Yeah cheers for that tag
@nichj99
Yeah bud, I am a collector of an obscure player. There are others that do so as well around, but you usually find there is some connection there. Usually it will relate to a team that the collector follows or even if you enter a break and nab a few nice cards of a player, then you might PC, or even side PC that player.
My story (which has been told many a time) is a little different to the above scenarios, but will give you an insight into how it came about.
My first ever PC, during the 90's, was Shawn Kemp. I then before the days of internet trading and buying took off, had all the cards that I could afford of him so I started a side PC (which is now as big as my Kemp one) of Gary Payton, as they were Sonics teammates. After a while I chose the then slam dunk Brent Barry as another side PC.
I came back to collecting full on around the 2012-13 season and after meeting a few people (mainly nichj99 who was starting his Faried PC around the same time) I decided I wanted to collect a rookie from that year also, mainly as my PC players were long since retired (not knowing Panini filled their products with them anyways). As Gary Payton and Brent Barry attended the same college, Oregon State University, I decided to look and see if anyone was drafted from there of late. A late first round pick at #23 came up from OSU, Jared Cunningham.
From there, I started collecting him and about almost 2 years on I think, I have added some 100 plus cards to my PC of him. I like to think I have the biggest (and best) Cunningham collection going around. He has now journeyed around the NBA and the D League, spending time with 5 NBA teams, not getting much love at many of the spots. It has certainly been a lot of fun collecting him but I would like to list some positives and negatives in this strategy.
Positives
* Lesser know players you will usually find the nicer cards at lower prices due to their uncollectability so to speak.
* During their rookie campaigns, most will still get a lot of product out there. This works for some players not all.
* If you find a guy that no one else collects, you often find people will help you or let you know when that big card gets pulled.
Negatives
* Having a player from a big name team but a not big name player can mean that some sellers of cards from breaks will often try to recoup their break money buy selling the cards often higher than what they are worth. You really need to be patient.
* After their rookie campaign, should they struggle to find spots on a roster, the number of cards produced also gets smaller. In the case of Cunningham, in his second season, he had a total of 4 cards produced including a 1/1. In this his 3rd season, he had 2. Makes it easier to collect those cards as I can proudly say I own 75% of all his 2nd year and 100% of his 3rd year cards, but if you want to keep collecting the player into new sets, it makes it hard.
I do like your idea of Luke Walton. He is another of those guys with a story so always fun to collect. Another avenue you could try is a team and do autos and GU's of that team. I am currently looking at that with my beloved Seattle Sonics and getting some nice stuff from Panini right now.
Hope that helps!
