Here are some factors that I like to take into consideration when reviewing basketball shoes:
Comfortability/Fit
(20/20)
- One
of the most important factors. What is the point of spending $100+ on a pair of
shoes if they’re not even comfortable? I don’t care if your favorite player
wears that particular pair of shoes. Your favorite player’s feet and body build
are different than yours. This is one of the reasons why I hated having “team”
basketball shoes when I was playing high school ball. During my junior year, the
Nike shoes we ended up with were made of a weird, surprisingly heavy foamy
material that was stiff and lacked ankle support.
- How
“breathable” are the shoes? Will your shoes smell like a gas station bathroom
after you’ve been shooting around for 30 minutes?
Safety/Support/Stability
(SSS) (20/20)
- Now
that you invested all that money in your shoes. The important question is: Will
your ankles shatter the moment someone unleashes a nasty crossover on you? I normally play shooting guard/point guard so
I prefer lightweight shoes with adequate ankle support (mid-level cuts are my
preference). I’ve seen countless people playing ball with New Balance running
shoes. Well, not surprisingly, thirty minutes later, I see them on the ground,
writhing in pain and clutching their ankles while someone gets him an icepack.
- One
commonly overlooked aspect of a basketball shoe is the shoelace. I can’t count
the number of times that I had to lace up my shoelaces because they were
repeatedly unwound or because I couldn’t find a nice snugness in the lacing
system. You know…the type of snugness that isn’t too tight or too loose…it’s
just so perfect when you run up and down the court.
- Cushioning
is also very important. Some of you young’uns out there may not realize this,
but repeatedly sprinting and jumping around will give your knees and ankles
quite a beating. This is coming from a guy who just recently had knee surgery
to remove a torn meniscus (thank God it wasn’t a torn ACL). Cushioning is
especially important if you frequently play on concrete, outdoor basketball
courts. Ever wonder why whenever you play against one of the old ballers out
there that they don’t seem to elevate much in their jump shots and prefer set
shots? Well, it hurts like hell after they land from a jump.
Durability
(20/20)
- Now
you gotta worry about the durability of your shoes. How long will it last? The
soles of your shoes are bound to wear out eventually. Just ask anyone who’s
wearing shoes with worn-out soles. They seem to be constantly rubbing the dirt
off their soles during a game so they won’t slip and fall. Heavy emphasis is
placed on the quality of the materials that the shoe is made of. Even though
most prominent basketball shoes are made in China, not all of them are made of
equal quality.
Style (20/20)
- A playa’s gotta look good especially when he’s shooting the J, right? Make sure your shoes razzle and dazzle so that other players remember you for your slick shoes rather than your lack of ball handling skills. Do your shoes make you stand out on the court because they’re so damn cool or because they’re butt ugly? Don’t hate the playa. Hate the shoes.
Value
(20/20)
- This category can be thrown out if you have a lot of money (or rich parents). But in these tough economic times, we have to learn how to spend our stimulus package money wisely. Did you get your money’s worth on this pair of basketball shoes? You need to decide wisely before you invest your hard-earned money on a pair of basketball shoes. This is where I come in and help you decide which shoes are superb and which are just plain rubbish.
For all
you math geniuses out there, everything adds up to 100. So my grading scale
should be familiar to all of you out there smart enough to have stayed in
school.
A+97-100%, A 94-96%, A- 90-93%
B+ 87-89%, B 84-86%, B- 80-83%
C+ 77-79%, C 74-76%, C- 70-73%
D+ 67-69%, D 64-66%, D- 60-63%
F <60%
