likely to never happen.

I'm always amazed at the opportunities there are in year 3-4 of a players' career. Well, not quite opportunities but certainly chances to not lose all your money.

Stephen Curry would be a good example of a guy whose cards were pretty dang cheap headed into the playoffs last year. Guys like John Wall, Anthony Davis and Blake Griffin are way off their highs.

Right now, you can pick up Deron Williams cards for half of what they would be worth if he leads the Nets to the finals...

[MavsRChamps]

PCing (Is that a word?) Rookies is always risky and will on average always be a losing investment ... For every Rookie that goes up in value in 5 years, they'll be at least 5 that go down

There's no way to get past that - That's why even though I like some Rookies, I don't have any of their cards because I know they'll most likely go in value and I don't have that much $$$ to just throw around like that w/ no regard for future value

[GoldenBoy23]

The only constant thing in life is jordanns continuous upward prices and blake griffin going down.

[nissandriver77]

good luck on the endeavour

[puregreen5]

Originally Posted by nissandriver77

I thought you where a millionaire ?

LOL doesn't sound like a millionaires life

home(s). Really?... I guess I have nothing, can't you read full posts! LOL