Hoops Hobby

Like always, I’m periodically browsing the list of Indiana Pacers all-time roster on Basketball Reference. Just for fun, I’ll look into a certain player to see what card options are out there, even if it’s not a part of a larger blog post I’m working on. This week I landed on Calvin Natt, a player who finished his long, successful career with a brief Pacers stint. Most of his years, including an All-Star season in 1984-85, were with the Blazers and Nuggets. Calvin doesn’t have any cards in a Pacers uniform, but has plenty of certified autograph cards showing his time with the Blazers and Nuggets.

I decided that for my autograph binder, the Nuggets team colors are fairly close to the Pacers, and if you don’t stare too hard at the one I picked up in particular, it could pass for a Pacers card. It’s a Signature Selections autograph card from 2021-22 Select. This makes the second card in my autograph project from this set, the first being Torrey Craig in a Pacers uniform.

If not for the red on the side of the jersey, the Nuggets jersey wouldn’t really bother me at all.

The second pickup is also a Panini era card, and it’s of a Pacer who’s future with the team is uncertain.

Obi Toppin is a restricted free-agent at the time of this writing. He had some great moments for the Pacers and at times was an offensive weapon that fit perfectly into what the Pacers were trying to do, which was get up the floor in transition as fast as possible. This led to some spectacular plays from Toppin on a regular basis. He also had some stretches where he turned the ball over, particularly in the playoffs, and in those moments he was frustrating to watch.

Overall though, the Pacers made an an excellent trade to grab him from the Knicks for a minimal price, even if he ends up with another team in the offseason.

I decided I wanted to go ahead and add an autograph to remember this playoff run and his role in it. In general I enjoy the Court Kings brand. It reminds me of the Topps Gallery product of the late 90s and very early 2000s. The sticker autograph is obvious on the card, which detracts from the overall aesthetics, but I’m good with this card being in the binder, and it was a reasonable price. It would be cool to have a card of Toppin from in-playoff game dunk against the Knicks where he went between his legs and threw it down. If one of those surfaces down the line this Court Kings auto would likely be replaced.

Between these last two autographs coming in and the ones I have waiting for me on COMC, I’m up over 150 different Pacers player autographs for my binder project. The next significant milestone is a moving target, but 190 would make the 50% mark.

Thanks for reading, as always.