The Nike Kobe 9 Elite has had one great performance review already and now that I actually have a pair, I can start testing them on-court for a review of my own.
If you wanted to know my First Impression on the Kobe 9 Elite now that I’ve been able to try them on and mess around with them a bit then here it is.
Thank you for watching and stay tuned!
Nice! Great job bro.
Looks like a pain in the ass to get on your foot
Loosen the laces
You have to loosen the laces and pull the tongue forward pretty far, but they were designed that way. You don’t risk damaging the shoe.
I was really looking for your thoughts, now can’t wait for the whole review. As always GJ man !!
P.S.
Really happy to see that finally the hard works is paying off =)
NW!!…My man!…congrats on the pic-up bro!…bout time!..ha…excellent review by the way!….im glad ya mentioned in your review that THERE IS fuse/tpu “whatever” overlay underneath the Fly-nit….so my question to you is….doesnt that totally defuse the purpose of the Fly-nit?…ya know what im tryin 2say?…
Exactly what I was thinking. Eric Avar was talking about how flyknit gives you pinpoint control of where you need support. If they use fuse, it seems more like they have just replaced engineered mesh with flyknit. Maybe this shoe is more of a “foot in the door” shoe with a flyknit hoop shoe, and we’ll see better implementation later
will you do some reviews on some 361 degrees shoes please
The 1st time i saw the kobe 9 i thought that they copied the jordan 28 haha
lol NW moving up in the world, getting the hookups. Right on, look forward to the review.
Im very curious to see if the hyperrev performs just as good if not better than the Kobe 9’s
Whoa Nike looked out for him! That type of recognition is heavy.
You drove it home with me on the technical term of the “midsole.” That is a very good point because I have been guilty of saying insole before.
I had some intense runs today in the Masterpieces and the cushion is more ideal for step in and comfort. The high flying had these semi old joints of mine humming a bit when I was done.
One last thing. Right now I’m bouncing between the Way of Wade 2.0 & Kobe IX elite. The padded tongue on the Kobe IX is so plush that I think it may go underappreciated. Slip on the WoW 2.0 and you will see what I mean lol.
Free pairs keep coming 😉
Hey, you really need to tske these for a spin with the lebron insert in them. It end up getting rid of the dead space, add a bit off stiffness for the lacking torsional support and because the zoom basically sits on the ground with the sole being only millimeters thin it feels ALOT like unlocked zoom. I’d be interested to see this as part of the comprehensive review although I know it’s not technically how the shoe was designed to be used. It’s amazing IMO, I was less than thrilled with the IX until doing this.
Sorry about the typos I’m on my mobile right now.
Here’s the kicker though, you shouldn’t have to do that at $225. After yesterday’s games, I have to say that the cushion is lacking for me in landings. I didn’t catch it the previous two weeks because I was really just shooting, passing, and running like a guard normally would. When you are dunking, boarding, and blocking, then the crash pads(lunarlon) might not cut it for you. Don’t let that weird anyone out. The cushion is there and feels good. I’ve put my knees through a hell of a lot over the years and I keep doing it when I play like I’m bigger than I am.
Oh I totally agree that you shouldnt have to. At 6’6″ and in my 30s landings dont feel to hot anymore, especially with severe cartilage deterioration in both knees, the zoom helps and is much more beneficial to me than the lunar. I was just saying that the Lebron XI inserts feel like they were made for this shoe in a nutshell. They feel better in these than the lebrons themselves.
This is exactly how I felt with the 8s. I only wear them when I’m feeling spry, but still think they’re great to hoop in. I’m hoping that with the 9’s midsole being very slightly thicker, it might do the trick to be a regular shoe in my rotation.
Either way, I can’t wait for 03/22 to try and get those Details. I just had a pair of my OG XX8s bust on me after a year (popped forefoot zoom bag in the left shoe), so I’ll use that Nike voucher to hopefully pick these up. At least I won’t have to worry about zoom pops in these, just my knees and back, hah!
