SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- They are the unwritten but widely accepted bylaws of sports footwear. Here, we hold these truths to be self-evident:
Golf is to be played in spikes.
Ice hockey is to be played on skates.
Baseball and football are to be played in cleats.
And basketball? Basketball is to be played in a pair of high-tops.
So Kobe Bryant understands the backlash. He knows there will be doctors, trainers, coaches, fans and even some fellow NBA stars who will look at his latest signature shoe from Nike, see that it's --
gasp -- a low-top and believe the Los Angeles Lakers guard has completely lost his mind.
But he asked for this. Eighteen months ago, when Bryant met with a Nike design team and began brainstorming ideas for the Kobe IV, his focus wasn't on following the precedent but rather on setting his own. An avid soccer buff, Bryant marveled at the stress soccer players put on their ankles while wearing a low-cut shoe and figured if they felt could they do that on the pitch, he could bring it on the hardwood. So that day in a Nike boardroom, he gave Eric Avar, Nike's performance footwear creative director, one specific instruction: Create the lowest, lightest basketball shoe ever.
Avar loved the idea, but at the same time, he knew the ramifications of the words coming out of the mouth of the reigning NBA MVP.
"I pressed him on it," Avar said. "I was like, 'A real low? Like a soccer shoe?' And Kobe said, 'Yes. A true, genuine low-top.'
"It was pretty remarkable. Here was the greatest basketball player in the world telling me that he didn't need all this stuff around his ankle. And he wanted to prove that to everyone from Nike to fellow NBA players to the consumer."
The end result is a shoe that weighs just 11.6 ounces, some 20 percent lighter than the average Nike basketball shoe. For a player such as Bryant, who Nike says runs an average of 2.5 miles per game, less weight on his feet means more energy on the court and the ability to move quicker, run faster and perhaps even jump higher.
He is expected to debut the shoes Dec. 19 against Miami.