April 13, 2024 • 41 mins
The NBA playoffs are almost here and the Mavericks are headed for a first-round playoff series against the Clippers (yet again). To commemorate the special occasion, Marc hosts the show from RJ Duke Sports Cards & Collectibles AND (nervously) participates in his first -ever live card break on air.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Benini Trading Cards and
Collectibles on ninety seven to one TheFreak, the official homes all Dallas Mavericks
Games, hosted by legendary NBA reporterand publisher of his substack, The Steinline.
Here's Mark Stein. Everyone, welcomein to the Saturday Steinline, a
(00:31):
momentous edition of the Saturday Steinline forus here at ninety seven to one The
Freak. I am coming to youlive on a remote from RJ. Duke's
Cards and Collectibles in McKinney. Asa lifelong collector of sports cards, I'm
(00:53):
absolutely giddy to be surrounded by cardsand boxes and memorabilia and all kinds of
stuff everywhere I look in this shop. We're gonna be here. We're on
the air till one. I'm gonnastay here for another hour after that,
just to hang out with anyone whowants to talk about the NBA Playoffs coming
(01:17):
up, talk about collectibles. It'sthe second but well, basically, the
NBA regular season ends tomorrow. Everyone'sin action tomorrow and then the play in
tournament starts Tuesday. The NBA Playoffsstart a week from today. So it's
a tremendous time of year. Lovethis time of year, and like I
(01:40):
said, to be able to dothis in a card shop, it makes
me feel like a kid again.And we're gonna have a great time this
afternoon. It's fun just we've beenhere for about an hour now. Producer
Maddie back in the studio. We'vegot Yvonne on the scene helping me here
(02:00):
with engineering duties, and it's funto just watch people come in mowing through
boxes of cards looking for that gemthat they want to add to their collection.
And we've got some amazing giveaways totoday for anyone who is in person
and wants to hang out with us. Enter the drawings that we have here
(02:21):
in my possession. This isn't evenon sale yet. I'm sure Mavericks fans
listening saw this week. They sawthe coaches and Luka Doncic his teammates all
wearing Pravy MVP T shirts on theroad earlier this week. Prav of course,
if you speak Slovenian. I'm stillworking on my SLOVENI and it's not
(02:44):
quite there yet, but I doknow that it means, in essence,
the loose transit, the loose translationis the real MVP. And you saw
all of Luca's teammates and coaches wearingthis shirt to kind of bring awareness to
the incredible season that donc individually,Nikola, Jokic, and Denver widely considered
(03:07):
the MVP favorite. When you looknot just at the recent strawpol ESPN did,
but what the Las Vegas oddsmakers aresaying, the projection is that Jokic
is going to win this thing.We'll talk more about this in the third
segment. To me, this shouldbe a much closer race. I think
Luka Doncic and Shay Gilts Alexander areright there with Jokic if you really want
(03:30):
to examine their three cases. Butthis shirt PRAVI MVP. You know there's
been there were billboards in Times Squareyesterday. You know, I've heard from
a lot of fans that want thisshirt. It's not even on sale yet
from what I'm told, it islikely to go on sale next week.
But we have one. I havea men's large mint unworn shirt. Someone,
(03:53):
a contest entrant who is here todaywith us live in McKinney, is
going to win this. And believethat the brave owners of RJ. Dukes
here in McKinney have entrusted me withthis responsibility because I have never in my
life done a card break. Butwe in the second segment, Ryan Lawson,
(04:16):
who this is his shop. We'regonna sit together and he's gonna try
to nurse me through my first livecard break. A twenty twenty three box
of Panini NBA origins Yokich is onthe cover of this box. There are
seven cards inside, but two ofthe seven cards are either autographed or memorabilia
(04:40):
cards. And if you are herewith us and you enter the drawing,
we're giving away all the cards insidethis box. After it's open, there
will be a video stream live streamdrawing on Tuesday to reveal the winner of
that contest. And my dear friendsat Panini have weighed me in with I
(05:01):
have a sack full of Monopoly PrismNBA cards that I am giving away to
everyone who visits us. And ontop of all that, this is not
a traditional collectible, but the UtahJazz sent out a beautiful Keyante George illustration
gargantuan card of Keyante George to kindof promote his all Rookie campaign to members
(05:29):
of the media, and Kyante Georgeof course played here locally, Lewisville product,
and so surely there is gonna bea Kyante George fan who comes through
this door today and makes a caseto me why they should receive this really
cool illustration. So we're gonna havefun all afternoon, like I said,
(05:50):
even after the show, we're gonnahang out talk playoffs, and let's,
I mean, let's get into thatbecause we are headed for an absolutely crazy
Sunday in the NBA. Nothing isdecided in the NBA except for the MAVs
Clippers in Round one. Everything elseup and down the board in the league
(06:13):
is still up for grabs and stillto be decided. I think I saw
my good friend Matt Moore of theAction Network broke down last night. Just
between five and eight in the EasternConference, there are thirteen different outcomes for
how the teams five through eight canwind up in the standings. And you
know, it's a huge advantage atleast for the Mavericks to already know who
(06:38):
they're playing in Round one, obviouslyplaying the Clippers. The history there,
I think everybody listening knows that history. This is going to be Act three
in the trilogy. Luka Doncic LukaDoncic has played twenty eight career playoff games.
Thirdos are against the Clippers, hismost frequent foe. They went six
(07:00):
games the first time Luca led theMavericks into the playoffs, a seven game
rematch in twenty twenty one, which, of course the road team won the
first six games wild series. Butthis time, I I don't think there's
any disputing the fact that, Imean, the Mavericks are the hottest team
(07:20):
in the league. They've certainly gotthat going for themselves above all, and
health wise, with the state ofKawhi Leonard, you would have to give
the Mavericks an advantage there. Andyou know, as I said, I
know the coaching staff from the minutethis matchup was clinched, was already starting
(07:45):
Thursday to look at film, startdigging into the matchup. And again,
that is something that will be ahuge boost for the Mavericks in their preparations
for what's going to be a difficultfirst round series, because you know,
this is staffs all around the leaguedread this scenario. I spoke to a
(08:05):
couple people with another Western Conference teamthis week that's bound for the playoffs,
and they have no clue who they'replaying in Round one, and that puts
a lot of stress on a coachingstaff when they're not able to start those
preparations as early as they'd like to. So I mean that is I think
the silver lining. The good newsfor Dallas. The Clippers are going to
(08:28):
have home court advantage in the seriesagain. But the good news for Dallas
is that they can lock in tothe Clippers as an opponent, and really,
you know, the preparations again havealready begun there. But honestly,
the best thing if you're the Mavericksand you're watching what's happening throughout the Western
(08:50):
Conference right now, they avoided theplay it. I mean, let's not
forget for a good portion of theseason, this team looked like it was
going to be in the seventh oreighth, you know, in that seven
to ten battle in the West.And knowing that the Mavericks have secured a
spot in the top six, justimagine how much the Phoenix Suns would love
(09:13):
to make the same claim, orthe Lakers, or the Warriors, or
the Sacramento Kings New Orleans. Imean, it is an absolute battle right
now just to get that six seedin the West, and it's amazing,
you know, same thing in theEast. You know, Philadelphia has given
(09:35):
itself a chance now to move outof the play in zone. But if
if Philadelphia ends up in the playin, Miami looks destined for the playing
again. But if Philly and Phoenixand those teams all end up in the
play this is only going to beyear four of the full on playing in
(09:58):
the NBA, where you have teamseven to ten three playing games in each
conference. So it's only even threeyears of this so far. Already eighteen
of the NBA's thirty franchises have woundup in the play in and Philly,
Phoenix, and Sacramento all threatened tolet you know, they're all faced with
the prospect of landing in the plan, which would take it to twenty one
(10:22):
of the thirty teams in the leaguealready having to go through the play in
round just to get into the playoffs. And your Mavericks lighted that fate to
this point with a couple outright playofftrips. And of course last season they
would have loved to have a playin birth, but slipped all the way
to number eleven. And you knowthe West. The West is monstrously back.
(10:48):
It is rebounded in a huge way. Last season in the West,
we only saw two fifty win teams. That's such an aberration from what we're
used to the NBA. This it'sbasically been twenty years that the NBA has
had thirty teams. In the firsteighteen years of the NBA under its current
(11:09):
configuration, the West average five fiftywin teams. We are again at five
fifty win teams. The MAVs becamethe fifth of those teams to get to
fifty, and New Orleans could stillget to fifty if the Pelicans win their
last game. They're at forty nineand thirty two. So tomorrow is going
(11:31):
to be absolute chaos up and downthe NBA with so much to be decided.
