NBA Rookies Photographed for Upcoming Basketball Cards

On the court, they have yet to experience the roar of the crowd during the NBA Finals. They have yet to be passed the ball during a pro game and drain a last second three-pointer. But just last week, Upper Deck exposed the NBA´s top rookies to their first major dose of flashbulbs in their preparation for superstardom.

The annual "NBA Rookie Photo Shoot" is an event which allows trading card manufacturers to get the first images of the new crop of rookie talent sporting their new NBA uniforms. This year´s gathering, which took place in Tarrytown, New York, provided Upper Deck with ample ammunition for this coming season´s fast-approaching releases. Once again, the industry leader employed innovative tactics and settings to capture meaningful content for anxious collectors. Case in point: Upper Deck´s "Same Day Signatures" insert set.

Upper Deck made the most of its time with these future hard-court heroes and quickly turned around early cards of the rookies in their new NBA gear. From there Upper Deck had the rookies add something very special to the cards – their autographs. The "Same Day Signatures" insert set will appear in 2008-09 Upper Deck Series One Basketball, which is scheduled to release on September 2.

"It takes a lot of preparation and planning to pull off something like the ´Same Day Signature´ concept, but it makes a huge impact to have live, hard-signed autographs of these up-and-comers in packs so early in the season," said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck´s Hobby Marketing manager. "Our photo team was blown away by the poise this group of rookies showed during the photo shoot. If they can show this kind of poise on the court, collectors will definitely be in store for a special year of collecting Upper Deck basketball cards."