One of the most popular and important items for a baller is their basketball shoes. Now some might say you HAVE to have sneakers to play the game I can say from first hand experience that is not necessarily the case.

When I played on an International Tour about 20 years ago in Kenya we played against a guy who had no basketball shoes. We were in Mombassa and the court was a little rubbery and not hard wood. It was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it before or since.

I guess it’s a good thing financially for Nike, Reebok, Adidas, And 1 and all the other shoe companies that this fad did not catch on.

But we are here to discuss what you wear on your feet when you play. It really is important and you only have to ask any podiatrist to know why.

And 1 Shoes

In the following months we will be reviewing great sneakers and giving you lots of photos and hopefully videos as well.

I have worn many shoes over the years and the best ones were always the ones that were Free. No kidding. I mean that. I remember that when I was in the 8th grade we could not even afford proper basketball shoes. I had to play using jogging shoes. Pretty embarrassing at the time.

When I got to University that is when the shoes started to be given to us at no charge. I remember thinking how great that was. We had a sponsorship from Nike for most of my career an I think one year we even had Avia, if anyone has ever heard of them.

I have worn the Adidas canvas model, nice leather Converse All-Stars, Nike Air (probably every model), Adidas Top Ten ( a great shoe-probably one of my favourites, Avia, and who knows what else. These are the ones I can recall. If you have any interesting basketball shoe memories or stories we would love to see them.

Here is a great site called Kicksology.net where you can find really great information about basketball footwear and how they are designed.