November Poll

For our November poll we decided to do things a little different, and give our readers the opportunity to see an older shoe get reviewed.

And the contestants are:

Nike Zoom Huarache 2k4Adidas Crazy 8

Reebok Answer IXNike Air Zoom Turbine

Jordan XIX SE Don't forget to get your vote in!!!

October Poll Winner - Nike Air Zoom BB

The winner of our October poll for which shoe our readers would like to see reviewed next is The Nike Air Zoom BB. We will be adding the review for these shoe by the end of this month. We have still not had the chance to review our September winner (Nike Air Force 25), but we assure you that review is coming within the next few weeks. Thanks for voting!!!

Adidas KG Bounce

The Adidas KG Bounce is Kevin Garnett’s 4th signature shoe from Adidas. It is one of the first Adidas basketball shoes to feature their new Bounce technology. I definitely think the KG Bounce took a huge leap in terms of style and design from the last two Garnett signatures. The KG II and III (in my opinion) were designed solely for the court and looked funky with jeans or when worn casually. “The Big Ticket” averaged 22 points, 10 boards & 4 dimes per game during the 06-07 season, and he did it all in these shoes. I was curious to see how these would perform for a player with different basketball attributes and stature than KG’s.

At first wearing the KG Bounce is a little stiff in the forefoot area. I thought the stiffness would gradually fade through more breaking in time, but it didn’t. After 7 test wearings, the shoe is not as stiff, but it still is enough to bother an active player. I don’t think the stiffness would bother a bigger position player that generally posts up and does not do as much running as cutting as guards and smaller forwards do. There is not much inner padding in the forefoot area. There are parts of the shoes that actually hurt the sides of my toes. I had to wear thicker socks than usual to get around this problem. The area around the ankle is well padded and feels great. The KG Bounce combines Adidas new Bounce technology with it’s patented a3 cushioning system. In theory the Adidas Bounce technology is supposed to absorb impact and propel the foot back forward, but to be honest, I did not feel any difference between this cushioning system and the normal a3 cushioning that is in the KG III. Also, the heel area of the foot is very hard and doesn’t provide much cushion to the heel. The shoe could use a huge makeover in the cushioning department.

I was and still am amazed at how low cut the KG Bounce is. Big men shoes are usually cut slightly higher than the traditional mid to offer more support. The bounce almost feels like a low top basketball shoe. The shoe still provides sufficient ankle support, but because the shoe sits so high off the ground I still had the fear of rolling my ankle the whole time I played in these shoes. The lacing system is nothing fancy, but provides great lock down feel. The tongue has large circular holes cut into which provide excellent ventilation. The tongue is a bit uncomfortable and takes some getting used to. It is a lot harder and stiffer than the traditional tongue you see on most shoes these days. I am puzzled about why Adidas used such a stiff material for this part of the shoe.

One of the coolest things about the KG Bounce is the short narratives written about Kevin Garnett on the sole. One shoe represents South Carolina and the other represents Chicago. I thought this was a cool idea and looked really nice, but I was a bit skeptical about weather or not the letters would provide good traction. The unusual letter tread pattern is amazing. The KG’s deliver unbelievable traction indoors and outdoors on dusty, dirty courts. The tread does not run very deep into the sole so the shoes would probably need to be replaced sooner if you use them primarily outdoors.

My final thought of the Adidas KG Bounce is that it is a well designed shoe that could use some fine tuning from a comfort standpoint. The comfort and fit issues may not be too big of an issue for players that are not as active on the court. For that reason, I would recommend this shoe for a post player rather than a point guard. The shoe was designed and built for a 6’ 11” monster so you can’t really expect it to be well suited for a smaller player. The shoe has a lot of small cool details on it like Garnett's signature on the midsoles and his face on the back of the shoe. The KG Bounce was released in two general release colorways, as well as two All-Star weekend colorways, and the special Adidas vs. UndrCrwn edition. In addition to these there were also special NCAA team colors available exclusively on Eastbay. The KG Bounce has been out for a while now so you can find them fairly cheap. They retailed for $120, but they are currently on sale at Eastbay for $70 and at Finishline stores for $50. Here’s a list of available colorways:

*Black/White/Blue
*White/Black/Blue
*White/Blue/Cardinal Red (All-Star)
*Black/Black/Metallic Gold (Vegas)
*White/Black/Camel (UndrCrwn)
*White/Black/University Red
*White/Black/Victory Red
*Royal/Black/White
*White/Black/Green
*White/Black/Cardinal
*Black/Ice Gray
*White/Black
*White/Indigo Blue

Colorway Tested: Black/White/Blue
Tested on: Hardwood & Asphalt

Final Analysis:
Comfort & Cushioning: C
Support: C+
Traction: A+
Breathability: A+
Overall: B-