nikefreak's Full Review: Nike Jordan B2rue Basketball for Men
Jordan Brand always has a second subset of shoes that are designated as the Team Jordans, a takedown from the elite game shoe, the actual Air Jordan. Technology is not as elite, nor are the materials, but design cues and other such things are taken from the Air Jordans. The Jordan B'2ure is one such shoe that tries to play on the aura of one of the most-beloved Air Jordans of all-time, the XI. You can see the distinct shiny, patent leather toe on all of the colorways of this shoe. But that is about where the comparisons between the two shoes end as this shoe has multiple facets that just don't match up to its namesake.
The upper is actually nice full-grain, which gives the shoe a good durability and wear. It gives my foot pretty good support with any fancy synthetic linings or molded structures on the upper itself. On the medial (inside) and lateral (outside) sides of the shoe, near the heel, are two windows that house metal-screen mesh for breathability. These do a decent job of that aspect, but if the inside of the shoe would have cut out the mesh there, it would have been even better, albeit, the mesh is perfed. I do understand that having a metal-mesh up against the skin would not have been a good design element, but a vent should truly be open, maybe add a much lighter and thinner lining up against the malleoli to prevent that chafing and make the windows more breathable than they are. I just feel if you are going to take the time out to make a breathable element, truly make it that way!
The patent leather toe does a good job of reinforcing the forefoot of the shoe, but does scuff very easily. It's sturdiness is nice though; you have to have mighty muscles to even begin to bend the toe with your hand. Since the full-grain upper provides good support, the speed lacing system is basic and provides a good, but not excellent fit. I did feel slight side-to-side movement in the shoe when making hard cuts, so I feel as though this shoe does need more of a support structure on the sides.
A unique heel notch is cut into the shoe to promote flexibility and comfort to your Achilles, but this is all but negated when you have the chafing problem I experienced. After about 25 minutes into a game, my back heel started to feel sore; I chalked it up to a new shoe just needing a break-in period. But after I took it off, a good deal of skin had been rubbed off on the back part of my heel and did not feel good at all. I was wearing socks that went over the top of the shoe, so it wasn't that I was wearing no-shows and had no protection on my heel. I thought it would go away, but in three other wearings, the same thing happened every time. I decided not to play ball in these, just walk around, but it happened during that menial activity as well. This is the major disappointment with this shoe as I figured the lush collar lining would make for a sumptuous feel but I sure was wrong.
Moving on to the cushioning of the shoe, which is a Phylon midsole that houses a full-length encapsulated Air-Sole unit. This is not my favorite type of cushioning, especially being encapsulated and it proved to me why I don't particularly like it. It does provide a decent amount of impact protection on the court, but it does not give you any sense of responsiveness at all when cutting on a good court. I guess that is my fault for picking a non-Zoom Air shoe, but other encapsulated Air-Soles have given me better responsiveness than this one. It was basically dead underfoot and that is not a good feeling in a basketball shoe.
At least the outsole shines; the injected TPU (thermoplastic urethane) shank does an excellent job of providing support in the midfoot and arch, along with having a screenprinted photo of Jordan doing the famous Jumpman pose in a warmup suit on it, something that is so classic that everyone knows what the Jumpman is. The translucent outsole with the traction pattern modeled after DNA strands, just like a helix, provides superb traction; that is the true standout of this shoe. The multi-levels of the outsole pattern just bite into the court with abandon and you are guaranteed not to slip down, combining with a strategically located flex groove to promote optimal transition and flex, right where your toes bend. Unfortunately, the rest of the shoe does not match up to the superb outsole.
I just have higher expectations for a shoe that bears the greatest of all-times' name on it. Plus, there have been other Team Jordan shoes such as the Jumpman Pro, Jumpman Team J, Swift 6, etc. that have been so much better in performance for just about the same price as this B'2rue. That is what I was referring to in my title, as all these shoes where made in the late 1990's and were awesome performance kicks. Jordan Brand has made much better team shoes, don't go with this one other than if you like the looks because you might just have no skin on your heel and dead feet (cushioning-wise).
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