Images Via fyk7
Anta Kai 1 Speed: Better than the Kai 1?
The Anta Kai 1 Speed is very similar to Kyrie Irving's first signature shoe, the excellent Anta Kai 1, but several changes might make it slightly better.
ANTA Rondo 1
the front and aerial view made them kind of like a hybrid of the hyperfuse and lebron 9, interesting.
Reminds me of the Lebron 8 PS. Looks like a little behind it’s time, but a fair performer.
Not sure how I feel about the white/green pair just yet. Would like to see more pics. There is a pic of Rondo sporting a black/green pair during training camp that look much better IMO. Not sure about the tech here either. Sort of looks like the green section is hyperfuse and the white part is synthetic leather? Again, more pics and info will probably come out. Wonder if this will have A-Jelly and Nano Silver that KG’s line has? A-Jelly is the heel cushion they use in the midsole/heel section which I think is more like the EVA you see on the insoles of some Li-Ning shoes. Nano Silver is supposedly a deodorizing insole. I wouldn’t know, because while I have tried my darndest to cop an Anta KG shoe and they apparantly don’t make anything above a size US 10 except for KG himself :/
saw the black/green CW. they look fantastic.
I had a brief experience with the first KG ANTA’s when Champs was still carrying them. my initial impressions were not quite good. found the rubber quite stiff and might require some real break-in period OUTDOORS ! cushion was meh. I liked the Adidas EVA foam better. not sure about these but I would be willing to experiment for the sake of liking Rondo, if I could get a pair for $50. guess I need to call some people to get one from Asia.
I wonder what price point they would sell these (and KG’s for that matter) at? I know KG’s go for $65 US dollar in China, but that doesn’t factor in the extra costs for getting the shoes here, which would probably trickle down to the consumer. Taobao, don’t let me down now!
Man that ankle support, you’d think a certain golden state player would want this kind of protection 😉
just waiting for rondo’s sick colorways of this
WHY RONDO WHY? Why would you want to leave Nike?
I don’t have the factual numbers, but something tells me it’s related to money. Perhaps Rondo didn’t want to leave Nike, but Anta stepped up and offered more dough. He’d be a fool not to take more money.
Rondo isn’t the first one to jump ship. a lot of big names have been signed by various chinese brand shoe companies for years now. could have been the sake of better deal like more money and their own line of shoe since Nike has been very busy with their own top product endorsers. on the otherhand, I just hope that these new Anta’s are better than the last ones I tried.
As a Chinese, I am qualified to tell you the fact that ANTA sucks d**k. So I think Rondo really made a stupid mistake.
If you wear a new pair of fking foamposite for every game you play, and you get hurt. Dun fking blame nike for dat shit.
I never heard Rondo blame his shoes for his injury. Again, I am willing to bet dollars to donuts he got offered more money, possibly significantly more money. Or maybe he wants to zig while everyone is zagging by signing on with a smaller brand. Rondo is a different cat who marches to the beat of his own drum. His signing with Anta isn’t all that surprising to me.
I highly doubt that him signing with another brand has anything to do with him “blaming” Nike for his injury. It’s business decision for these players more than anything else.
Re the shoes: like someone else said, that top view is very LBJ9’ish. When I had a holiday in the Philippines earlier in the year I got to hold the Anta KG2 in hand and I must admit the general feel was cheap (a disappointment for me because I’m a fan of other Chinese brands like Li Ning and Peak).
Will reserve my judgement on these for now though til there’s more info.
Hahahahahaha
Wow, I didn’t think Rondo actually signed with them. I thought that he was thinking about it, didn’t know that he actually went through with it.
I like Rondo as a player, didn’t follow the Celtics much though, but I thought that the likes changing up shoes quite often and wearing different models from game to game. How is this going to work for him wearing the same model shoe every game? Unless he thinks his injury is related to him changing to a different pair of shoes nearly every other game?
What shoes was he wearing most of last season? Someone mentioned he wore Foamposites quite a bit? I wouldn’t think they are a great on court performer in comparison to newer performance models.
a lot of NBA players wear a variety of shoes every night, not just Rondo.
he wore the huarache 2K4s really early in the season, laced up hyperposites and the hyperdisruptors, too (i believe he was wearing the latter when he tore his ACL)…his love for the hyperposites and the foamposites seems to indicate that he doesn’t much mind wearing clunky, stiff, bulky shoes…
I’m having doubts on how the laces are positioned
went to check out the Anta store. quite intrigued about the newly released KG team version Anta. it looks like a LBJ X with gel cushioning used rather than airmax. I can only guess those would be very nice or much comfortable compared to typical foam cushion. they looked to be their performance model yet cost $80 which wouldn’t hurt to try those out. and the new KG4 is only roughly under $70 though I would pass on those since they look pretty similar to the previous KG3 model.
Does Anta normally use Gel cushioning or is this a new thing for them? This has really piqued my interest now. I’m definitely interested in trying out a gel cushioned Bball shoe.
from my experience on the first KG Antas, I think they started initially with foam based cushion. I have tried gel based cushion from my Asics runners. really comfortable. I think the KG Anta 4 team shoe is just as elaborate with the use of gel tech. I’m just not sure on how different they would feel although it’s good to have such tech on a bb shoe instead of a runner shoe. as far as my comment on it being like an LBJ X shoe, just look at the cushion setup appearance. looks familiar?
http://www.hibasketballshoes.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5a86601fa2088714a1ad0239e36df05d/1/_/1_21_39.jpg
I know that the KG line has used gel cushioning (A-Jelly is what they call it) for the KG I and II. I believe Long-7 dissected the KG 3 and 4 and found there was no gel, just foam cushioning. Anta “claims” the gel is environmentally friendly and degradable. Not sure that can be tested or not.
Hold on a second, is the KG 3 and 4 supposed to have the gel too? If so, then it should still be there on the deconstruction shouldn’t it?
If it’s biodegradable, that doesn’t mean it should just vanish out of the shoe, should it?
Anta are starting to sound dodgy to me.
my previous post is still awaiting approval. while at it, I provided a picture link showing the gel cushioning for the KG 4 Team shoe. the official KG3 and KG4 Anta’s only have a sectioned gel on the heel part of the shoe. I think the KG1 and II you were referring were probably KG team shoes and not the KG officials. I was also confused at first when I saw two versions of the first KG Antas. the ones I tried were foam-based and not the gel-based ones.
I just sought out some long-7 pics and saw that the KG 3 definitely has a small A-Jelly section in the heel, but I didn’t see one for the KG 4. However, looking at the KG 4 promotional posters, they don’t advertise A-Jelly like they did with the previous 3 KG’s. Perhaps I just didn’t see it right or something. I know NW previously thought there wasn’t any gel cushioning on the pics of the KG 3 dissection, but if you look, there is some in the heel section.
Remind me of Lebron 11s
So I guess he’s still friends with KG.
the shoes look dope to me but i am having second thoughts about the logo on the tongue of the shoe. that’s just not working for me, atleast for now. the shoe might offer good lockdown and support on lateral movements but the design alone won’t be enough i think. the shoe does have a herringbone pattern for the outsole so it’ll have good traction but might burn down quickly because the traction does look thin. There are some open spots on the shoe along with the mesh-like toungue so it is ventilated but ain’t sure if it’s good or great ventilation. i hope you do a performance test on these NW when you get a pair.
Gross