NBAyyye!
A roundup of random thoughts around NBA-related sneakers...
In the context of LaVar Ball complaining that LaMelo Ball is injuring himself BECAUSE of his signature line with Puma, one has to point out the obvious:
(This is an article posted A YEAR AGO…imagine building your own bumass kicks, charging $500+ for them, having your #1 golden ticket INJURE himself in them, ignoring the obvious, then blaming a 100+ year old sneaker company for another #2 golden tickets injuries…)
Speaking of Golden Ticket #2…
…There’s this kid on my son’s 2nd/3rd grade basketball team that is an absolute beast. This guy is a strong 3 foot nothing, but the kid is hitting shots from the three point line and dribbling like Chris Paul. He’s got more confidence than most adults I’ve seen, and, even tho he’s only in the 2nd grade, he’s easily the best player in the league.
One thing I notice…during their first game together…was that the kid was wearing Puma LaMelo ‘Dexters Laboratory’. His step brother, also a beast but not as beastly, is rocking some Puma LaMelo ‘Rick & Morty’…this…in itself isn’t all that crazy. But, it’s something I noticed. Other kids have on Giannis shoes, one kid has just some random takedown (my kid has Huaraches)…but…when I looked around the gym at the people in the stands…4th-6th graders, mostly, I noticed an inordinate number of kids wearing LaMelo’s. I wouldn’t really call it a PHENOMENON, but, for the sake of argument, I’m going to call it a phenomenon.
So I started to wonder…are we unwittingly passing on the ‘nostalgia-based sneaker consumption’ baton to LaMelo? I see them EVERYWHERE in the gym. As older sneakerheads, we like to talk about how Nike’s line isn’t very exciting anymore and actually seems somewhat disjointed. There’s no ‘staying power’ with the vast majority of these signature models, so that’s why the youth is still rockin’ our generations J’s: presently, there seems to be nothing interesting enough for anyone to want to cling to, so the zeitgeist has fully been captured by what was interesting in OUR time. And it kinda makes me think of the Jordan effect, in general. Dude was just so good that when he retired, the league took a few years to establish its identity away from him. And in that time, it’s tried to utilize a similar pattern to dissimilar people - so it often doesn’t work.
But…back to LaMelo…these seem to be an undeniable hit right now…arguably Puma’s greatest hit since the Clyde. How well will they hold up over time?
I see that a great deal of AE 1’s are releasing, and it appears that there are actually people out there trying to cop EVERY single colorway. And if anyone knows anything about Adidas, they know that they will overproduce the goddam hell out of these and it will be an absolute impossible task….
Anyways…I Saw a tweet from a dude I’ve followed for A LONG time post about how his pair of AE1’s went straight to feet even though dude is *well* known for wearing only ONE silhouette that is NOT the AE 1. It had me questioning my whole life. What is this life?
The AE1 is a cool looking shoe, no doubt, but I couldn’t help but wonder - how much of this AE1 rollout is due strictly to the marketing? TBH, IMO, the marketing of this shoe has been an absolute master class - Ant really came out of left field to pump this bitch on so many levels - dude’s probably the most likable (or despicable) player in the league in a cheeky sort of way…and the way he chose to talk about this shoe was reminiscent of Charles Barkley in the 90’s - basically…’IDGAF HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT ME YOU KNOW THIS SHOE IS DOPE.’
Funny thing is…it worked.
But…is there any chance it worked *too well*? Not hating at all…but…as any ‘one-hit wonder’ might tell you - there’s nothing as hard as matching the excitement of your first hit. If we were to look at most of these other sig athletes and their sig lines…who has started out strong and kept getting stronger out the gate? IMO…the best sigs in the game right now are Hardens…the last 2 are FIRE (designed by jalal_enayah (on IG)) and the next is CRAZY dope. But how are we gonna do with the AE 2? How can we possibly match the hype of the 1?
Realistically, how could anyone my age (43) ever explain to anyone under the age of 25 that Reebok was once one of the great sneaker companies?
Watching @shaq and @ai on Complex’ sneaker shopping at @corporategotem had me wistful for the past. Not that I was ever a *big* Reebok head, but it made me happy to see those guys at least talking about the brand again. And, I suppose, by proxy…my childhood. It made me think about, tho…when the last time Reebok actually had a hit *basketball* shoe, and I couldn’t think of ANYTHING that came out in the 2000’s. Not a single one. Yeah, I know, @50cent, @jayz, @pharrell and maybe @swizzbeatz released some semi-successful shoes through Reebok, but those AREN’T basketball shoes because I can tell by the way those dudes walk…them dudes just can’t ball (Swizz notwithstanding).
John Wall has his moment with Reebok, and although I wanted to care, I couldn’t. That Reebok Zig thing was *gross*. @yaoming as well. Gross. The Instapump Fury Bball release from a couple of years ago was a longshot, and, although interesting in theory…looked more like an orthopedic shoe in person. Gross.
Looking through Reeboks website…there isn’t a single new silhouette on their site. It’s all shoes from the mid 90’s.
I know a lot of us older guys hold a place in our heart for some of our favorites…for me it’s the Iverson Answer IV (1999ish)…for @nickengvall it’s the OG Question (1996ish), for @pappy_power_hour it’s the Shaq Attaq (1995ish)…but has there been a single great Reebok basketball shoe since the year 1999? Shiddd…at this point…@skechers has a better basketball shoe than @reebok does…is there any chance that Reebok can save itself?
Speaking of Skechers - who do you think has more potential right now? With Skechers being the number 2 shoe company in the states and reebok not even cracking the top 10 - which one gets your vote?
Kinda got into it with this dude in the comments the other day over that new ‘Wemby’ sneaker…
What I like about in NBA sneakers right now is that it seems that the Nike monopoly is over. Nike RULED the scene ~10ish years ago with Jordan, Kobe, Lebron and KD, but lackluster showings over the past couple of years has rendered them somewhat stale…maybe I’m biased, but seeing every single new Nike sig has me thinking they all look the same…the stories of creation that @accooper has been posting make me think that no one is doing ANYTHING like that today. But…this is where we are:
Adidas bringing heat with Harden, Ant, Dame, Trae and Don
Under Armour with Steph and De’Aaron Fox
Anta with Klay, Kyrie
Puma with LaMelo
Converse with Shai & Draymond
Skechers with Embiid
New Balance with Kawai
Rigorer with Austin Reaves (LOL)
…and a whole bunch of others signed with smaller brands
Lemme be clear - IMO this competition between brands is GOOD for sneakers and GREAT for sneakerheads. This is a GOOD thing. It feels exciting again. Back like it felt in the 90’s…with all of these small brands competing with the majors…
It makes me wonder…is someone else gonna be making another #NBAOneDay set (honoring these sneakers) 20 years down the line? Bookmark this post…hit me up if you need help creating it!
Jordans notwithstanding…what is the most exciting of Nike’s basketball offerings over the past 3 years? Would it be a signature shoe?
Lebron had a couple of hits in his arsenal for 2 out of the past 3…KD, the same…but…has anyone else given us as good of a showing as the player-less Cosmic Unity line?
The 1: Awesome.
The 2: Slightly less awesome than the 1, but much more awesome than almost any sig.
The 3: Awesomer.
I dunno what it is or why they even created this line, but I like it. It’s experimental and, even tho the 2 kinda looks like my sketched version of a sneaker when I was in the 7th grade, I think I’d rather wear it than 97% of the current Nike sigs on the market…
I hope they continue this line and I hope it starts to see a bit more exposure…
Alright…looks like that’s it for my NBA sneaker-related thoughts for this round…check in again next week to see what I’m ruminating on