XX9 Vol.3 (RW)

I added another pair of the Air Jordan XX9 to my collection this week. I've covered how much I love the XX9 on multiple occasions, so when the Russell Westbrook edition ghost dropped this week I had to grab a pair. Luckily they released at House of Hoops in London, as the last couple of shoes I've wanted haven't released in the UK.

They're the player edition colourway that Russ wore for the All Star game this year. The only difference is that they have the RW logo on the tongue instead of the 23 that were on his original version, & instead of the orange pods on the sole they have the 30th anniversary Jordan logo.

I've already worn then once, and like the other XX9's the performance is awesome so it's great to have another pair to add to my basketball rotation.

Most wanted sneakers Fall 2015

Sometimes I'll go for quite a while without there being any sneakers that I'm particularly  interested in, and the more pairs I have, the more discerning I become about what I buy. But sometimes a whole bunch of stuff appears that I'm super excited about, and Fall 2015 is shaping up to be a pretty good season...

1. If you've been following my blog you'll know how much I love the Jordan XX9. So I was very excited when this pair were announced this week as part of the 'Feng Shui' pack. The turquoise midsole and purple jumpman really pop against the super clean white upper. Theres talk of these being a China only release, but hopefully I'll get a chance to pick these up.

2. I've never been that into the Jordan VIII, but there's something about this '3 Peat' colourway that I really like. I think its the contrasting white and black colour-blocks and then the bright details (that represent the three teams that Jordan beat to win his first three championships) that give it a great '90s throwback style. You could definitely see the Fresh Prince rocking these with a brightly coloured shell-suit.

3. I have a couple of pairs of Jordan 1's in red/black/white, and a pair in black/royal would be a welcome addition to my sneaker rotation. The low top version is a little different and it makes for a versatile shoe for autumn.

4. I really like what Converse have done with the Chuck II and I was very tempted to pick up a pair in royal blue from the release pack. But I'm a sucker for maroon, and I love this colour that was just announced as one of the Fall colours.

5. The Air Max Sensation is another '90's era basketball shoe that brings back great memories for me. I vividly remember a kid from school called Alex had a pair of these and I always loved the oversized chunky feel and big max air units. They also have the swoosh on the toe-box that is one of my favourite details from that era of Nike basketball shoes.

6. This is where things get really interesting. Apparently the Hornets colours of the Jordan XIII which were originally player exclusives for Chris Paul when he played for New Orleans, are actually being released. There's nothing confirmed at the moment, and no word on when this is happening, but as the XIII is my favourite Jordan shoe, and I'm a big Chris Paul fan so I'm pretty excited about this. Hopefully its actually happening, they won't be too limited and that I'll be able to get a hold of a pair.

XX9 Vol.2

Last month I wrote about picking up the Air Jordan XX9, and how well they had performed on the basketball court. Since then I've played in them a bunch of times and I continue to love them. The one-piece woven upper gives great fit and comfort, and the zoom air & flight-plate combination provide excellent responsiveness and comfort underfoot. I also love the traction and grip.

So because I've been enjoying playing in them so much I decided to pick up a second pair. Now the XX9 isn't a cheap shoe, so I did a bit of hunting around online, and I was able to find the Riverwalk colourway discounted, so quickly snapped up a pair.

This design really showcases the potential of the woven up, with an awesome combination of Fusion Pink & Tropical Teal, with the pink the dominant colour in the front of the shoe, which blends into more of the teal colour in the heal. This combines with the over sized Jumpman logo in white which really pops, and another beautiful clear sole. I'm excited to have a second version to play in for my weekly game, and by rotating between the two it will definitely help to keep them in good condition.

XX9

Its been a while since my last blog post as the last month and a half have been crazy busy with work and moving house. But I'm back on top of things and have a bunch of stuff to blog about over the next couple of weeks. But way back at the end of March I spent a week in New York, and of course I spent a lot of time hunting for interesting sneakers, and the shoe I was particularly looking for was the Air Jordan XX9.

