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When I was twelve I used to play basketball in indoor soccer shoes. Everyone on my team, decked out in the newest C-Webs and Air Penny’s, laughed at me. They said I would turn my ankle, and that I looked stupid.

Out of stubborn pride, I maintained that basketball shoes were too heavy, and that I was quicker and more explosive wearing soccer shoes, which always felt more natural. The truth is, during car rides home I asked my mom to buy me the C-Webbs, but she always said they were too expensive. So I kept on telling my teammates that I was quicker in soccer shoes.

Who’s laughing now?

Kobe Bryant has just unveiled the Zoom IV’s, the first soccer-inspired basketball shoes. Weighing the same as some soccer cleats on the market (11.6 oz), the shoes will apparently help Kobe jump higher, cut faster, and respond quicker. And they might revolutionize basketball footwear.

A known soccer fan, Kobe says he’s learning from the game.

“You have to continue to evolve,” Kobe said. “You watch soccer players play, and the amount of stress they put on their ankle joints is far greater than basketball players, for a longer period of time, so I felt like it was the right time to do it.”

I’m not sure if this is true, but Kobe and Nike could make me a believer. I don’t care how many impressionable overweight kids sprain their ankles in the new KB IVs, I’m rooting for the shoes. They just look right.

Kobe, getting all mystical, described how watching Spiderman helped give him the inspiration for the bottoms of the shoe:

“[Spiderman] was struggling to take the [Venom] suit off. He couldn’t get it off, because it was a part of him. And that got my brain thinking about the shoe and it being one with the foot, having it be one and the same. You can’t separate them.”

Besides implying that he wants his shoes to act like the venom suit, which is pretty bad ass and might describe some of his inner turmoil, Kobe also makes the scientifically apt point that his foot slides and moves too much in high tops, causing losses of energy and responsiveness.

“I wanted my ankle to move in its natural state, the way it was designed to move,” he said.

Kobe’s shoes are one of the many ways that the world game has impacted basketball, and especially the Association, over the past few years. Soccer fans like Kobe, Kevin Garnett, and Steve Nash (who has worn low tops for a while but has only a fraction of Bryant’s marketability) have all promoted using soccer as cross-training during the off-season.

Soccer has also affected the way basketball is played. Nash, with his deep roots in soccer, has made basketball a more spatial and three dimensional game. Nash’s Suns, particularly the 04-05 and 06-07 versions, were the prettiest basketball teams to watch, maybe ever. I wasn’t around for the 60’s or 80’s Celtics, or the 80’s Lakers, so I could be biased, but the Suns attacked more fluidly and connected with quicker and more dynamic passes than previously possible.

The Suns’ brand of basketball was (and still is, to a lesser extent) more spatial than any other team. Instead of personnel mismatches, it was about exploiting open gaps. It relied on creating 2 vs. 1s, advantageous angles to attack the hoop, and open shots. It focused on speed and fluidity more than physicality. This run and gun offensive style rubbed off on a number of Western Conference teams.

Was this a natural evolution of the game? Or did it reflect the impact of soccer and foreign-born players in the league?

Over the last decade an influx of European and South American players to the NBA has brought a different perspective to the game. Reflecting their soccer roots, foreign players typically rely more on spacing. They have unique flair and style. They pass a lot more. They also flop a lot more.

Is it a coincidence that both Kobe and KG reached the top of their games after they came out as soccer fans?

And what about the inspiration for Phil Jackson’s infamous triangle offense, which uses the most important shape in soccer to dissect man-defenses? I’m waiting for the truth behind this one to come out. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the key player in this successful offense for the Chicago Bulls wasn’t the American born superstar, Jordan, but the crafty Croatian soccer fan, Kukoc.

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