words_Nick DePaula
Last night in Denver there seemed to be a few firsts, such as Carmelo Anthony’s regular season return after serving his two-game suspension, where he surprisingly showed up sans braids. Kobe Bryant also made a quiet surprise of his own, debuting a new sneaker that includes the upper of a Nike Hyperdunk along with the tooling of the Zoom Kobe IV. While it was an under the radar move and there’s no word on any such shoe releasing, there’s several ways to analyze the move by Nike and Kobe.
Both the Hyperdunk and Zoom Kobe IV feature identical cushioning set-ups, with heel Zoom Air and Lunar Foam units embedded into the midsole, but the lone difference between the two is surely in the traction department. The Kobe IV features a perfectly squeaky and trusty herringbone pattern along the entire forefoot, while the Hyperdunk incorporates recessed grooves to handle its traction duties, and can become a bit slippery once some dust collects. Did Kobe switch simply for better traction? Both shoes have a similarly exacting support outrigger, carbon fiber spring plate and a radiused heel for great heel-to-toe transition. Or, is Kobe not yet ready to debut his 5/8 cut Zoom Kobe IV, and for now relying on the higher cut of the Hyperdunk? My guess is Nike and/or Kobe simply wanted to make the Hyperdunk more “his,” while everyone else in the league continues to wear the silhouette, as both shoes are perfectly capable from a performance front. We’ll be sure to update you with more pictures and information soon and be keeping an eye on his footwear as always for all upcoming games, but as far as we know, this is the first time an athlete has transitioned into his next shoe by initially wearing a hybrid of old and new. [Note: Jester coming through with a correction. Michael Jordan was perhaps the first afterall, when he wore a shoe that included an Air Jordan I upper an Air Jordan II tooling.]
Hyperdunk Upper:
Zoom Kobe IV Tooling:
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November 2nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
hey nick, what about when MJ wore the AJ Is with the AJ II soles?
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Aha! Indeed you are correct! You sir have just won yourself 1000 points!
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I WANT THOSE!
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
they look strong!
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Kinda crazy, can’t wait to see how the Kobe IV plays…
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
those r ridiculos im getting those
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
Thats what im thinkin about the whole day when i saw those pics.. its really looks like the hyperdunk at first sight but if you examine it its zoom kobe 4.. i also thought that maybe kobe 4 will now be changed to high cut.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
man the hyperdunk shoulda been the zoom kobe 3’s then these coulda been the zoom kobe 3.5’s. damn theyre sickalicious hope nike releases these
November 4th, 2008 at 10:01 am
…other hybrids were Pippen 1, Pippen was not happy with air max (reference Kicks #1, Aaron Cooper interview), so Scottie and Tony Kukoc have worn a zoom air version of the shoe with phylon midsole resembling release version with full air max units.
ciaooo
November 9th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Put the raging bull from the IV tongue on the Hyperdunk tongue and the Sheath on the heel and we have the Kobe IV.