In February I wrote about how much I liked the XX9's that Russel Westbrook has been wearing, and my excitement for his debut Jordan brand signature shoe. However since then we found out that Russ's shoe is going to be a lifestyle shoe, and not a performance basketball shoe, which for me was really disappointing news, and made up my mind that I definitely wanted to get a pair of the XX9's.

I was very tempted by the white/silver All-Star colourway, but while visiting Flight Club I was able to find a pair of the legend blue/white/silver colour from the Gift of Flight pack. Flight Club is a consignment sneaker store, where for a fee they will sell your shoes, so have an incredible selection of rare and hard to find shoes. It was pretty impressive to see so many rare Jordans, LeBrons, and Yeezys, and even a pair of Freddy Kreuger SB dunks that are one of my all time grail shoes. I would definitely recommend visiting Flight Club just to see the array of amazing stuff they have.

The Ultimate Gift of Flight pack was a very limited pack that was released just before Christmas last year. It was made up of the XX9's and a pair of XI's in legend blue. Because XI's are so popular the pack was in huge demand and sold out instantly. However unlike most people who bought the pack for the XI's it was the XX9's that I'd wanted, especially as Russ wore that colour when the Thunder played on Christmas day. And luckily for me someone had decided to sell their XX9's separately from the pack, and because it's the shoe that's generally less popular I was able to get a super limited shoe at a great price.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I thought it was a shame that Nike never released one of the OKC Thunder colourways that Westbrook has been wearing, especially as the orange looks so great on them. However a trip to Nike town helped to solve this as I grabbed a pair of Nike Hyper Elite socks to go with them and give them the hit of orange they'd been missing. For anyone who plays basketball I'd definitely recommend the Nike Elite socks, they're incredibly comfortable and help to keep your feet feeling good during a hard game. I've played in the XX9 once so far, and I really loved them. The fit and traction were especially impressive, so much so that I'm really considering picking up another pair.

Basketball Diaries

Played a bonus basketball game this week with the Cambridge basketball guys and decided to break out the 2011 Air Jordan XI Concords.

Crazy Russ...

Its been a quiet week or so with not much of note to blog about. I have some new sneakers on the way from the U.S which according to the tracking are somewhere between Kentucky and the UK, so I'll hopefully have a post about those sometime in the next week or so.

There was plenty of sneaker action coming out of the NBA All-Star weekend, but to be honest most of it didn't really excite me. All the All Star edition shoes that the players wore during the game were pretty forgettable, and most of the other sneaker attention was around the release of the adidas & Kanye West Yeezy shoe which was underwhelming to say the least.

However the one piece of news that really did catch my attention was the news that Russell Westbrook is getting his own Jordan signature shoe. Westbrook has easily been my favourite player to watch this year. With Kevin Durant missing a bunch of games with various injuries, Russ has had to carry the extra load for the Thunder and its been awesome to watch. He plays every game at 100 miles an hour and attacks the basket as if he's trying to kill it. He's just the most exciting player to watch at the moment, which was perfectly displayed on Sunday night as he dropped 41pts and walked away with the All Star MVP trophy.

Jordan XX9 Russell Westbrook Player Edition

I really loved the blue/orange version of the Jordan XX9 that Westbrook has worn for a lot of the season and I was really disappointed that it was never released. The XX9 from the Gift of Flight pack was close, but it missed the orange which really sets off the shoe. So I have high hopes for his signature shoe. Russ has one of the most unique styles in the NBA so hopefully this will translate to an exciting shoe with some adventurous design. Jordan Brands current range of signature shoes for Chris Paul & Carmelo Anthony are pretty underwhelming so lets hope they can come up with something special for Russell. 

I'd also really love to see a return to releasing signature shoes in players uniform colours. I miss the days when you knew a shoe would definitely get a release in a home & away colourway. I don't think the new Melo 11 has been available in Knicks colours at all which I think is a real miss. Either that or put them on Nike ID with some good colour blocking options in blue, orange & white and that should keep me happy. Apparently they're calling it the Jordan Westbrook 0 and it will be debuting in June, so we should see some early images sometime soon, lets hope it lives up to its potential.

Basketball Diaries

Air Jordan XIII Retro Flint Grey/Team Red 2005

Basketball Diaries

Jordan XII Flint Grey.