I gotta try this out. My lebrons STILL gives me blisters on my right heel so I was about to sell them. I think I’ll use the insert and the laces when I ball in my Kobe 9. I can’t wait, that sounds heavenly.
You have to give the posite more time to mold to your feet. I had the same problem with my Lebron XIs.
They’re molded already. Everything feels great, but that damn heel rub won’t go away.
I never heard of any heel rub from anybody before. Do you mean Achilles rub? If that’s the case, put a band-aid on the hot spot. If it’s an actual heel rub, I don’t know man, I have no experience with it. I wish I could help. Have you tried covering it (the hot spot in the shoe) with some medical/cloth tape?
Nope it’s my heel, right below the achilles.
I just have bad feet. My right foot is half an inch longer than my left feet AND I’m left-handed so I do a lot of stops/lifts with my right foot. I also have wide feet. It doesn’t help I HATE bad fit so I go TTS (size 11 instead of 11.5, which would make my right feet thankful but my left feet with a lot of deadspace). I have a pair of Melo M10 ASG coming in and I heard those fit wide. At the very least the leather will hopefully stretch. I love the flight plate setup so hoping those work for me.
And I could use tape, but honestly this is an excuse for me to buy more performance shoes 😀
You try some Elite socks yet? I used to think they were somewhat gimmicky, but getting away from a pure cotton sock has done wonders for my feet.
I wear the regular nike crew socks that comes in a bundle, 3 for 18 dollars or something. Just couldn’t stomach handing over $16+ for one pair of sock. I do have two $20 coupons from footlocker that I could use if I hear that it helps with my feet. Else I was going to get some shorts and shirt using those coupons. Are they really worth it in your eyes?
Forgot to mention, I do have Kobe elite socks, but took NW’s advice and never used them for performance.
Nike dri-fit 1/2 cushion socks are a good alternative to elites. You can usually find them 6 pairs for $20.
Now that I think about it, Elites did help me out with hot spots that didn’t involve my toes. Go ahead and see if the Elites help.
Ever tried pre-wrap? its like a spongy fabric that is a base layer to use under the athletic tape. Pretty cheap. I’m sure sporting goods stores and drug stores have them. They are about a dollar in Walmart.
If you don’t want to fork out the money on the Elite socks, I totally understand, you could also try double-socking with a thinner sock as the first layer. The Elite socks solved a lot of foot rub issues for me because it doesn’t use a lot of cotton.
I don’t mind forking over money for something that’ll save me from pain. I just thought the elite socks were a gimmick to get us to pay more lol. Thank you for the suggestion and help, it’s greatly appreciated!
I’m trying this out right now and it’s really great! I think i just found the perfect shoe for me.
I also complained about heel slippage in another post. That’s gone now by using the lebron 11 rope laces. I’m so stoked right now. Two flaws, in my opinion, of the kobe 9 fixed by marrying it with the lebron 11. I would definitely like to see NW try this out. A great alternative for power players.
I think the heel slippage for me happens because the laces aren’t able to hold onto the flywire that holds the heel in (last flywire lace). The Kobe 9 laces feel cheap and they lose their stretch easily. There’s really an immediate improvement in heel lockdown for me as soon as I changed those laces out. I think I’ll use my extra Kobe 5 prelude laces (the multi-colored ones). The rope laces from Lebron 11 is nice, but they’re too big for the small lace holes on the Kobe 9.
Just my suggestion to those who feel heel lockdown isn’t up to par. It really makes a huge difference. I’m a little disappointed at the cheap laces considering how much we’re forking over, but it is what it is.
Hey NW, Looks like the ankle area can be folded down like the XX8. My question is: Does it stay down while playing? Or like it’s too floppy?
Told ya they’d hook him up 🙂
when mine show up in the mail i will try a swap out with the J2011 midsole since the Quick midsole has the zoom units. should be a trip or a fail