When we know Chicago is playing Atlantain a playing game, we know
the Mavericks will be on the roadin a five versus four first round series
against the Clippers, and otherwise weknow nothing, And so that makes for
(11:52):
a tremendous final day on the leagueschedule. And this is also the first
time in league history the league saidlast night, where you know Denver with
that crazy loss in San Antonio,so unexpected Denver. They beat Minnesota earlier
this week, and it looks likethe Nuggets, the defending champions, are
(12:13):
going to secure the number one seed. And then the Nuggets go to San
Antonio Friday night and roll up atwenty plus point lead, and what happens
The Spurs find a way to comeall the way back win that game.
And now, as a result,the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, and the
(12:35):
thunder who of course play host tothe Mavericks tomorrow afternoon. All three of
them enter the final day of theregular season at fifty six and twenty five.
It is the first time in leaguehistory through eighty one games that three
teams have the same record and thechance to snag number one in the conference.
(13:00):
And look that conspiracy. The conspiracytheory has already started to circulate that
do the Nuggets act secretly prefer towind up at two or three so they
don't have to see the Mavericks Clipperswinner in round two. I'm gonna go
out on a limb and say,I'm guessing that both the Mavericks and Clippers
(13:22):
will be most happy with that developmentas well if it turns out that way.
I don't think Dallas or the Clips. Whoever survives this first round series.
Don't think the winner would love havingto deal with Jokic and the Nuggets
in round two. So if thatis indeed any part of Denver's motivation,
I don't think they're going to getany protest from either Mavericks coach Jason Kidd
(13:46):
or his Clippers counterpart Tyron Lou.Come on, Stein, Tranlu. What
you gotta pronounce? It's ty Louwhen shortened Taran Lou when we say his
full name. I should know better, and I shouldn't be making mistake after
all these years. But like Isaid, we have this is gonna be
such a good afternoon. The shopis already buzzing. If you're anywhere near
(14:09):
McKinney, come hang out with US. Four hundred North Central Expressway, Sweet
one oh nine. The zip isseven five zero seven zero. We're gonna
be on the air till one.I'm gonna be here till two because after
we get off the air, Ineed to comb this store and make sure
(14:30):
that I do not leave without havinga full grasp of every single thing that
are that are that are behind thevarious glass cases. I see some starting
lineup figures up on the top topshelf that I'm definitely gonna have to check
out because that is definitely from myera and my speed. And like I
said, in the next segment,we are gonna go collectibles heavy because Ryan
(14:52):
Lawson is not gonna just help mewith this card break, which again I'm
gonna be I need to be proceedingso cautiously. I don't even want to
touch these cards, but I'm gonnawe're gonna, We're gonna open this box
and see what's inside this Panini Originsbox. But I also want to ask
him. I want to learn moreabout the modern collectible space. I must
(15:16):
admit that I have I have acquireda few Victor Wembin Yama's already. But
anyone who's come in the shop andI've asked them, what's the basketball card
they want? Wemby is the reflexanswer. And so we're gonna talk more
about kind of what's hot, what'sin vogue in the basketball collectible space.
(15:37):
I'm guessing that that Dantic kid willalso come up in that conversation. And
like I said, already seeing alot of people here, and I hope
you have a chance to join usas well, because, like I said,
we don't get to do this everysingle day, and we got giveaways,
we got playoff previews. And donot worry because in segment three we
(16:02):
are most certainly going to talk aboutthis MVP debate, which has really gotten
serious here in the last week.You know, I reported earlier this week
that even the voting process has changed. The league has had to change the
voting process slightly. Normally, votesfor year end awards would be due the
(16:23):
day after the season immediately season endson Sunday. Votes are doing to the
league office Monday. But this seasonit's the first year of the NBA's sixty
five game rule, and so theyhad to tweak that sum So voters don't
even have their award ballots yet.That won't happen until next week. The
league wants to lock in and besure who exactly is eligible in the various
(16:47):
award categories. You know, thereare five categories where the sixty five rule
applies. Let's see if I cando this off the top of my head.
It's MVP, it's all NBA,it's all defensive team, it's defensive
Place in the Year, and MostImproved Awards so you have to play sixty
five games to qualify in any ofthose categories. All right, we're gonna
(17:10):
go to a quick break when wecome back. Ryan Lawson of RJ Duke
Sports here in McKinney. He's gonnajoin me. We're gonna do this live
card break on the air, talkbasketball, collectibles. All that's next here
on ninety seven, won the Freak. The Saturday Steinline dribbles on here live
in McKinney. We are at RJDuke Sports Cards and Collectibles Live Show.
(17:36):
It's really only the second time inshow history that we've done something like this,
but never before just at a cardshop. And I am joined now
by our very gracious host, whoI must start with an apology here.
See for one thing, I youknow, my MAV's brain never shuts off,
so I've I've turned him into arelative of AJ Lawson on the Mavericks
(18:00):
Roster, even though his last nameis actually Larson. Mister Ryan Larson,
our host, Welcome to the SaturdayStyleline, and thank you so much for
having us. This is I couldstay here all day. This is tremendous.
Oh it's a pleasure. Mark,thanks for coming out too. But
I'm really glad you're sitting here withme, because we've been touting all week
that we're gonna bust open this packof cards. Oh yeah, which I
(18:22):
have never It's funny because Panini.This show does not exist without Panini.
They have been a tremendous partner tothis show and really make it possible.
And they've been saying, you gottado card breaks, you gotta get on
YouTube, and I'm like, Iyou know, I've just I haven't.
I've never done it before. Andso obviously we're on radio. We don't
(18:45):
have the benefit of doing this.I know you do live streams and card
breaks all the time here from theshop, So we're gonna do this on
radio and hopefully that our play byplay can make this oh entertaining. Even
ripping the plastic off, I don'teven like get me started. We just
just come prepared for the plastic portionof the show. Here. Every breaker
(19:06):
has the right knife to use tobe able to break through these things,
because we'll open you know, acase of these, twelve of these at
a time or something along those lines, So you gotta be able to rip
through it, get it open,get it out, and tell everyone what
whip it? Ripping in cards donot like I know that, I know
that's the vocabulary, but it justit makes me nervous. They're they're just
these gentle they're these gentle prizes insidethat we want to we want to handle
(19:30):
with care. Absolutely, But Imean we use big action words to you
know, try to equate with thegreat value you're gonna find in here,
the big hits that you'll find inhere. But what we have here,
are you ready to do this?Yeah? Let's okay, Yeah, but
yes, please talk us through it. Talk. Let's let the audience know
exactly what we gotta. We gottagive them the play by play, so
let's let them know exactly what we'redoing. So what we have here today
(19:51):
is a single box of twenty twentythree twenty twenty four Origins basketball manufactured from
the fine folks at Panini in thesame lines we don't exist as well without
Benisa, so they do a lot, you know, they do a lot
for us as well. What wehave here though twenty three twenty four Origins
basketball. This product just released yesterday, oh really, and it is a
(20:12):
single pack. Inside of this boxseven cards. Two of these cards will
be a type of hit, ifyou will. So that's what we call
an autographed card or a memorabilia cardor an a memorabilia card that is where
they all infuse maybe a piece oftheir jersey or equipment that the player has
worn inside of the card. Andso if I want to buy this box,
(20:33):
it's how much this box retails rightnow for three twenty nine. So
we are giving this away. Bythe way, if you come out to
our store today anytime today, signup, We're gonna give the entire box
away. We're gonna open it.You will get all the cards that are
in this box. So hopefully somebig hits come on out and you know,
win big old cards. So let'slet's rip this open. Man.
(20:55):
That makes me nervous? Did Ihear that? I don't know if you
heard it, but it made butjust seeing just seeing the exact do touch
the So we're gonna slide the box. That's nice, the one pack that's
inside of here. We'll open itup. All right. The pack is
(21:17):
being opened Panini origins. So whatI'm gonna try to do. They'll put
the best cards right in the middle, so I'm gonna try to move around.
So our best cards are last oneto look at all, right,
right off the top, someone Mavericksfans do not want to see James Harden,
who they'll be dealing with very soonin the first round of the playoffs.
