Months ago | 5th March 2010 18:13
Here's a quick review on the White/Red Retro XII's.
I'm a 6'06" , and 245lbs power player, that usually plays Center.
First of all, the quality of the materials is pretty good, the shoe is well put together, the only minus is that the pebbled-leather is a little over-processed, which makes it lose the pebbles at some spots. It doesn't mean a lot for the performance, but I really like my pebbled leather, that's why I got the White/Red's instead of the Flu Game Retro's.
Now the fit is really good, for me the shoe is nicely padded, and snugs up nice, and close around my foot, without giving me any bad pressure around my foot(I do have a pretty commercial foot though), the instep is at the low-end of medium, so you'll get a little arch support in these, but not a whole lot , the only thing that gives me some trouble, is that the shoe is a little too high around the Achilles, which makes the shoe a little constricting to your freedom of motion, and can create some bad pressure on your Achilles(both blisters, but also some pain), especially if you tie 'em really tight.
The tongue is constructed with the semi-booty(I believe it's called
), which makes the upper fit really good, and prevents tongue slippage of course, the laces come undone pretty easy though, which could be a problem of course, so I'd definitely advice to double-knot, or replace the laces.
All in all, the comfort is really good, except for the pressure around the Achilles.
The cushioning is really nice, it's a firm Zoom, that responds quite subtly in the fore-foot, and has plenty of impact protection in the heel even for a bigger player, the sole is really flexible, which is good for manoeuvrability, and the traction is solid, with the Herringbone it grabs the court nicely, if you sprint really high on your toes, the rim around the Herringbone area could be a little slippy, especially on dirty courts, but on a clean court, or outdoors, it shouldn't be a problem.
Stability, and support are pretty good in the shoe, the mid-cut, that fits pretty tight around your ankle, provides quite a lot of hard-support, but as you can tell(when you look at pics), it doesn't really have an outrigger, it relies more on the classic system, of your ankle getting caught by the supportive collar, and you creating enough force, to have your foot pushing down into the mid-sole enough for it to create a catch, which works pretty well for bigger players, but lighter players will probably miss the outrigger for the stability though.
So a good, comfortable all-round performer, with a slightly too high cut around the ankle(especially if you're very mobile), for lighter guys, the old-school stability measures, and build of the shoe, could make 'em feel a little clunky.
I'm a 6'06" , and 245lbs power player, that usually plays Center.
First of all, the quality of the materials is pretty good, the shoe is well put together, the only minus is that the pebbled-leather is a little over-processed, which makes it lose the pebbles at some spots. It doesn't mean a lot for the performance, but I really like my pebbled leather, that's why I got the White/Red's instead of the Flu Game Retro's.
Now the fit is really good, for me the shoe is nicely padded, and snugs up nice, and close around my foot, without giving me any bad pressure around my foot(I do have a pretty commercial foot though), the instep is at the low-end of medium, so you'll get a little arch support in these, but not a whole lot , the only thing that gives me some trouble, is that the shoe is a little too high around the Achilles, which makes the shoe a little constricting to your freedom of motion, and can create some bad pressure on your Achilles(both blisters, but also some pain), especially if you tie 'em really tight.
The tongue is constructed with the semi-booty(I believe it's called
), which makes the upper fit really good, and prevents tongue slippage of course, the laces come undone pretty easy though, which could be a problem of course, so I'd definitely advice to double-knot, or replace the laces.All in all, the comfort is really good, except for the pressure around the Achilles.
The cushioning is really nice, it's a firm Zoom, that responds quite subtly in the fore-foot, and has plenty of impact protection in the heel even for a bigger player, the sole is really flexible, which is good for manoeuvrability, and the traction is solid, with the Herringbone it grabs the court nicely, if you sprint really high on your toes, the rim around the Herringbone area could be a little slippy, especially on dirty courts, but on a clean court, or outdoors, it shouldn't be a problem.
Stability, and support are pretty good in the shoe, the mid-cut, that fits pretty tight around your ankle, provides quite a lot of hard-support, but as you can tell(when you look at pics), it doesn't really have an outrigger, it relies more on the classic system, of your ankle getting caught by the supportive collar, and you creating enough force, to have your foot pushing down into the mid-sole enough for it to create a catch, which works pretty well for bigger players, but lighter players will probably miss the outrigger for the stability though.
So a good, comfortable all-round performer, with a slightly too high cut around the ankle(especially if you're very mobile), for lighter guys, the old-school stability measures, and build of the shoe, could make 'em feel a little clunky.
ops:
