The latest edition of Jordan Brand's high-performance sneakers hits retailers on Wednesday, but a few of the athletes on the brand's roster have already had access to the Super.Fly 4 for the past few weeks. And they're giving it rave reviews.
Now of course, Jimmy Butler, LaMarcus Aldridge and Victor Oladipo are all paid endorsers. But there's a wide variety of shoes that are available to them to play in, and the Super.Fly 4 is the current weapon of choice for all three players.
"I think that shoe is amazing," Aldridge said recently, at Jordan Brand's "First to Fly" event in Las Vegas. "It's light, it gives me great support. I had the older ones on last year, I loved those, they were very comfortable. I think (the 4s) are even better, this year's."
And how does this version differ from the last?
"Definitely more ankle support," Aldridge said. "I thought the last ones were kind of mids, these are a little bit higher. Lighter, for sure. Not as bulky as the last one. I think it's a mix of the XX9 and the last Super.Fly, so I think it's a really good balance."
Aldridge is the first to admit that his athleticism isn't what it once was. Butler is the same way, although players attempting to score on him night in and night out would soundly disagree. Still, he says the sneakers perform well enough to compensate for any of his perceived shortcomings.
"It's very comfortable," Butler said. "I'm not going to say that I'm as athletic as Mike was -- I'm not going to say that I'm not, so you can't quote me on that. But I think it's a great shoe. It gets the job done that I need to get done on the floor.
"I love the shoe, I love what it brings. It makes me look more athletic than I am, because I'm not super-athletic, I'm not super-fast. But it gets the job done so I'm happy with it."
Oladipo is perhaps the most athletic of the three, and Blake Griffin, who's been the face of this particular sneaker for the past couple of iterations, has a level of speed and power to his game that the shoe specifically supports.
As more of a high-flyer, and as someone who finished second in last season's dunk contest, Oladipo is such a fan of these shoes that he can't see himself on the court choosing to wear anything else.
"The Super.Fly is an amazing shoe," Oladipo said. "It keeps getting better and better every year. It's something that Jordan felt like would be a good fit for me, and I love it, so I'm gonna rock with it until I can't rock with it anymore. Hopefully, that's forever."
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