(21:37):
Card number one, James Carden.And the thing with these cards,
they are very beautiful design, veryartistic in the design. Not not animated,
but you can see kind of there'sa lot of art artistic in this.
Now this next card here, wegot a rookie Derek Whitehead Brooklyn Nets
And this is a numbered card.This will be a serial number thirty eight
of ninety nine, so ninety nineof this car was made and this will
(22:00):
be the thirty eight. You knewas soon as you saw it that this
is a This is a card ofvalue. Absolutely, it'll be a little
bit more value here. Oh,now we got a nice one here,
big We got Chet and Shade togetherfifty six of seventy five, also serial
numbered, so it's a dual cardfrom the thunder Big Time playoff team this
year. Shay gillis Alexander Chet Holmgrentogether. That's a nice one. So
(22:23):
whoever's gonna win this one, there'spicking up a nice okc card. Zach
Levine still on the Chicago Bulls,on the trade block since November, but
the Bulls did not trade him.I feel like he's been on a trade
block for a few years. Butyes, he is right there with the
Bulls. Next one, we gotanother rookie, Jarris Walker Walker. This
will be a bas rookie. Sothese are some of these are not gonna
(22:44):
be numbered. Here's our first hit. So we got two cards left,
all right, first hit, we'realbably looking at patch and an auto.
This will we call a rookie patchauto or RPA and the BIZ. So
it's a single color patch. Theauto is on sticker. Yes, Maxwell
Lewis. This will be eighty ofninety nine Maxwell lay Lewis memorabilia card.
(23:07):
So that's an RPA Maxwell Lewis,I don't know the name that well.
Then their last one here it willbe another autograph for the Celtics. This
is an on card auto and it'snumber thirteen of one point fifty. It's
Jordan Walsh, gotcha, So JordanWalsh from the Celtics. So that is
(23:27):
what we got. So we gota couple hits out of here, a
couple serial numbered cards. I reallylike that. Okay, see duel,
that's a nice like you said,there's only seventy five of those, yeah,
exactly, So come on down,folks, you could win all these
cards that we just pulled, alongwith the probably MVP. That's right,
we have someone in here. There'sgonna be a contest winner who gets the
(23:48):
Provy MVP T shirt. Again,these are not on sale yet from what
I'm told, there will be asale of these T shirts likely to start
next week. But I obtained one, and there will be a drawing winner
who gets the shirt as well.So let me just the state of the
hobby. You know, obviously,Victor Wenbanyama is going to be the Rookie
(24:11):
of the year, and you getpeople coming in this shop. I mean
yes, does anybody not ask forWemby at this point? Absolutely not.
I mean for basketball this year?It is a Wemby world and we're all
just living in it right now.He has driven the twenty twenty three twenty
twenty four basketball trading card season remarkablylike very few have ever done before.
(24:34):
In fact, we've seen a bigcomeback in basketball cards this year, and
it is thanks in large or mostlyall Part two Victor Wembanyama. I mean
he has definitely on the court,he has proven his ability. He has
a unique capability on the court andhe's you know, also very marketable too,
so he has really driven this hobbyright now, the likes that we
(24:56):
haven't seen since Luca or maybe evengo back to the Braun and since you
brought up maybe give us the thumbnailsketch of what what are what are collectible?
What are collectors after? In termsof Luca, what are what are
the hot items in the in theLuca Dontaic market these way well, for
Luca, you have to go backto his twenty eighteen twenty nineteen season.
Like most of these cards, theseproducts are going to be driven by the
(25:19):
rookie class from that year. Twentyeighteen twenty nineteen was a very successful rookie
class of course led by Luca,and we still get customers coming in all
the time. They want his rookiecards. Prism or his Prism Parallel cards
and parallels are like what we lookedat before. Cards that might be serial
numbered or that we know are shortprinted, so it might be a different
(25:40):
variation of their base cards. Thoseare very valuable. They're very expensive,
not even easy to get these dayssometimes. But they do make a lot
of these cards though, too,So if you're a collector, you can
find them, you're just gonna paya little extra for them. So look,
I'm I'm pretty out of date asa collector the seventies. In the
eighties, this was you know,this was life or death stuff for me.
(26:03):
But that was an era where itwas baseball, baseball, baseball.
I mean, it was tough toeven find basketball cards. There were several
years in the eighties where basketball cardsdidn't even exist once tops started stopped making
them. So in your shop,obviously you have it all here, baseball,
hockey, football, memorabilia, youname it. Where does basketball kind
(26:23):
of fall in terms of consumer interest? Well, for us, because we're
in Texas, of course, footballis going to be king here. Okay,
I would say basketball is a numbertwo and baseball's a close three.
Basketball, especially, I think hascome back more for a while. I
really thought basketball was having some troubles. The twenty two to twenty three season
(26:45):
was tough. Poolo's amazing, He'snot as as all worldly as Wemby and
Chut Holmer never played so it wasreally tough to get along there. The
previous year before that, Kate Cunningham, Jalen Green, very strong players,
but not the type of players thatwould really drive a season of basketball cards.
You have to go back to reallythe Zion Jaw year of nineteen twenty.
(27:08):
That was where people were really thinkingZion was going to be that next
all worldly type of player. AndI know it's still a you know,
we're Jerry still out, I guesson that one. But this guy this
year, Wenby, my goodness,I'm very, very impressed with how well
things have gone for him. Notso much for the Spurs, but they'll
(27:29):
get there. But just his valueand you know, his cards, that's
what people are clamoring for, clamoringfor. It's amazing stuff. So how
can you compare it to? Youknow, on the court, we're constantly
comparing Wemby's rookie year production to whatLebron did as a rookie or you know,
people in my job are gonna ask, you know, is Wemby the
(27:52):
most decorated rookie since Lebron? Inthe card space, how reminiscent is the
frenzy for Wemby compared to what itwas when Lebron was a rookie. It's
a strange comparison because Lebron's rookie yearoh three oh four. The card world
is a lot different like the tradingcards, sports cards, even nonsports cards.
I've seen this real renaissance over thepast several years. I would say
(28:14):
though, right now the demand forWenby is probably even greater than it was
for Lebron back in three oh four, just because the overall number of collectors
has increased since that time. Imean, you know, you go back
in the history of talking about seventiesand eighties. Card collecting really took a
kind of a step back in thelate nineties to even early two thousands,
and then over the last ten yearshas seen quite the resurgence. What happened
(28:40):
was the nineties and this is Itell this story all the time. Fortunately,
people will come in, they wantto sell us their baseball cards from
the nineties and eighties and stuff.And the problem is those manufacturers back then
they only made a few products,and they made millions of these cards,
so there's no demand for them today. Like those cards from back then.
We all thought when we were kids, right that that was gonna you know,
pay for our college and pay forour kids college someday. So we
(29:00):
held on to them captain in ourcloset or whatever. Then we go and
find out today, Oh, they'reworth nothing. I mean, it's a
story I have to tell folks almostevery single day in the store. It's
a tough one. But today themanufacturers learned lessons. They make more products,
they limit the production of products.So there's a lot of demand out
there for these cards and that hascreated a lot of success in this Yeah,
(29:22):
like you said, in this pack, we just busted open that Shay
Gildas Alexander Chad Holmgren card. There'sonly seventy five of them in existence.
Well, once upon a time thatinsert might have you know, they might
have made like one hundred thousand ofthat card or something, but now you
know exactly there's only seventy five ofthe copy of that one. Why do
you think in the last ten yearsthat there's been this rebound for the card
(29:45):
industry and the hobby itself. SoI would say the trajectory was increasing mildly,
let's say, up until about twentytwenty. And this is going to
sound terrible, but the pandemic endedup being a benefit for sports cards.
It's when sports had to stop.Essentially cards still were being produced, but
you also had a lot of peoplethat they either they were stuck at home
(30:08):
so they wanted to go and revisittheir old card collections, or there are
a lot of these you know,daily gambling types that had no games to
bet on, so they have toyou know, kind of help the vice
out by going into sports cards andtrying to buy into breaks if you will,
or buy boxes to try to hitsome big cards. I mean it
is in that sense, you know, not so much gambling, but the
(30:30):
closest thing you could get to itthen and we had we grew collector bases
tremendously between twenty twenty and I wouldeven say like up to twenty twenty two.
