Franchise players are dime a dozen, but there's only one Stevie Franchise!
Pint sized dynamo who could throw down with the best of the big fellas. Remember him for his early years on the Rockets with Yao and forget the rest... I'll link to a video showcasing some highlights and an article for those not familiar with his antics and his story.
His story as told by Steve Francis himself..
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/steve-francis-i-got-a-story-to-tell
The Rookies - Drafted second overall and traded to the Rockets after basically forcing his way out of Vancouver in rather controversial circumstances.
1999-00 Upper Deck Gold Reserve /3500 - gold reserve and the gold foil and elegant font - classy (ignore the dot matrix serial numbering).
1999-00 Skybox Premium Action Parallel Rookie - Skybox Premium is among my all-time fave sets. Great looking everything. Green foil - I'm all for it!
Some other stuff - inserts, parallels and the like
2003-04 Upper Deck - Air Academy - not approprite for many guards, but Stevie definitely belongs to this set. Nice finish without going all out bling.
2001-02 Upper Deck Pros & Prospects - Star Command - about as clsoe as you're going to get to a Star Wars card in a basketball set. Well executed theme actually.
2003-04 Fleer Authentix - Ticket Studs - Love an oversized card, not such a big fan of the big creases though! LIttle big man for sure, finished as many oops as he threw!
2001-02 Topps Xpectations - Changing of the Guard - Nice sheen and finish. Ushered in a new generation of PGs indeed.
2000-01 Upper Deck Encore - Vertical Forces - such a nice deisgn and finish with all the right names for this set. Would do the set chase but for the Kobe.
2000-01 Fleer Mystique - NBAwesome - these cards are just awesome - looks like an acetateish finish over a court kings drawing. Hard to explain but great in hand.
1999-00 Skybox Metal - Scoring Magnets Nice concept and finish. Nothing too 'metallic' about it though, die cut seems like a bit of an after-thought.
2003-04 Fleer Focus - Auto Focus /250 - not a big fan of this set, just wanted to see it in hand, but extremely disappointing.
2000-01 Topps Stars - On The Horizon - so blingy and bright . Not sure how they get this card so shiny...really pops in hand compared to many others.
1999-00 Skybox NBA Hoops Decade - Up Tempo - Parallel /1989 - Unusal finish on these cards, hard to describe but I've taken quite a liking to it.
2000-01 NBA Hoops Hot Prospects - Hoops Originals - BIt of a weird die cut (each players head pops out like a giant zit) but an exceptionally nice background finish.
2001-02 Topps Chrome - Fast & Furious - Refractor - Never used to a big fan of refractors but they've really grown on me in the last couple of years. Especially the cards with plenty of colour and pop. For some reason I picked up three of these, which means I probably have five or six on total... :-S
2001-02 Topps Chrome - Mad Game - Refractor - Probably not as nice a refractor due to the more subdued colours. ..and for soem reason I also picked up three of these.
2000-01 Upper Deck Slam - Air Supremacy - Love acetate and love the big dunkers, great looking set. Great pic too, makes all the difference.
2000-01 Fleer Mystique - Film at 11 - such a well deisgned and executed card. Finish is exceptionally good, but no holo, prizm, refractor finish to note. Worthy set chase contender.
2000-01 Fleer Showcase - Elementary - Hard to capture in the right light - but when it does it really is quite impressive.
2000-01 Fleer Futures - Characteristics - prety hard to track these down. Pretty good fit given his later stint in China and how his best basketball was likely apprecaited by a few hundred million in China as Yao's teammate.
Well that;s about all for now, thanks for having a look and a read. Hopefully it was a Merry Christmas for all and some good Boxing Day sales, test match cricket or yachting for many more too!
Pint sized dynamo who could throw down with the best of the big fellas. Remember him for his early years on the Rockets with Yao and forget the rest... I'll link to a video showcasing some highlights and an article for those not familiar with his antics and his story.
His story as told by Steve Francis himself..
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/steve-francis-i-got-a-story-to-tell
The Rookies - Drafted second overall and traded to the Rockets after basically forcing his way out of Vancouver in rather controversial circumstances.
1999-00 Upper Deck Gold Reserve /3500 - gold reserve and the gold foil and elegant font - classy (ignore the dot matrix serial numbering).
1999-00 Skybox Premium Action Parallel Rookie - Skybox Premium is among my all-time fave sets. Great looking everything. Green foil - I'm all for it!
Some other stuff - inserts, parallels and the like
2003-04 Upper Deck - Air Academy - not approprite for many guards, but Stevie definitely belongs to this set. Nice finish without going all out bling.
2001-02 Upper Deck Pros & Prospects - Star Command - about as clsoe as you're going to get to a Star Wars card in a basketball set. Well executed theme actually.
2003-04 Fleer Authentix - Ticket Studs - Love an oversized card, not such a big fan of the big creases though! LIttle big man for sure, finished as many oops as he threw!
2001-02 Topps Xpectations - Changing of the Guard - Nice sheen and finish. Ushered in a new generation of PGs indeed.
2000-01 Upper Deck Encore - Vertical Forces - such a nice deisgn and finish with all the right names for this set. Would do the set chase but for the Kobe.
2000-01 Fleer Mystique - NBAwesome - these cards are just awesome - looks like an acetateish finish over a court kings drawing. Hard to explain but great in hand.
1999-00 Skybox Metal - Scoring Magnets Nice concept and finish. Nothing too 'metallic' about it though, die cut seems like a bit of an after-thought.
2003-04 Fleer Focus - Auto Focus /250 - not a big fan of this set, just wanted to see it in hand, but extremely disappointing.
2000-01 Topps Stars - On The Horizon - so blingy and bright . Not sure how they get this card so shiny...really pops in hand compared to many others.
1999-00 Skybox NBA Hoops Decade - Up Tempo - Parallel /1989 - Unusal finish on these cards, hard to describe but I've taken quite a liking to it.
2000-01 NBA Hoops Hot Prospects - Hoops Originals - BIt of a weird die cut (each players head pops out like a giant zit) but an exceptionally nice background finish.
2001-02 Topps Chrome - Fast & Furious - Refractor - Never used to a big fan of refractors but they've really grown on me in the last couple of years. Especially the cards with plenty of colour and pop. For some reason I picked up three of these, which means I probably have five or six on total... :-S
2001-02 Topps Chrome - Mad Game - Refractor - Probably not as nice a refractor due to the more subdued colours. ..and for soem reason I also picked up three of these.
2000-01 Upper Deck Slam - Air Supremacy - Love acetate and love the big dunkers, great looking set. Great pic too, makes all the difference.
2000-01 Fleer Mystique - Film at 11 - such a well deisgned and executed card. Finish is exceptionally good, but no holo, prizm, refractor finish to note. Worthy set chase contender.
2000-01 Fleer Showcase - Elementary - Hard to capture in the right light - but when it does it really is quite impressive.
2000-01 Fleer Futures - Characteristics - prety hard to track these down. Pretty good fit given his later stint in China and how his best basketball was likely apprecaited by a few hundred million in China as Yao's teammate.
Well that;s about all for now, thanks for having a look and a read. Hopefully it was a Merry Christmas for all and some good Boxing Day sales, test match cricket or yachting for many more too!
