The Set: In 1990-91, both Hoops and Skybox included the Lottery Picks in their base sets. This was one of the first times ever that collectors could find current-year rookies in base sets. The next year, both companies included Draft Picks in the base set once again, but these sets were becoming too large, 590 cards for Hoops and 659 for Skybox. You’re looking here at the following year, 1992-93. This year, Skybox realized that certain cards would be more exciting as insert sets rather than subsets. They’d be a bit more limited and harder to find, and the base sets would be more manageable for collectors. That’s what happened with this Draft Picks set. They were only inserted 1:8 packs, making for about 75,000 sets. Not exactly limited by today’s standards, but definitely more rare than other early ’90’s junk wax. And they were distributed to keep collectors buying. You could find cards 2, 10, 11, 15, 16 and 18 in the Series I packs. But you wouldn’t finish the set without moving on to Series II.
Awkward Numbering! There’s no cards 4 and 17! They skipped over these players in the draft, Jim Jackson and Doug Christie. The card numbering literally skips. It makes for a very awkward set, honestly. It’s because these two players didn’t sign their contracts in time to be included. But the gaps in the numbering are a bit bothersome. And then it gets even more messy! They then decided to release cards DP4 and DP17 in ’93-94 Skybox as inserts. So now you had price guides splitting up this set so collectors knew where to find the cards, but collectors placing these cards where they belong in the previous year! Oh well…
Despite this, this set was all about Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Latrell Sprewell! Really nice rookie-year cards to have! The photos were close-ups. This worked well when the Draft Picks cards were part of the base set; it helped distinguish them. But it makes for a less exciting insert set. They can be spotted quickly because the rectangle with the player’s name is gold for this set. It matches the gold background on the back. The backs have college statistics, some information, a team logo and you can see that the card number has a “DP” prefix.
The Card: I like the stats on this Alonzo Mourning card. We can really see a player removing all doubt about his NBA potential in that senior year. Look how the rebounds and points just soar between years three and four. And before we leave, I’ll give you another glance at that shirt he’s wearing!
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