We recently looked at the most exclusive Skybox set of 1999-2000, E-X. The set was only 90 cards and you had to pay $3.99 for a three-card pack. But Skybox made sure to have the other side of the spectrum covered as well with Skybox Impact, the most accessible of Skybox’s 1999-00 sets. This one was 200 cards (175 veterans and 25 rookies) and why not try to complete the set when you were getting ten cards for 99 cents? Because of this, the cards are not very valuable today, but that wasn’t the point of the set. This was about simplicity and fun…purchase as much as you want and try to collect them all! No parallel sets, no serial-numbered rookies, even the two insert sets weren’t very hard to find. There weren’t even any subsets! Players were simply scattered randomly, #1-200, and when rookies appeared, the design was changed for those cards.
There was no doubt you found a rookie card with the word “Rookies” very large on the left. There was also a large net in the background. A small, but clever, design element was a thin border surrounding the player. If you look closely, the player weaves in-and-out of this border. On this Steve Francis card, his shoes are tucked inside the border while the basketball extends on top of it. When the set was produced, it was these rookies that had the most value, of course. Nothing unusual, just collectors spreading their nets as wide as possible gathering rookies for the next potential star.
The backs were very traditional and the same for veterans and rookies. Typical biographical information, statistics, and additional info below. On the Steve Francis rookie, this is used well by explaining the philosophy behind the Rockets selecting him. Although they led the league in three-pointers the previous season, they needed a playmaker with dribble penetration. The inclusion of turnovers/game is something slightly out of the ordinary.
Nothing too exciting to say, just a nice card in a simple, affordable set!
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