Why Won't LeBron Wear his New Shoes?

On occasion, Stormin Normin likes to share his opinions on fun issues that are loosely related to what matters in the NBA.

Performance footwear is a strange hobby of mine, so whenever a footwear topic becomes a hot button issue in the NBA, I simply can't help but comment.

The performance footwear blogosphere (yes that does exist) has been buzzing because LeBron James has only worn his flagship Nike LeBron XI shoe for a handful of quarters this year, opting instead for the previous version of his shoe. Nightwing2303, the premier performance footwear reviewer, in my opinion, considers the LeBron XI the best iteration of the line.

I can't walk right now, so I can't comment, but the shoes look awesome, and the technical specs suggest the shoe will play extremely well.

So why aren't they good enough for LeBron and his terrible feet?

Obviously James wear tested the shoe, so I cannot imagine this is the first time LeBron's ever worn the shoe. However, the nature of the materials dictates a fairly long break-in time, so LeBron's preference for a fresh pair every game may not provide him with the break-in time adequate for the shoe to fit comfortably.

Nike is paying LeBron a lot of money to be playing advertisement for this $200 basketball shoe, so I imagine Beaverton is none too pleased with James' current selection. Guaranteed Nike engineers are working on anything possible to get the shoe up to snuff for LeBron.

While I doubt sales of the fashion-driven men's version of the shoe will suffer, kids across the country may not want their parents to shell out $200 for a shoe LeBron isn't even playing in. Derrick Rose's last adidas shoe is still sitting on shelves, largely because he never played an NBA game in them.

What does this have to do with the Bulls?

Footwear is important to any basketball player. No, the LeBron XI won't add 5 inches to my vertical, but I will be comfortable and not have to worry about the shoe while I'm playing. The same cannot be said about playing in Chuck Taylors or Air Force 1s or any really old shoe. Being comfortable while you're playing basketball is paramount to success, particularly over a long, grueling season.

So you can imagine just how happy I am that Joakim Noah quit wearing tennis shoes, opting for Adidas basketball sneakers this season. Noah has struggled with foot problems, and I think the major reason was his Le Coq Sportif shoes. 

I would never wear these on (or off) the court.

Essentially, I hope James, and to a greater extent Noah, help stress the importance of footwear on the court. The last thing I want to see happen is a Bulls injury because a player gets another $50k a year from an unknown brand instead of sticking with the tried and true Nike, adidas, and Under Armour.