Now we're still the growth is stillthere, but that the trajectory was
so massive in that two year timeperiod. And fortunately a lot of folks
have stayed though with us and westill see card prices, you know,
(30:53):
great values. The card companies themselves, they don't just produce one product the
same price. They produce many differentproducts at different price points. Because you
might have the high end card collectorthat wants to spend one thousand dollars for
a box of cards, but youalso have you know, younger card collectors
are the more budget card collectors thatwant to spend maybe eighty bucks for a
box, and they can nowadays.So that's why I say the manufacturer has
(31:17):
learned a lot of lessons over time, and I think that has contributed a
great deal to why cards are successfulright now, Well, look, thanks
a million for hosting us. Thishas been awesome. I greatly appreciate the
education, and I I appreciate youshepherding me through that because I was,
you know, I want to doit right, I was a little nervous.
(31:37):
All right, we are gonna goto break. We still have one
more segment to come here of thisSaturday Steinline. And remember producer Maddie is
back in the studio in Dallas.If you want to send us a text
two one four seven eight seven onenine seven one or eight one seven seven
eight seven one ninety seven, youcan always get me on the Steinline text
(31:59):
line conversation and more about the playoffsthat's next here on ninety seven won the
Freak. Thanks for sticking with ushere on the Saturday Steinline, presented as
always by my friends at Panini TradingCards and Collectibles, really special show for
us. On this Saturday lunchtime.We are live in McKinney at RJ.
(32:22):
Duke Sports Cards and Collectibles, ashop overflowing with all kinds of training cards
and sports memorabilia. And when wego off the air here at the top
of the hour, I will bespending the next hour, yes, visiting
with guests here in the shop andtalking playoffs, talking MAVs, answering any
(32:45):
playoff questions people have. But honestly, I want to get a look at
all this stuff that's in here becauseI've been focused on doing the show.
Maddie back in Dallas at the station. I think we have we have someone
from someone who hit us up onthe text line. Can you please relay
that message that came into the studio. Yeah, so someone messaged great to
(33:08):
hear you on the radio, MarkStein, my son and I go to
RJ. Duke's card shop and McKinneyafter we eat the Old School CC's next
door. Happy you're on the freak. A very nice message. My only
quibble, remember everybody, just atleast give us your first name and initial
(33:28):
the city that you're texting in from. We always want to know where our
listeners are. So basic, markS from Dallas throw the message at us
on the text line. Same thingif you're going to use the iHeart app
to leave us a voice talk backtwo one four seven, eight seven one
(33:49):
nine seven one or seven or eightone seven seven, eight seven one nine
seven one on the text line.And some interesting news this morning in the
NBA the Clippers making roster space toadd kai Jones to the roster. As
long you know, kai Jones wason a ten day recently with Philadelphia,
(34:10):
but he's playoff eligible after finishing aten day with another team, so the
March one eligibility stuff doesn't apply tohim, and kai Jones will be eligible
to play for the Clippers in theplayoffs. That tells you right away that
a week out from the playoffs thatthe Mavericks newfound size, length, athleticism.
(34:32):
It's already on the Clippers mind forthem to make roster room to add
kai Jones, another big man totheir rotation, because these Mavericks they are
and more athletic than the Clippers haveever seen. Obviously, the Clippers have
already beat Luka Doncic led Mavericks teamsin the playoffs twice, but let's be
(34:53):
honest, those rosters did not comparewhatsoever to what the Mavericks are bringing into
the playoffs this time. Dallas wason a sixteen to sixteen and two tear
until last night, when, witha fifty win season clinched with the five
seed essentially sealed. At that point, Dallas naturally decided to Dallas naturally decided
(35:21):
that Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving wouldnot play Friday night against the Pistons.
Dallas basically went with reserves and decidedthat you know, a loss would not
be would not cause them any damage, so they prioritized rest above all last
night, which makes total sense.I expect the same thing Sunday in Oklahoma
(35:43):
City when the MAVs play their finale. The Mavericks now locked into the fifth
seed. What is not decided isthe MVP race, which has been a
very contentious topic and certainly a topicof interest herely this week as the regular
season winds down. And look,my issue with this is the reality is
Nikola Jokic is probably gonna win histhird MVP Award in four seasons. But
(36:08):
this thing is a race. It'sa three man race, and to me,
it should have been billed as suchreally for the last month. And
so what has made this thing?I think what is riled MAVs fans up
so much is when ESPN recently cameout with its final straw pole of the
season, Jokic was considered the runawaywinner already, as if Luka Doncic and
(36:37):
Shay Gilgess Alexander with a thunder asif you know, they really weren't part
of this thing, and I justI don't understand that. Look, if
Jokic wins MVP, it will betotally understandable and totally deserved. The man
is a monster. And look whatalways bolsters the Jokic case. He's the
(36:58):
darling of voters who really put ahigh priority on analytics. If you look
at offensive wind shares, win sharesin general, win shares for forty eight
minutes, box score plus minus,offensive box score plus minus, defensive box
score plus minus, and value overreplacement players, Jokic leads the league in
(37:20):
all those categories. But there's abig segment of the NBA fandom that isn't
even really familiar with what goes intothose categories. And again you can say
Jokic should win MVP, and youknow, if voters want to vote for
him. You know, everyone I'vealways said, it's your ballot, vote
(37:40):
for who you want to vote for. But I mean to me, Luka
Doncic is right there with the jokerin terms of comparing their cases. With
Luca, he's going to win thescoring title. He's basically thirty four nine
to ten, which has never happened. The Mavericks are a fifty win team.
Early in the season, you couldhold the team's success component against Luka
(38:04):
Doncic. You cannot do that anymore. The Mavericks have been one of the
best teams in the league since theAll Star break. They again just went
on that ridiculous sixteen to two run. But also when you look at Luca's
case, there are things. It'sthat there are no analytics. For example,
there's just no analytical measure that cantell us, you know, how
(38:28):
do you factor this in? AndI would if I am not an official
voter, but I would be factoringthis in, factoring this in hugely.
You know, so many people werepessimistic about the Luca and Kyrie partnership.
Coming into this season, the Maverickswere routinely picked by pundits like me to
finish in the seven to eight oreven lower range in the West, making
(38:53):
this partnership work with Kyrie Irving toa degree exceeding all expects. What's the
analytical statistic that accounts for that?There is not one, And that's a
huge part of Luca's MVP. Resumethe fact that five of his key teammates,
including Kyrie Irving, have each missedtwenty games this season. I think
(39:19):
the fact that Jamal Murray has missednearly twenty five is actually something that strengthens
Jokic's case because he's had to playso many games without his second best player.
But the Mavericks have dealt with injuriesfrom start to finish this season.
And again, five of Luca's keyteammates, starting with Kyrie Irving, has
missed twenty games. And then lookat Daniel Gafford. Look at the impact
(39:44):
Luca has on a player like DanielGafford. Has Daniel Gafford ever been in
the spotlight like he is now asa Maverick? Have we seen Daniel Gafford
make multiple runs at Wilt Chamberlain recordsin terms of consecutive made field goals,
that's really a function of how mucheasier Luca makes the game for his teammates.
(40:07):
So again, I'm not sitting here. I'm not gonna say you're crazy
if you vote for Jokic, oryou're crazy if you're vote if you vote
for Shay Gildes Alexander, because ShayYildes Alexander is another player with a tremendous
MVP worthy resume. The Thunder weretenth in the West last season. They
(40:29):
could rise as high as number onedepending on the results we see tomorrow.
So he's right, I think thethree. I guess what I'm saying is
my frustration is this should be asuper close race and it's not. It's
it's as if once Joel Embiid gothurt in January, the race was declared
over. And that's the part thatrankles me. All Right, guys,
(40:52):
you hear me complain every Saturday abouthow fast the show goes, But when
you're doing it live in a cardstore, man, it really zooms by
quickly. We frankly need another hour. Unfortunately we are not gonna get it.
So I am gonna have to puta bow on this edition of the
(41:15):
Saturday Steinline. Thank you to Vonfor helping me get this all set up,
coming out here early, getting ourbeautiful freak table lined up. Thanks
back to Maddie in the studio formaking sure that we hit all the high
points and stayed on track like weneeded to. And thanks most of all
(41:36):
to Ryan Larson, our host hereat RJ Dukes Sports Cards and Collectibles here
in McKinney. R J Larson nota relative of AJ Lawson, as much
as I tried to connect the twoof them. That's gonna do it for
this edition of the Saturday Steinline.Viisen Sports Radio that's up next here on
(41:57):
ninety seven won the Freak
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Benini Trading Cards and
Collectibles on ninety seven to one TheFreak, the official homes all Dallas Mavericks
Games, hosted by legendary NBA reporterand publisher of his substack, The Steinline.
