Lightest hoop shoe ever to cement Kobe’s legacy

MANILA, Philippines - Now playing his 17th NBA season, Los Angeles Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant will surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time leading scorer in the next three years if he stays on course averaging close to 30 points a game. Bryant, 34, shouldn’t find it difficult to achieve the milestone — he’s the youngest player ever to reach the 30,000-point plateau and that’s a sure sign of his ability to break Abdul-Jabbar’s record. His conditioning coach Tim Grover said the goal is for Bryant to play three more seasons of high-quality basketball until he’s 37 but he’s not closing the door of an even longer career.

What’s certain is Bryant will cement his legacy as the game’s ultimate shotmaker wearing the lightest basketball shoe ever. Bryant recently unveiled his latest Nike signature shoe, Kobe 8, engineered to enhance performance on the court and provide the perfect partner in the Laker’s relentless pursuit of excellence. His first Nike shoe weighed 17 ounces but the latest version is only 9.6 ounces. The weights are based on a standard US men’s size 9 shoe.

With the Kobe 8s, Bryant plays like he’s weightless but with absolute protection for his feet. “It’s the lightest basketball shoe that’s ever been made,” said Bryant in a press launch at the AT&T Center in Los Angeles. “It makes me feel like I’m playing at the speed of light. I’ve found the shoe that can make me continue to perform at a high level.” No doubt, there will be innovations in Bryant’s signature shoe down the glory road but the lightweight feature will always be a constant denominator.

Bryant wore the “black-out” colorway of Kobe 8 when he dropped 42 points on Cleveland last Dec. 11 and the original colorway of black and vivid sulphur when he shot 31 against the New York Knicks two nights later. Eventually, 30 colorways of Kobe 8 will be available. Nike is allowing buyers to customize their own Kobe 8s via the Nike ID system in an innovation that’s taking the market by storm. The Kobe 8 with the black and vivid sulphur colorway went on sale globally last Dec. 20. A new colorway will be out on Feb. 2, 2013.

At the moment, Bryant has scored 30,252 points. He’s No. 5 in the all-time list behind Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419). This season, Bryant is on track to score at least 2,400 points. It took Bryant 1,179 games to reach 30,000 points compared to Chamberlain who did it in 941 and Jordan who made it in 960. Bryant’s advantage is he began his career as an 18-year-old rookie in 1996 and has lot more years of playing to go. 

Nike sent two Filipinos — Slam Philippines’ editor-at-large Mico Halili and this writer — to join a group of 40 media representatives in Los Angeles for the unveiling of Kobe 8 and the chance to interview Bryant. The Philippines and China were the only Asian countries represented in the media launch.

Bryant flew in by helicopter from his home in Newport Beach to land at the AT&T Center roof deck, escaping the Los Angeles downtown early afternoon traffic. Los Angeles radio announcer Kurt “Big Boy” Alexander hosted the media launch and called Bryant “the gold standard of LA basketball.” Bryant was at the AT&T Center for over three hours, indicating his commitment to promote the shoe as a “game-changing” concept. 

In a one-on-one interview, Bryant told The STAR he’s looking forward to another trip to Manila soon, perhaps next summer. “Every trip has been memorable for me,” said Bryant, referring to his five Manila visits since 1998. “The Filipino’s love for the game is something I can relate to. The passion is amazing and it’s intense.”

Bryant said while he’s chasing Abdul-Jabbar’s record, it’s incidental to his main objective of bringing the championship back to Los Angeles. “My main thing is to win championships and I think with the Kobe 8, I can bring the title back to LA,” said Bryant. Nike innovation leader Jeff Spanks said it took 18 months to finalize the model to Bryant’s precise specifications. “The design was meant to shave seconds,” said Bryant. “When I turn the corner a split second faster, I gain a huge advantage. I’m about details. It feels light, natural, like an extension of my foot. I feel the strength of the mesh that gives me a lot of support. It’s the most compact basketball shoe ever.” Kobe 8’s reptilian snake-like accent takes off from Bryant’s “Black Mamba” persona.   

Curiously, Nike shoe graphic designer Erick Goto, who worked closely with Bryant in conceptualizing the Kobe 8 look, is three-fourths Filipino. His father Ariel is half-Filipino, half-Japanese while his mother Daisy Buenaobra is pure Filipina. Goto was born and raised in the US. His parents are from Binangonan, Rizal. Goto, 27, has visited the Philippines only thrice and the last was over 10 years ago. It’s a tribute to Pinoy talent that Goto has made a name for himself with Nike.

The day after the media launch, Nike held a briefing for invited media on its new technology of customizing shoes and the evolution of Bryant’s new apparel line. The briefing was conducted at the Nike Vault, a store within the Staples Center complex. The customization service is being offered in 40 Nike outlets, including China and Japan. Customization is also available online. 

Then, the proof of the pudding came in the tasting. Mico and I were brought to the Staples Center hardcourt, wearing our brand new Kobe 8s for a 90-minute workout with Grover. It was an experience of a lifetime, particularly as Mico and I were never close to becoming competitive basketball players. As a bonus, we changed clothes in the Lakers own dressing room surrounded by the lockers of Bryant, Dwight Howard, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and others. Somehow, we managed to survive Grover’s drills. The shoes were magical on the feet, just as advertised, and we probably wouldn’t have gone the distance without them.

Magic Johnson recently declared Bryant is destined to become the greatest Laker ever and predicted one day, the erection of a statue for the “Black Mamba” outside the Staples Center with Jerry West, Abdul-Jabbar, Wayne Gretzky, Oscar de la Hoya, Chick Hearn and Johnson himself. Bryant is well on his way to cementing his legacy as one of the greatest ever to play the game.

The Nike trip was unforgettable. Everything went like clockwork, from the pick-up at the LA airport to checking in at the Mondrian to the media launch to the Bryant interview to the Nike Vault briefings to the 90-minute workout with Grover to watching the Lakers-Denver game from the Nike luxury box at the Staples Center to the final farewell. Nike’s Raena Cheong and Ilana Finley did an incredible job of organizing a media event that will forever be a part of immortalizing Bryant’s history.