There was time when young basketball players wanted to “be like Mike” and felt they needed to wear a pair of Air Jordans to take their game to another level.
Though some may argue the point, athletes need to know that their athletic ability is not based on what they are wearing on their feet.
Some shoes may feel more comfortable and look better than others, but none will add five inches to your vertical leap.
UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, who is expected to be one of the top three NBA picks during next month's draft, has already come out with his signature sneaker.
He unveiled the $495 ZO2s basketball shoes a few weeks ago, which are sold by his family’s Big Baller Brand.
The spokesperson for the family, father LaVar Ball, said, “If you can’t afford the ZO2s, you’re not a Big Baller.” An upgraded version can cost $995, which are autographed in gold ink and comes with an LED-lit display case.
Ball hasn't scored his first NBA bucket and people are already buying his high-dollar shoes.
What are they thinking?
No shoes, in my opinion, are worth between $500 and a $1,000.
I’m not knocking the father for marketing his son through products under the Big Baller Brand (BBB) label. He expects his two other high school sons, who are committed to UCLA, to also be in the NBA one day.
According to him, a shoe deal involving the three could be worth $2 billion.
Nike, Under Armour and Adidas passed on endorsement deals with BBB. The outspoken father didn't take the rejection well, saying now it will cost a shoe company $3 billion to make a deal with Big Baller Brand.
“If they want to talk to me now, it just went up to $3 billion. Triple Bs — billion, billion, billion,” LaVar Ball said.
This made me think of former NFL great Deion Sanders, who once said he wouldn’t negotiate a contract unless the figures sounded similar to his first name.
Thinking back, I can remember my first pair of Converse high tops. I don’t recall how much my mother paid for them, but I was able to "stop on a dime" and not slide across the court. My other shoes had plastic soles, but the Converse bottom was rubber.
I tried my luck at basketball, but the shoes didn’t make me any better.
It’s been reported that 400 to 500 pairs of the $495 ZO2s have been pre-ordered.
Maybe I should go ahead and get a pair. They would go good with a $425 pair of the mud-covered dirty jeans being sold by Nordstrom. All I would need to complete my outfit would be a $300 plain T-shirt with mustard stains on it.
I know, it sounds crazy.
Call me out-of-touch or old-fashioned, but clothes with a check on it or man riding a pony don’t make you any better than anyone else.
• • • •
The NBA Finals will involve the same two teams from the past three years. Golden State, having not lost in the playoffs, is on a record-setting pace again. The Warriors have added Kevin Durant, making them more dangerous than ever.
Without Durant a year ago, they had LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers down 3-1 before losing the series. The Cavs made history themselves by bouncing back from that 3-1 deficit and have a healthy Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love this season.
The league wants another seven-game series. The Warriors would like nothing more than a sweep, while the Cavaliers are looking to prove they are for real.
Regardless of how many games it goes, the 2017 NBA Finals could very well go down as most watched series in history.
I will keep my pick to myself this year.
After winning the most games of any NBA team last season and up 3-1 in the finals, I was feeling really good about my choice of the Warriors.
(Chris Gilliam is Sports Editor at the Banner-News. Email him at [email protected]).