Here's Mark Stein. Everyone, welcomein to the Saturday Steinline, a
(00:31):
momentous edition of the Saturday Steinline forus here at ninety seven to one The
Freak. I am coming to youlive on a remote from RJ. Duke's
Cards and Collectibles in McKinney. Asa lifelong collector of sports cards, I'm
(00:53):
absolutely giddy to be surrounded by cardsand boxes and memorabilia and all kinds of
stuff everywhere I look in this shop. We're gonna be here. We're on
the air till one. I'm gonnastay here for another hour after that,
just to hang out with anyone whowants to talk about the NBA Playoffs coming
(01:17):
up, talk about collectibles. It'sthe second but well, basically, the
NBA regular season ends tomorrow. Everyone'sin action tomorrow and then the play in
tournament starts Tuesday. The NBA Playoffsstart a week from today. So it's
a tremendous time of year. Lovethis time of year, and like I
(01:40):
said, to be able to dothis in a card shop, it makes
me feel like a kid again.And we're gonna have a great time this
afternoon. It's fun just we've beenhere for about an hour now. Producer
Maddie back in the studio. We'vegot Yvonne on the scene helping me here
(02:00):
with engineering duties, and it's funto just watch people come in mowing through
boxes of cards looking for that gemthat they want to add to their collection.
And we've got some amazing giveaways totoday for anyone who is in person
and wants to hang out with us. Enter the drawings that we have here
(02:21):
in my possession. This isn't evenon sale yet. I'm sure Mavericks fans
listening saw this week. They sawthe coaches and Luka Doncic his teammates all
wearing Pravy MVP T shirts on theroad earlier this week. Prav of course,
if you speak Slovenian. I'm stillworking on my SLOVENI and it's not
(02:44):
quite there yet, but I doknow that it means, in essence,
the loose transit, the loose translationis the real MVP. And you saw
all of Luca's teammates and coaches wearingthis shirt to kind of bring awareness to
the incredible season that donc individually,Nikola, Jokic, and Denver widely considered
(03:07):
the MVP favorite. When you looknot just at the recent strawpol ESPN did,
but what the Las Vegas oddsmakers aresaying, the projection is that Jokic
is going to win this thing.We'll talk more about this in the third
segment. To me, this shouldbe a much closer race. I think
Luka Doncic and Shay Gilts Alexander areright there with Jokic if you really want
(03:30):
to examine their three cases. Butthis shirt PRAVI MVP. You know there's
been there were billboards in Times Squareyesterday. You know, I've heard from
a lot of fans that want thisshirt. It's not even on sale yet
from what I'm told, it islikely to go on sale next week.
But we have one. I havea men's large mint unworn shirt. Someone,
(03:53):
a contest entrant who is here todaywith us live in McKinney, is
going to win this. And believethat the brave owners of RJ. Dukes
here in McKinney have entrusted me withthis responsibility because I have never in my
life done a card break. Butwe in the second segment, Ryan Lawson,
(04:16):
who this is his shop. We'regonna sit together and he's gonna try
to nurse me through my first livecard break. A twenty twenty three box
of Panini NBA origins Yokich is onthe cover of this box. There are
seven cards inside, but two ofthe seven cards are either autographed or memorabilia
(04:40):
cards. And if you are herewith us and you enter the drawing,
we're giving away all the cards insidethis box. After it's open, there
will be a video stream live streamdrawing on Tuesday to reveal the winner of
that contest. And my dear friendsat Panini have weighed me in with I
(05:01):
have a sack full of Monopoly PrismNBA cards that I am giving away to
everyone who visits us. And ontop of all that, this is not
a traditional collectible, but the UtahJazz sent out a beautiful Keyante George illustration
gargantuan card of Keyante George to kindof promote his all Rookie campaign to members
(05:29):
of the media, and Kyante Georgeof course played here locally, Lewisville product,
and so surely there is gonna bea Kyante George fan who comes through
this door today and makes a caseto me why they should receive this really
cool illustration. So we're gonna havefun all afternoon, like I said,
(05:50):
even after the show, we're gonnahang out talk playoffs, and let's,
I mean, let's get into thatbecause we are headed for an absolutely crazy
Sunday in the NBA. Nothing isdecided in the NBA except for the MAVs
Clippers in Round one. Everything elseup and down the board in the league
(06:13):
is still up for grabs and stillto be decided. I think I saw
my good friend Matt Moore of theAction Network broke down last night. Just
between five and eight in the EasternConference, there are thirteen different outcomes for
how the teams five through eight canwind up in the standings. And you
know, it's a huge advantage atleast for the Mavericks to already know who
(06:38):
they're playing in Round one, obviouslyplaying the Clippers. The history there,
I think everybody listening knows that history. This is going to be Act three
in the trilogy. Luka Doncic LukaDoncic has played twenty eight career playoff games.
Thirdos are against the Clippers, hismost frequent foe. They went six
(07:00):
games the first time Luca led theMavericks into the playoffs, a seven game
rematch in twenty twenty one, which, of course the road team won the
first six games wild series. Butthis time, I I don't think there's
any disputing the fact that, Imean, the Mavericks are the hottest team
(07:20):
in the league. They've certainly gotthat going for themselves above all, and
health wise, with the state ofKawhi Leonard, you would have to give
the Mavericks an advantage there. Andyou know, as I said, I
know the coaching staff from the minutethis matchup was clinched, was already starting
(07:45):
Thursday to look at film, startdigging into the matchup. And again,
that is something that will be ahuge boost for the Mavericks in their preparations
for what's going to be a difficultfirst round series, because you know,
this is staffs all around the leaguedread this scenario. I spoke to a
(08:05):
couple people with another Western Conference teamthis week that's bound for the playoffs,
and they have no clue who they'replaying in Round one, and that puts
a lot of stress on a coachingstaff when they're not able to start those
preparations as early as they'd like to. So I mean that is I think
the silver lining. The good newsfor Dallas. The Clippers are going to
(08:28):
have home court advantage in the seriesagain. But the good news for Dallas
is that they can lock in tothe Clippers as an opponent, and really,
you know, the preparations again havealready begun there. But honestly,
the best thing if you're the Mavericksand you're watching what's happening throughout the Western
(08:50):
Conference right now, they avoided theplay it. I mean, let's not
forget for a good portion of theseason, this team looked like it was
going to be in the seventh oreighth, you know, in that seven
to ten battle in the West.And knowing that the Mavericks have secured a
spot in the top six, justimagine how much the Phoenix Suns would love
(09:13):
to make the same claim, orthe Lakers, or the Warriors, or
the Sacramento Kings New Orleans. Imean, it is an absolute battle right
now just to get that six seedin the West, and it's amazing,
you know, same thing in theEast. You know, Philadelphia has given
(09:35):
itself a chance now to move outof the play in zone. But if
if Philadelphia ends up in the playin, Miami looks destined for the playing
again. But if Philly and Phoenixand those teams all end up in the
play this is only going to beyear four of the full on playing in
(09:58):
the NBA, where you have teamseven to ten three playing games in each
conference. So it's only even threeyears of this so far. Already eighteen
of the NBA's thirty franchises have woundup in the play in and Philly,
Phoenix, and Sacramento all threatened tolet you know, they're all faced with
the prospect of landing in the plan, which would take it to twenty one
(10:22):
of the thirty teams in the leaguealready having to go through the play in
round just to get into the playoffs. And your Mavericks lighted that fate to
this point with a couple outright playofftrips. And of course last season they
would have loved to have a playin birth, but slipped all the way
to number eleven. And you knowthe West. The West is monstrously back.
(10:48):
It is rebounded in a huge way. Last season in the West,
we only saw two fifty win teams. That's such an aberration from what we're
used to the NBA. This it'sbasically been twenty years that the NBA has
had thirty teams. In the firsteighteen years of the NBA under its current
(11:09):
configuration, the West average five fiftywin teams. We are again at five
fifty win teams. The MAVs becamethe fifth of those teams to get to
fifty, and New Orleans could stillget to fifty if the Pelicans win their
last game. They're at forty nineand thirty two. So tomorrow is going
(11:31):
to be absolute chaos up and downthe NBA with so much to be decided.
