2020-21 NBA Hoops Set Completion

 As a general rule, I don't collect shiny new cards.  There are too many vintage sets where I would rather direct my resources.  But sometimes rules are meant to be broken, especially when you have an antsy brother who likes to try for that "big hit".  So I ended up with a bunch of these.

Upon noticing how close to a complete set I had, I dove into the world of online auctions and bought a box of NBA Hoops, hoping to secure the set (it was very affordable).  Not only did I complete the set, but I ended up with 2 1/2 sets, along with a few inserts.  NBA Hoops is your basic Panini product and as such comes with plenty of chasers and parallels.  Here is an example of 3 Rubio's, the basic and 2 parallels.  I won't be trying to complete the parallel set(s).  Really, I don't get the point and they don't add much value (ditto for the subsets).

Speaking of not adding any value, Panini in all their good wisdom decided to throw in something called Rise N Shine.  I guess this would qualify as an artifact card.  Here are two I ended up with, these make no sense, its just a white patch!  These two are identical, and honestly this seems rather lazy of Panini.

It gets worse when you read the back of the card...why even include this?

Of course, Panini also made a well known error, mixing up the card backs of Jeremy Lamb and Zach Collins.  From what I could find, this remains an uncorrected error.  Therefore card 298 doesn't exist. Interesting look from Zach Collins, it seems like he's focused more on the camera than putting the ball in the hoop.

The set includes 50 rookies numbered from 200 to 250 and gives a set collector something to look forward to. As far as the 'basic' set this is where I consider it complete.  Panini also added 20 more cards called "Hoops Tribute" at the end to make the set numbered to 270.  Though these seem more like chase cards than anything else.  I don't think I'll chase the "high numbers", but there are some other goodies like stickered autographs.  I much prefer on-card auto's over this.  I'm just hoping these were not signed by their mothers.