Sport Blue is the color of August as far as Jordan Brand is concerned, and the Jordan Flight Time 14.5 is the latest model to get the treatment. These are available now at Eastbay but labeled as back-ordered with an expected August 22nd ship date.
Jordan Tatum 3: The Best Tatum Signature Model to Date
The Jordan Tatum 2 is a very different shoe to the Tatum 1 which might be a good thing, but, how do they actually perform on court?
performance review?
Here is a brief one I can offer having played in a leather version (sport blue) and a synthetic suede version (grey/orange). Not big difference in terms of upper materials, the latter has more flexibility and I felt like didn’t sweat quite as much. Otherwise they perform the same.
The traction is simple, straightforward and more than adequate. It’s a straight herringbone through the forefoot with a bit of multi-directional action coming up the sides that acts as sort of a mild outrigger. Very good grip and stability in my opinion, even if it’s nothing revolutionary. The heel traction is distinct but honestly you don’t notice it much.
In terms of ankle support and lockdown, it’s also very good though maybe not quite great. I could use maybe a little heel clip but the lockdown is surprisingly good and you feel the height of the shoe despite the ankle area being soft and flexible. It’s not like a Huarache 2k4 or Hyperrev or even the UA Clutchfit Drive to an extent where you feel like there extra material just to give the appearance of height, all that material actually provides some support. The lacing system is well-engineered also, nice support throughout the foot. Outside of UA’s CompFit models (Juke 1, Juke 2 and the ultimate ankle support shoe the Torch 2), I have not seen better use of this type of ankle support setup.
They breathe pretty well, particularly the synthetic suede ones (white/black/infrared, grey/orange, grey/yellow, riverwalk, etc).
The real money thing on this shoe and why I think it was the single best Nike or JB release of 2014 is the cushioning. The Lunar heel cushion is like nothing I have ever felt, it’s a HUGE crash pad. These put the Hyperdunk–and I really like the HD13–to shame in terms of their implementation of Lunarlon cushioning. They also push you onto your forefoot, but not in the exaggerated way the M11, XX9 and Superfly 3 do. Very quick, natural and bouncy heel-to-toe transition. The Zoom in the forefoot is not visible in anyway but you can definitely feel it, it feels the way Zoom should feel. A bit cushy but mostly very responsive. The midsole in the forefoot is relatively firm but you still get all the softness from the Zoom, really a superb cushioning setup.
I paid around $60 for the pairs I got and I think that is an incredible value, on par with what you can get from Under Armour, who I think offers the best overall value in the market.
The best cw is the black red cw