When we know Chicago is playing Atlantain a playing game, we know
the Mavericks will be on the roadin a five versus four first round series
against the Clippers, and otherwise weknow nothing, And so that makes for
(11:52):
a tremendous final day on the leagueschedule. And this is also the first
time in league history the league saidlast night, where you know Denver with
that crazy loss in San Antonio,so unexpected Denver. They beat Minnesota earlier
this week, and it looks likethe Nuggets, the defending champions, are
(12:13):
going to secure the number one seed. And then the Nuggets go to San
Antonio Friday night and roll up atwenty plus point lead, and what happens
The Spurs find a way to comeall the way back win that game.
And now, as a result,the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, and the
(12:35):
thunder who of course play host tothe Mavericks tomorrow afternoon. All three of
them enter the final day of theregular season at fifty six and twenty five.
It is the first time in leaguehistory through eighty one games that three
teams have the same record and thechance to snag number one in the conference.
(13:00):
And look that conspiracy. The conspiracytheory has already started to circulate that
do the Nuggets act secretly prefer towind up at two or three so they
don't have to see the Mavericks Clipperswinner in round two. I'm gonna go
out on a limb and say,I'm guessing that both the Mavericks and Clippers
(13:22):
will be most happy with that developmentas well if it turns out that way.
I don't think Dallas or the Clips. Whoever survives this first round series.
Don't think the winner would love havingto deal with Jokic and the Nuggets
in round two. So if thatis indeed any part of Denver's motivation,
I don't think they're going to getany protest from either Mavericks coach Jason Kidd
(13:46):
or his Clippers counterpart Tyron Lou.Come on, Stein, Tranlu. What
you gotta pronounce? It's ty Louwhen shortened Taran Lou when we say his
full name. I should know better, and I shouldn't be making mistake after
all these years. But like Isaid, we have this is gonna be
such a good afternoon. The shopis already buzzing. If you're anywhere near
(14:09):
McKinney, come hang out with US. Four hundred North Central Expressway, Sweet
one oh nine. The zip isseven five zero seven zero. We're gonna
be on the air till one.I'm gonna be here till two because after
we get off the air, Ineed to comb this store and make sure
(14:30):
that I do not leave without havinga full grasp of every single thing that
are that are that are behind thevarious glass cases. I see some starting
lineup figures up on the top topshelf that I'm definitely gonna have to check
out because that is definitely from myera and my speed. And like I
said, in the next segment,we are gonna go collectibles heavy because Ryan
(14:52):
Lawson is not gonna just help mewith this card break, which again I'm
gonna be I need to be proceedingso cautiously. I don't even want to
touch these cards, but I'm gonnawe're gonna, We're gonna open this box
and see what's inside this Panini Originsbox. But I also want to ask
him. I want to learn moreabout the modern collectible space. I must
(15:16):
admit that I have I have acquireda few Victor Wembin Yama's already. But
anyone who's come in the shop andI've asked them, what's the basketball card
they want? Wemby is the reflexanswer. And so we're gonna talk more
about kind of what's hot, what'sin vogue in the basketball collectible space.
(15:37):
I'm guessing that that Dantic kid willalso come up in that conversation. And
like I said, already seeing alot of people here, and I hope
you have a chance to join usas well, because, like I said,
we don't get to do this everysingle day, and we got giveaways,
we got playoff previews. And donot worry because in segment three we
(16:02):
are most certainly going to talk aboutthis MVP debate, which has really gotten
serious here in the last week.You know, I reported earlier this week
that even the voting process has changed. The league has had to change the
voting process slightly. Normally, votesfor year end awards would be due the
(16:23):
day after the season immediately season endson Sunday. Votes are doing to the
league office Monday. But this seasonit's the first year of the NBA's sixty
five game rule, and so theyhad to tweak that sum So voters don't
even have their award ballots yet.That won't happen until next week. The
league wants to lock in and besure who exactly is eligible in the various
(16:47):
award categories. You know, thereare five categories where the sixty five rule
applies. Let's see if I cando this off the top of my head.
It's MVP, it's all NBA,it's all defensive team, it's defensive
Place in the Year, and MostImproved Awards so you have to play sixty
five games to qualify in any ofthose categories. All right, we're gonna
(17:10):
go to a quick break when wecome back. Ryan Lawson of RJ Duke
Sports here in McKinney. He's gonnajoin me. We're gonna do this live
card break on the air, talkbasketball, collectibles. All that's next here
on ninety seven, won the Freak. The Saturday Steinline dribbles on here live
in McKinney. We are at RJDuke Sports Cards and Collectibles Live Show.
(17:36):
It's really only the second time inshow history that we've done something like this,
but never before just at a cardshop. And I am joined now
by our very gracious host, whoI must start with an apology here.
See for one thing, I youknow, my MAV's brain never shuts off,
so I've I've turned him into arelative of AJ Lawson on the Mavericks
(18:00):
Roster, even though his last nameis actually Larson. Mister Ryan Larson,
our host, Welcome to the SaturdayStyleline, and thank you so much for
having us. This is I couldstay here all day. This is tremendous.
Oh it's a pleasure. Mark,thanks for coming out too. But
I'm really glad you're sitting here withme, because we've been touting all week
that we're gonna bust open this packof cards. Oh yeah, which I
(18:22):
have never It's funny because Panini.This show does not exist without Panini.
They have been a tremendous partner tothis show and really make it possible.
And they've been saying, you gottado card breaks, you gotta get on
YouTube, and I'm like, Iyou know, I've just I haven't.
I've never done it before. Andso obviously we're on radio. We don't
(18:45):
have the benefit of doing this.I know you do live streams and card
breaks all the time here from theshop, So we're gonna do this on
radio and hopefully that our play byplay can make this oh entertaining. Even
ripping the plastic off, I don'teven like get me started. We just
just come prepared for the plastic portionof the show. Here. Every breaker
(19:06):
has the right knife to use tobe able to break through these things,
because we'll open you know, acase of these, twelve of these at
a time or something along those lines, So you gotta be able to rip
through it, get it open,get it out, and tell everyone what
whip it? Ripping in cards donot like I know that, I know
that's the vocabulary, but it justit makes me nervous. They're they're just
these gentle they're these gentle prizes insidethat we want to we want to handle
(19:30):
with care. Absolutely, But Imean we use big action words to you
know, try to equate with thegreat value you're gonna find in here,
the big hits that you'll find inhere. But what we have here,
are you ready to do this?Yeah? Let's okay, Yeah, but
yes, please talk us through it. Talk. Let's let the audience know
exactly what we gotta. We gottagive them the play by play, so
let's let them know exactly what we'redoing. So what we have here today
(19:51):
is a single box of twenty twentythree twenty twenty four Origins basketball manufactured from
the fine folks at Panini in thesame lines we don't exist as well without
Benisa, so they do a lot, you know, they do a lot
for us as well. What wehave here though twenty three twenty four Origins
basketball. This product just released yesterday, oh really, and it is a
(20:12):
single pack. Inside of this boxseven cards. Two of these cards will
be a type of hit, ifyou will. So that's what we call
an autographed card or a memorabilia cardor an a memorabilia card that is where
they all infuse maybe a piece oftheir jersey or equipment that the player has
worn inside of the card. Andso if I want to buy this box,
(20:33):
it's how much this box retails rightnow for three twenty nine. So
we are giving this away. Bythe way, if you come out to
our store today anytime today, signup, We're gonna give the entire box
away. We're gonna open it.You will get all the cards that are
in this box. So hopefully somebig hits come on out and you know,
win big old cards. So let'slet's rip this open. Man.
(20:55):
That makes me nervous? Did Ihear that? I don't know if you
heard it, but it made butjust seeing just seeing the exact do touch
the So we're gonna slide the box. That's nice, the one pack that's
inside of here. We'll open itup. All right. The pack is
(21:17):
being opened Panini origins. So whatI'm gonna try to do. They'll put
the best cards right in the middle, so I'm gonna try to move around.
So our best cards are last oneto look at all, right,
right off the top, someone Mavericksfans do not want to see James Harden,
who they'll be dealing with very soonin the first round of the playoffs.
(21:37):
Card number one, James Carden.And the thing with these cards,
they are very beautiful design, veryartistic in the design. Not not animated,
but you can see kind of there'sa lot of art artistic in this.
