Gilbert Arenas - Page 2

C: You ever think of lowering your price point like Marbury’s $15 dollars shoes. 
Gilbert Arenas:  I first thought about it because Shaq does it too, Marbury’s are lower than Shaq’s, but at the end of the day, if the shoes are $100 bucks…I mean, Jordan’s it doesn’t matter if shoes are $200 bucks, you’re going to buy it. Those kids are not going to wear the [Marbury] shoe to school.  They’re going to be like “oh those shoes are 15 bucks buddy.”  You’re going buy those shoes because you can play basketball, but fashion wise you’re not going to wear a $15 dollar pair of shoes.

C:  Growing up were you a sneakerhead?
Gilbert Arenas:  Yeah I was a big sneaker head.  That’s why I know I wasn’t going to wear no 15 dollar pair of shoes.  I’d spend my whole allowance to go buy some Jordan’s. Every shoe that came out that was hot, I had ‘em. 

C:  You still buy Jordan’s?
Gilbert Arenas:  Yeah.  You know what?  I have about 40 pairs of them. (laughs) I don’t lie.

C:  What are some signature shoes that you’re not feeling at all from other players?
Gilbert Arenas:  I’m trying to think about Lebron’s first or second shoe. I think I liked his first one better than his second.  And I think I liked D Wade’s second one better than I did his first one’s. That’s the category we deal with as athletes.  It’s not their fault because at the end of the day, [shoe companies] make a shoe and it’s adhered to.  But now, they’ll say “what don’t you like about it?”  I don’t like any of it. Then they say, “Well, you can just take off a couple of things.” If you let players design their own shoe, then they’d come out a lot better. Everyone takes that hit sometimes. I’m working on my third shoe trying not to take the hit from my second because once everybody goes out and buys the second, that third one, it’s like, “What’s next?”  So you have to have something different for next year.

C:  So one of the 20 shoes are allotted the nickname “Black President.”  Are you planning on hooking Obama up with a pair?
Gilbert Arenas:  You know what’s so funny, if I can get him to say, “I have a pair of Black President shoes,” I will freak out.  It was not the intention, but I will freak out about it if he did that! 

C:  Half of the collection was done with different companies. Haters might come at you for “selling out,” what’s your response to them?
Gilbert Arenas:  If I’m the first person to do it, you can’t hate on me because you didn’t think of it first.  If I was smart enough to say “basketball and Benihana’s,” hey this can work, or “basketball and Halo” can work or “basketball and Slam Magazine...” you guys have all been in on Slam Magazine, but you never had Slam Magazine make a version of your shoes. I just thought past you.

C:  You’re coming off the best season of your career….
Gilbert Arenas:  (interrupts) Well I mean media wise yes, it was the best season of my career.  Media wise.  You know what, I think it started with the whole USA thing.  By me being angry that I got cut.  That opened up everybody’s eyes like, why did he get cut? Did he get cut? They didn’t say they cut me, I said I got cut. Everybody focused in on me. So by me and all the stuff I was doing you know, saying Hibachi and just having fun, everybody just started picking up on it.  And then with the NBA blog, I think it just all helped.

C:  Now what feels better, nailing the buzzer beater or having sex?
Gilbert Arenas:  (laughs) Damn.  You know what, a buzzer beater because it’s harder.  You can get sex every day. (laughs) If it was sex with Halle Berry? I’d take Halle Berry. (laughs)

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