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July 16, 2009Cleveland Browns Tidbits
July 16, 2009
The 2008-09 basketball season was littered with different versions of the Zoom LeBron VI shoe by Nike. And while I’m a bit late to this party, I felt that it was worth noting that the “Zoom” line appears to have now been retired by LeBron and his apparel company, as the two parties will now shift to the Air Max – starting out with the new Nike Air Max LeBron VII that is pictured to the right.
The Zoom VI line was definitely not broken, so why the change? We’ll let Rich Lopez explain…
For the past six seasons, LeBron has played exclusively in sneakers that feature Nike’s Zoom Air technology. It was said that he wouldn’t play in anything else, until now. Nike Zoom Air is a low profile/highly compressed Air Unit that was developed for quicker and lighter players. Nike Max Air is a large volume Air Unit designed to be responsive and absorb greater force. Though LeBron plays a quick game, at 6-8, 250 lbs., Nike and LeBron have finally decided to go Max Air.
Makes sense, if you ask me – but also begs the question, why wait until now? LeBron has always been a large man.
Also worth noting is that the Air Max VII will feature “Flyware” technology that will maintain the support that a bigger-framed player such as James needs, while at a lighter weight than No. 23 is used to. While it may not make the biggest difference step-by-step, I think we can all agree that a lighter LeBron is a more dangerous LeBron.
You can likely count on various colorways of the Air Max VII hitting shelves come next season, including (but definitely not limited to) Christ the King, New York/Big Apple, and hopefully another MVP style.
(Update: Image of a white and red colorway can be found here)
7 Comments
Things I know about shoes:
IMO, Flywire is amazing. A good amount of weight cut off because of the material used. Still quite supportive.
Zoom Air is much, much nicer and more responsive than Max Air. That being said, I weigh 100 pounds less than LBJ and I’m not doing the jumpings. Maybe he needs the extra cushion because he’s going to add another 15 pounds of muscle this off season.
I’m kind of surprised he didn’t go with the Lunarlite foam that Kobe has in his shoes – my running shoes use Lunarlite and it’s the best cushioning I’ve ever tried.
Probably also has to do with having a full year where he trusts the guards to play guard positions, and now will be playing as more of a 3/4 (or just 4) consistently.
omg! its black and red! that MUST be a message that he’s leaving for chicago!!!
\sarcasm
Went show shopping last week.
Noticed the LBJ shoes were heavy and clunky, the Kobe shoes were light and sleak.
So, does that mean Shaq will be playing in Nike Zeppelin Air?
Worst looking LeBron’s in quite some time IMO. That’s a shame. I thought they did a good job cutting weight with the Solider III’s, don’t see the need to cut it further than that, especially if it means the miserable aesthetics of these.
Not a big fan of the black uppers, but the white colorway looks pretty hot.