Would an alternate design for the Air Jordan 9 have given the shoe a higher place in rankings of best Jordan silhouettes of all time? Maybe, although its lack of time on-court and on the feet of Michael Jordan during his era of Bulls dominance will forever be a mark against the model.
This new set of sketches, pulled from the archives of Tinker Hatfield, shows what a different take on the shoe could have looked like. Maybe the most interesting in the group is the depiction above, which features something called a "removable inversion strap" according to the chicken scratch of the legendary Nike designer.
See more of these sketches below and get background on the Air Jordan 9 design process here.
