First Look: 2010-11 Panini NBA Sticker Album

I find it a little odd that we are just past the half way point in the current NBA season and Panini finally releases their NBA sticker album.  Last year's NFL sticker album was my first exposure in a long time to Panini's roots if you will.  I loved collecting and applying the stickers so much that I thought I'd give the NBA album a try.  So read on with me as I share a few things that stood out to me.

The front of the album sports some of the bigger names in the game such as Kobe Bryant, Dirk N., Paul Pierce, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and newer blood such as Derrick Rose.

The back has all the team logos laid out in their respective conference divisions.  Notice the box in the upper left corner that states exclusive distribution for USA is Panini America Inc.

Open the album up and you'll find a whole lot of information on the back cover along with a few free stickers.  Unlike the NFL sticker album the stickers don't come in their own pack.  This time around you get 6 stickers that are stapled into the spine.  Don't worry though, they are easy to remove and the stickers escape unharmed.  It may be hard to tell from my photo, but you'll find the information printed on the inside cover in 8 different languages!  You get English, Deutsch, Francais, Italiano, Nederlands, Espanol, Portuguese & Turkce.  Most of this info is simple abbreviations used on each team's page such as player stats, years of NBA experience and the like.  It also states that this information is current as of September 10th, 2010.

The first page for your stickers includes 4 different spots.  NBA logo, All-Star game logo, playoffs logo & the 2011 NBA Finals logo.  The next page (which I didn't picture) includes each conference and playoff brackets for you to fill in.  There are also places for each team's logo sticker to be applied.

The bulk of the album contains each team's page.  Depending on the team you'll have several player areas for you to apply stickers.  Each team's page also lists team & individual records.

Towards the back of the album are a few different themed areas for stickers.  First off is a Kobe's Final Rivals.  It appears that these stickers are highlights of playoff match ups against Kobe and the Lakers.  Starts off with 2000 vs. Indiana all the way through 2010 vs. Boston.  The actual verbage on the page reads:  "In the past 10 years Kobe Bryant participated in 7 NBA finals winning 5 rings and played against some of the finest opponents and teams of the decade.

Next up are 2 pages titled NBA Global.  The NBA is a global sport with 83 international players and many games played in almost every continent.  The NBA also celebrates Noche Latina with special uniforms with team names in Spanish.  With Basketball Without Borders, local young players from all over the world can play with their NBA idols  In March 2011 in London, NBA regular season games will be played for the first time in Europe.

The next to last section contains 4 pages all devoted to the 2010-11 NBA rookie class.  There are 24 rookies included here including John Wall.

The last page of the album has 6 sticker slots for 2010 Award winner:  league MVP (LeBron James), Rookie of the Year (Tyreke Evans), 6th Man of the Year (Jamal Crawford), Finals MVP (Kobe Bryant), All-Star game MVP (Dwayne Wade) and Defensive Player of the Year (Dwight Howard).

Panini continues to impress me with their various products.  While I loved the NFL sticker album I feel the NBA album is just a tad better.  The layout is well thought out and the graphics are beautiful.  I plan on buying plenty more of these sticker packs to fill up the album in the coming weeks/months.  Look for another post highlighting the actual stickers soon.

I'll also have a links to my want list & trade bait located in the side bar to the left very soon.  Let me know if you want to do any trading!