#4 – Steph curry
With the two-year tear that Steph has been on, I could’ve said his line was number one and people would probably believe me. Alas, Steph comes in at number four on this ranking with 5% of total votes and 5.6% of first place votes.
Curry would probably be higher on the list if he had more than two (four if you count low-tops) models with his name attached to them. Steph did wear the ClutchFit line before his signature models, but that didn’t factor into these rankings because Curry’s name isn’t attached and other players like Kemba Walker hooped in the model. For the people who attribute all ClutchFit success to Curry, the additional votes would bumped Steph up to third with 7.9% and 8.2% of total and first place votes.
There currently is an interesting debate going for best basketball player in the world, with Curry and LeBron garnering the most discussion. The aforementioned idolization of LeBron completely contrasts the desire to emulate Curry’s sharpshooting game. This is accentuated with the marketing behind both men; LeBron is associated with the phrase “we are all witnesses” and Curry has claimed the biblical passage “I can do all things.” Taking the religious context out of the latter phrase, you can get the sense that Curry’s image is inspirational for hoopers, particularly young children.
Speaking of kids, the accessibility aspect has helped the Curry line immensely, with parents probably more apt to spend around $120 for signature sneaker than other athletic sneakers on the market.
We shall see how Curry’s line will innovate from this point on, particularly with his lead designer (Dave Dombrow) heading to Nike. Definitely comment below though on how you think the Curry line will go from here. Will it slowly fizzle like the Iverson line or can Curry really do all things and pass the players ahead of him on this list?
LOVE THIS!
Great report! This really should help anyone looking for ideas of what to buy. Thanks for the great surveys!
I think each performance review on the site will determine which shoe you should buy.
This survey was more for what the general hooper likens as the best hoop shoe.
Thanks for reading though. Glad you enjoyed it.
Very well written piece!!!
Good stuff. Perhaps I may have missed this, but was there a size and position played question asked on this survey? While I am not six eight, but six four and I do weigh twofiddy and am a power player, so there is nothing that I do with a Kobe Bryant type shoe but look at it from afar. This isn’t about Kobe bias, because I do not like him, but his shoe are too flimsy to be considered the best performance option for players like me if I were to use this article as a gauge.
This is more of a general survey asking what the best overall shoes are to the general populous.
This isn’t a recommendation of what to pick up. Your own style and build will determine that. Obviously there are more guards out there than big men, so it’s skewed towards guard shoes a bit.
Hope that makes sense. Thanks for reading.
the kobe line, if only for the 6, the 8 and the 9, has to be at the very top (i’m also somebody who likes the 10 a lot, even if it isn’t a top of the line shoe it is a very dependable and supportive option)….the rose line, though, has to be right up there alongside the kobe series, i’m not a big rose fan but every shoe other than the 3 (which isn’t bad, it just isn’t special in any real way) has been inventive and performance-driven, the 4 was just a sleek, flexible, explosive beast of a shoe, i played in that until the upper and the sprintframe separated (inevitable after putting it through runs in the rain, extreme weather, etc.), while the 5 had unbelievable lockdown and support, probably the best containment i’ve ever experienced…of course, you had to get the chicago ice or the woven brenda colorway to get top class flexibility, too
Disagree on the Kyrie assessment. Companies have consistently shown they can churn out shoes with good performance at a low cost. Kyrie’s shoe is one of many shoes that are victims of Nike somehow deciding zoom should not be felt. Other than that, great list and appreciate the work done.
Yo! This was a really good read. Thanks for putting this together. I’ve played in models from almost everyone on the list except for maybe Kyrie. Definitely a well thought out article. Respect.
Really nice article, very insightful and definitely one of the best because of the level of analysis involved. Hoping for a wider and deeper study in the future!