Now this next card here, wegot a rookie Derek Whitehead Brooklyn Nets
And this is a numbered card.This will be a serial number thirty eight
of ninety nine, so ninety nineof this car was made and this will
(22:00):
be the thirty eight. You knewas soon as you saw it that this
is a This is a card ofvalue. Absolutely, it'll be a little
bit more value here. Oh,now we got a nice one here,
big We got Chet and Shade togetherfifty six of seventy five, also serial
numbered, so it's a dual cardfrom the thunder Big Time playoff team this
year. Shay gillis Alexander Chet Holmgrentogether. That's a nice one. So
(22:23):
whoever's gonna win this one, there'spicking up a nice okc card. Zach
Levine still on the Chicago Bulls,on the trade block since November, but
the Bulls did not trade him.I feel like he's been on a trade
block for a few years. Butyes, he is right there with the
Bulls. Next one, we gotanother rookie, Jarris Walker Walker. This
will be a bas rookie. Sothese are some of these are not gonna
(22:44):
be numbered. Here's our first hit. So we got two cards left,
all right, first hit, we'realbably looking at patch and an auto.
This will we call a rookie patchauto or RPA and the BIZ. So
it's a single color patch. Theauto is on sticker. Yes, Maxwell
Lewis. This will be eighty ofninety nine Maxwell lay Lewis memorabilia card.
(23:07):
So that's an RPA Maxwell Lewis,I don't know the name that well.
Then their last one here it willbe another autograph for the Celtics. This
is an on card auto and it'snumber thirteen of one point fifty. It's
Jordan Walsh, gotcha, So JordanWalsh from the Celtics. So that is
(23:27):
what we got. So we gota couple hits out of here, a
couple serial numbered cards. I reallylike that. Okay, see duel,
that's a nice like you said,there's only seventy five of those, yeah,
exactly, So come on down,folks, you could win all these
cards that we just pulled, alongwith the probably MVP. That's right,
we have someone in here. There'sgonna be a contest winner who gets the
(23:48):
Provy MVP T shirt. Again,these are not on sale yet from what
I'm told, there will be asale of these T shirts likely to start
next week. But I obtained one, and there will be a drawing winner
who gets the shirt as well.So let me just the state of the
hobby. You know, obviously,Victor Wenbanyama is going to be the Rookie
(24:11):
of the year, and you getpeople coming in this shop. I mean
yes, does anybody not ask forWemby at this point? Absolutely not.
I mean for basketball this year?It is a Wemby world and we're all
just living in it right now.He has driven the twenty twenty three twenty
twenty four basketball trading card season remarkablylike very few have ever done before.
(24:34):
In fact, we've seen a bigcomeback in basketball cards this year, and
it is thanks in large or mostlyall Part two Victor Wembanyama. I mean
he has definitely on the court,he has proven his ability. He has
a unique capability on the court andhe's you know, also very marketable too,
so he has really driven this hobbyright now, the likes that we
(24:56):
haven't seen since Luca or maybe evengo back to the Braun and since you
brought up maybe give us the thumbnailsketch of what what are what are collectible?
What are collectors after? In termsof Luca, what are what are
the hot items in the in theLuca Dontaic market these way well, for
Luca, you have to go backto his twenty eighteen twenty nineteen season.
Like most of these cards, theseproducts are going to be driven by the
(25:19):
rookie class from that year. Twentyeighteen twenty nineteen was a very successful rookie
class of course led by Luca,and we still get customers coming in all
the time. They want his rookiecards. Prism or his Prism Parallel cards
and parallels are like what we lookedat before. Cards that might be serial
numbered or that we know are shortprinted, so it might be a different
(25:40):
variation of their base cards. Thoseare very valuable. They're very expensive,
not even easy to get these dayssometimes. But they do make a lot
of these cards though, too,So if you're a collector, you can
find them, you're just gonna paya little extra for them. So look,
I'm I'm pretty out of date asa collector the seventies. In the
eighties, this was you know,this was life or death stuff for me.
(26:03):
But that was an era where itwas baseball, baseball, baseball.
I mean, it was tough toeven find basketball cards. There were several
years in the eighties where basketball cardsdidn't even exist once tops started stopped making
them. So in your shop,obviously you have it all here, baseball,
hockey, football, memorabilia, youname it. Where does basketball kind
(26:23):
of fall in terms of consumer interest? Well, for us, because we're
in Texas, of course, footballis going to be king here. Okay,
I would say basketball is a numbertwo and baseball's a close three.
Basketball, especially, I think hascome back more for a while. I
really thought basketball was having some troubles. The twenty two to twenty three season
(26:45):
was tough. Poolo's amazing, He'snot as as all worldly as Wemby and
Chut Holmer never played so it wasreally tough to get along there. The
previous year before that, Kate Cunningham, Jalen Green, very strong players,
but not the type of players thatwould really drive a season of basketball cards.
You have to go back to reallythe Zion Jaw year of nineteen twenty.
(27:08):
That was where people were really thinkingZion was going to be that next
all worldly type of player. AndI know it's still a you know,
we're Jerry still out, I guesson that one. But this guy this
year, Wenby, my goodness,I'm very, very impressed with how well
things have gone for him. Notso much for the Spurs, but they'll
(27:29):
get there. But just his valueand you know, his cards, that's
what people are clamoring for, clamoringfor. It's amazing stuff. So how
can you compare it to? Youknow, on the court, we're constantly
comparing Wemby's rookie year production to whatLebron did as a rookie or you know,
people in my job are gonna ask, you know, is Wemby the
(27:52):
most decorated rookie since Lebron? Inthe card space, how reminiscent is the
frenzy for Wemby compared to what itwas when Lebron was a rookie. It's
a strange comparison because Lebron's rookie yearoh three oh four. The card world
is a lot different like the tradingcards, sports cards, even nonsports cards.
I've seen this real renaissance over thepast several years. I would say
(28:14):
though, right now the demand forWenby is probably even greater than it was
for Lebron back in three oh four, just because the overall number of collectors
has increased since that time. Imean, you know, you go back
in the history of talking about seventiesand eighties. Card collecting really took a
kind of a step back in thelate nineties to even early two thousands,
and then over the last ten yearshas seen quite the resurgence. What happened
(28:40):
was the nineties and this is Itell this story all the time. Fortunately,
people will come in, they wantto sell us their baseball cards from
the nineties and eighties and stuff.And the problem is those manufacturers back then
they only made a few products,and they made millions of these cards,
so there's no demand for them today. Like those cards from back then.
We all thought when we were kids, right that that was gonna you know,
pay for our college and pay forour kids college someday. So we
(29:00):
held on to them captain in ourcloset or whatever. Then we go and
find out today, Oh, they'reworth nothing. I mean, it's a
story I have to tell folks almostevery single day in the store. It's
a tough one. But today themanufacturers learned lessons. They make more products,
they limit the production of products.So there's a lot of demand out
there for these cards and that hascreated a lot of success in this Yeah,
(29:22):
like you said, in this pack, we just busted open that Shay
Gildas Alexander Chad Holmgren card. There'sonly seventy five of them in existence.
Well, once upon a time thatinsert might have you know, they might
have made like one hundred thousand ofthat card or something, but now you
know exactly there's only seventy five ofthe copy of that one. Why do
you think in the last ten yearsthat there's been this rebound for the card
(29:45):
industry and the hobby itself. SoI would say the trajectory was increasing mildly,
let's say, up until about twentytwenty. And this is going to
sound terrible, but the pandemic endedup being a benefit for sports cards.
It's when sports had to stop.Essentially cards still were being produced, but
you also had a lot of peoplethat they either they were stuck at home
(30:08):
so they wanted to go and revisittheir old card collections, or there are
a lot of these you know,daily gambling types that had no games to
bet on, so they have toyou know, kind of help the vice
out by going into sports cards andtrying to buy into breaks if you will,
or buy boxes to try to hitsome big cards. I mean it
is in that sense, you know, not so much gambling, but the
(30:30):
closest thing you could get to itthen and we had we grew collector bases
tremendously between twenty twenty and I wouldeven say like up to twenty twenty two.
