Panini America Takes the Court at the 2009 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot

Ysponder

By Tracy Hackler  
8/9/2009 11:08:39 PM



Much like head coach Mike D’Antoni did so often last season, Panini America officials hit the Knicks’ practice facility in Tarrytown, N.Y., on Sunday looking to impress. Unlike D’Antoni, who finished 32-50 during his first year in New York last season, Panini America succeeded.

And they had help from the likes of Blake Griffin, Tyler Hansbrough, Hasheem Thabeet and 32 other of the brightest young stars in the NBA.

Indeed, during Sunday’s 2009 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot, Panini America’s first as the exclusive trading card manufacturer of the NBA, the company spent quality time with 35 of the top picks from June’s draft, packing seemingly a year’s worth of hard work into one determined day.


The tangible results will no doubt help drive sales of new basketball cards for the entire 2009-10 season.

“This was our first NBA Rookie Photo Shoot and we couldn’t have had a better group of players and we couldn’t have gotten more done,” said Scott Prusha, Panini America’s Director of Marketing, from New York. “There are going to be a lot of happy collectors on the market thanks to the things we accomplished at this event.”

Foremost among the things the company accomplished this weekend was securing on-card autographs for several sets, including the popular Pen Pals insert, and many components for 2009-10 Prestige Basketball, the company’s first basketball product due out in early October.

Panini America officials operated four different stations during the event – one for autographs, one for memorabilia, one for action photography and one for interviews – and made waves with their same-day cards of the rookies that turned out being hot topics all afternoon long among the players themselves.

“We really moved the needle on our basketball products this weekend and I’m excited to share that with collectors,” Prusha said.

Stay tuned to Beckett.com in the coming days as Panini America does exactly that – shares the results from the 2009 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot (including images, product information and more).