And it's Dame Time here in Portland! (Always wanted to say that.) We figured that the stumps could use a bit of time off after the All Star break and so we moved to our blue couch for the first basketball shoe review. Now, I have to admit that I haven't actually played in these yet, but their time will be up in the very near future. The 14 year old in me is excited about basketball shoes right now and the NYC Edition of the D Lillard 1 make the perfect addition to our Blazers show in the shop.
This is also a good time to mention that we will be taking part in ICYMI this weekend at the Moda Center here in Portland. If you're in to sneakers and maybe basketball too, it will be a fun event - and with Blazer tickets thrown in for the price of admission, it is kind of hard to say no. Right?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT - March 1st - 2015
Anyway, I got a little too excited about these and John Wall's shoes when they first came out - and then I tried on JW's and instantly became un-excited. So, you can imagine my surprise when these came into being and not only lifted my fragile spirits, but looked good doing so. Jury is still out on the gold color (apparently for Black History Month and Kareem), but this white and black one is subtle, with a few touches of gold, and is oh so good looking. Plus, anything with red and black is hard to match unless you're wearing your Jerome Kersey jersey all the time now, which no one will fault you for. Wear on.
PLUSES:
- The whole shoe is light as hell and has ventilation everywhere, even within the neoprene boot liner that stretches up out of the shoe. A a person who falls into the "sweatiest human ever" category this is a good thing, especially for feet.
- Sprintframe - sounds fast. Makes me feel fast. If you feel fast, you go fast. Right?
- Speckled soles. I don't know what it is about the speckled sole that gets me so good. I will design them all day on nike id or adidas customizer (and I'll never buy them) but every damn one will have this speckled sole. There's a good chance my soul is speckled.
- They go more than well with our Baseline Sock. In fact, I cannot imagine a better sock for them.
- The laces. Yes! The black and white laces are so good!
- Apparently the left sock liner (on the red and black edition) features some of Lillards own raps - as a part of his "four bar Friday." For which tomorrow's edition I'm hoping features a line about how he's going to prevent Westbrook from having his 6th triple double in a row. Let's hope.
The other one in the plus column is that they are one step in the right direction toward cementing our hometown hero Damian Lillard in the Superstar status department. I mean, 2nd in the league for 4th quarter points (behind James Harden) is no joke. Right? That's what we need, a closer. And I mean that like "close" as in shut. Not "Close" like Glenn. Then, there is the fact that these were unveiled for his trip to the All Star game and that pretty much does it for me right there. Special edition? Sold. Hot shit three point shooter on our team!? Ok, let's do that too.
MINUSES:
- There is a chance that this version might be too subtle, or that the release was too under the radar because I have had to explain to people coming in the shop that these were the DLillard shoes. The actual ones. Anyway, the sneakerheads knew.
- There is a fricking hashtag on the footbed. A hashtag. Dear god I hope this is just for the special edition. No hashtags on shoes. Ever.
- I cannot believe that they copied Rapha copying Team Dream Bicycling Team with their disruptor pattern on the pull at the heel. And if you believe that I've got a horse to sell you.
I'll report back after I try them out this weekend on how they perform under the subtle twists and turns that make up my complex basketball game. Psssht. Yeah, right. But, in reality this is a great looking shoe that has an upside to it, a hometown association with a legitimately exciting and fantastic ballplayer backing it.