Now we're still the growth is stillthere, but that the trajectory was
so massive in that two year timeperiod. And fortunately a lot of folks
have stayed though with us and westill see card prices, you know,
(30:53):
great values. The card companies themselves, they don't just produce one product the
same price. They produce many differentproducts at different price points. Because you
might have the high end card collectorthat wants to spend one thousand dollars for
a box of cards, but youalso have you know, younger card collectors
are the more budget card collectors thatwant to spend maybe eighty bucks for a
box, and they can nowadays.So that's why I say the manufacturer has
(31:17):
learned a lot of lessons over time, and I think that has contributed a
great deal to why cards are successfulright now, Well, look, thanks
a million for hosting us. Thishas been awesome. I greatly appreciate the
education, and I I appreciate youshepherding me through that because I was,
you know, I want to doit right, I was a little nervous.
(31:37):
All right, we are gonna goto break. We still have one
more segment to come here of thisSaturday Steinline. And remember producer Maddie is
back in the studio in Dallas.If you want to send us a text
two one four seven eight seven onenine seven one or eight one seven seven
eight seven one ninety seven, youcan always get me on the Steinline text
(31:59):
line conversation and more about the playoffsthat's next here on ninety seven won the
Freak. Thanks for sticking with ushere on the Saturday Steinline, presented as
always by my friends at Panini TradingCards and Collectibles, really special show for
us. On this Saturday lunchtime.We are live in McKinney at RJ.
(32:22):
Duke Sports Cards and Collectibles, ashop overflowing with all kinds of training cards
and sports memorabilia. And when wego off the air here at the top
of the hour, I will bespending the next hour, yes, visiting
with guests here in the shop andtalking playoffs, talking MAVs, answering any
(32:45):
playoff questions people have. But honestly, I want to get a look at
all this stuff that's in here becauseI've been focused on doing the show.
Maddie back in Dallas at the station. I think we have we have someone
from someone who hit us up onthe text line. Can you please relay
that message that came into the studio. Yeah, so someone messaged great to
(33:08):
hear you on the radio, MarkStein, my son and I go to
RJ. Duke's card shop and McKinneyafter we eat the Old School CC's next
door. Happy you're on the freak. A very nice message. My only
quibble, remember everybody, just atleast give us your first name and initial
(33:28):
the city that you're texting in from. We always want to know where our
listeners are. So basic, markS from Dallas throw the message at us
on the text line. Same thingif you're going to use the iHeart app
to leave us a voice talk backtwo one four seven, eight seven one
(33:49):
nine seven one or seven or eightone seven seven, eight seven one nine
seven one on the text line.And some interesting news this morning in the
NBA the Clippers making roster space toadd kai Jones to the roster. As
long you know, kai Jones wason a ten day recently with Philadelphia,
(34:10):
but he's playoff eligible after finishing aten day with another team, so the
March one eligibility stuff doesn't apply tohim, and kai Jones will be eligible
to play for the Clippers in theplayoffs. That tells you right away that
a week out from the playoffs thatthe Mavericks newfound size, length, athleticism.
(34:32):
It's already on the Clippers mind forthem to make roster room to add
kai Jones, another big man totheir rotation, because these Mavericks they are
and more athletic than the Clippers haveever seen. Obviously, the Clippers have
already beat Luka Doncic led Mavericks teamsin the playoffs twice, but let's be
(34:53):
honest, those rosters did not comparewhatsoever to what the Mavericks are bringing into
the playoffs this time. Dallas wason a sixteen to sixteen and two tear
until last night, when, witha fifty win season clinched with the five
seed essentially sealed. At that point, Dallas naturally decided to Dallas naturally decided
(35:21):
that Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving wouldnot play Friday night against the Pistons.
Dallas basically went with reserves and decidedthat you know, a loss would not
be would not cause them any damage, so they prioritized rest above all last
night, which makes total sense.I expect the same thing Sunday in Oklahoma
(35:43):
City when the MAVs play their finale. The Mavericks now locked into the fifth
seed. What is not decided isthe MVP race, which has been a
very contentious topic and certainly a topicof interest herely this week as the regular
season winds down. And look,my issue with this is the reality is
Nikola Jokic is probably gonna win histhird MVP Award in four seasons. But
(36:08):
this thing is a race. It'sa three man race, and to me,
it should have been billed as suchreally for the last month. And
so what has made this thing?I think what is riled MAVs fans up
so much is when ESPN recently cameout with its final straw pole of the
season, Jokic was considered the runawaywinner already, as if Luka Doncic and
(36:37):
Shay Gilgess Alexander with a thunder asif you know, they really weren't part
of this thing, and I justI don't understand that. Look, if
Jokic wins MVP, it will betotally understandable and totally deserved. The man
is a monster. And look whatalways bolsters the Jokic case. He's the
(36:58):
darling of voters who really put ahigh priority on analytics. If you look
at offensive wind shares, win sharesin general, win shares for forty eight
minutes, box score plus minus,offensive box score plus minus, defensive box
score plus minus, and value overreplacement players, Jokic leads the league in
(37:20):
all those categories. But there's abig segment of the NBA fandom that isn't
even really familiar with what goes intothose categories. And again you can say
Jokic should win MVP, and youknow, if voters want to vote for
him. You know, everyone I'vealways said, it's your ballot, vote
(37:40):
for who you want to vote for. But I mean to me, Luka
Doncic is right there with the jokerin terms of comparing their cases. With
Luca, he's going to win thescoring title. He's basically thirty four nine
to ten, which has never happened. The Mavericks are a fifty win team.
Early in the season, you couldhold the team's success component against Luka
(38:04):
Doncic. You cannot do that anymore. The Mavericks have been one of the
best teams in the league since theAll Star break. They again just went
on that ridiculous sixteen to two run. But also when you look at Luca's
case, there are things. It'sthat there are no analytics. For example,
there's just no analytical measure that cantell us, you know, how
(38:28):
do you factor this in? AndI would if I am not an official
voter, but I would be factoringthis in, factoring this in hugely.
You know, so many people werepessimistic about the Luca and Kyrie partnership.
Coming into this season, the Maverickswere routinely picked by pundits like me to
finish in the seven to eight oreven lower range in the West, making
(38:53):
this partnership work with Kyrie Irving toa degree exceeding all expects. What's the
analytical statistic that accounts for that?There is not one, And that's a
huge part of Luca's MVP. Resumethe fact that five of his key teammates,
including Kyrie Irving, have each missedtwenty games this season. I think
(39:19):
the fact that Jamal Murray has missednearly twenty five is actually something that strengthens
Jokic's case because he's had to playso many games without his second best player.
But the Mavericks have dealt with injuriesfrom start to finish this season.
And again, five of Luca's keyteammates, starting with Kyrie Irving, has
missed twenty games. And then lookat Daniel Gafford. Look at the impact
(39:44):
Luca has on a player like DanielGafford. Has Daniel Gafford ever been in
the spotlight like he is now asa Maverick? Have we seen Daniel Gafford
make multiple runs at Wilt Chamberlain recordsin terms of consecutive made field goals,
that's really a function of how mucheasier Luca makes the game for his teammates.
(40:07):
So again, I'm not sitting here. I'm not gonna say you're crazy
if you vote for Jokic, oryou're crazy if you're vote if you vote
for Shay Gildes Alexander, because ShayYildes Alexander is another player with a tremendous
MVP worthy resume. The Thunder weretenth in the West last season. They
(40:29):
could rise as high as number onedepending on the results we see tomorrow.
So he's right, I think thethree. I guess what I'm saying is
my frustration is this should be asuper close race and it's not. It's
it's as if once Joel Embiid gothurt in January, the race was declared
over. And that's the part thatrankles me. All Right, guys,
(40:52):
you hear me complain every Saturday abouthow fast the show goes, But when
you're doing it live in a cardstore, man, it really zooms by
quickly. We frankly need another hour. Unfortunately we are not gonna get it.
So I am gonna have to puta bow on this edition of the
(41:15):
Saturday Steinline. Thank you to Vonfor helping me get this all set up,
coming out here early, getting ourbeautiful freak table lined up. Thanks
back to Maddie in the studio formaking sure that we hit all the high
points and stayed on track like weneeded to. And thanks most of all
(41:36):
to Ryan Larson, our host hereat RJ Dukes Sports Cards and Collectibles here
in McKinney. R J Larson nota relative of AJ Lawson, as much
as I tried to connect the twoof them. That's gonna do it for
this edition of the Saturday Steinline.Viisen Sports Radio that's up next here on
(41:57):
ninety seven won the Freak
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!