The thing about being a 6'6" tall sports writer is that people also expect you to be a basketball player. Old ladies will literally walk up to you and ask you what team you play for, which would be fine if they did a better job of hiding their disappointment after you tell them your roundball career peaked in high school. So when adidas flew me out Las Vegas to cover the unveiling of the D Rose 5 and Crazylight Boost basketball shoes, my expectations were that I'd be posting a few Instagram photos of new kicks and maybe get some interview time with Derrick Rose and Damian Lillard. What I did not expect was to be getting the "old lady disappointment face" from half a dozen NBA stars while playing them in pickup 3-on-3 basketball.
First— the shoes. When we walked into the MGM Grand Garden Arena, it was apparent that adidas was planning something big. They had designed something great and they knew it. The Boost technology adidas had been using in running shoes was finally coming to basketball, and after various demonstrations and conversations with their athletes they knew they had developed a game-changer. Boost, for those of you not familiar, is a cushioning technology made up of thousands of small capsules that store and release energy. Or, put another way, Boost makes for one hell of a comfortable basketball shoe.
Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose probably best described their value when he told a story of forgetting his new Boost-infused D Rose 5's before hitting the court for practice, then driving back 20+ minutes to go get them instead of playing in something else. "I felt the difference right away."
"I can't imagine playing without Boost in my shoes."
Dame Lillard, the All-Star Portland guard now playing in adidas' new Crazylight Boosts, was on the same wave. "You feel it. It's kind of like a spongy feeling, like an added spring to your step. The biggest difference about it is the impact. I can tell the difference if I come down and dunk, the [Crazylight Boost] has a lot more cushion."
Personally I can't attest to how the Crazylight Boost feels after a dunk considering my only dunk attempt turned into a layup and had me looking around hoping nobody saw it, but you can definitely feel the difference in the heel. The shoes are incredibly light (11.6 ounces), yet still offer more stability than any other shoe in the Crazylight series before.
And stability was something I would need, since I'd be guarding the likes of Marcus Smart and Tim Hardaway Jr. after they (along with Joakim Noah, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, and Arron Afflalo) made a surprise visit to our Vegas event.
The folks at adidas split us normal media humans into teams of three and had us play amongst ourselves for a few minutes before having the freak athletes of the NBA sneak up and ask for next game. It's hard to describe the feeling of actually playing against that level of athlete. You almost feel helpless, like an infant trying to win a foot race against a professional sprinter. You start to question everything.
"Who am I?"
"What am I?"
"Have I ever actually played basketball before?"
My original team surprisingly went on to win a game against the trio of Jrue Holiday, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Marcus Smart (a game that I personally ended with a fadeaway jumper over Marcus' outstretched arm), but our luck was short-lived. I'm not going to get into specifics about how many times those guys hit 3's in my face or blew by me on drives to the hoop, but just know that the shoes definitely weren't to blame for me getting the "this tall dude should be better" look from all of them.
The folks at adidas obviously went through a lot to set up such an elaborate event for us, and after wearing the Crazylight Boosts for a full day both on and off the court, I can see (and feel) why they're so excited. Chris Grancio, adidas' head of Global Basketball sports marketing, considers Boost a game-changer not only because that's what the marketing says, but from the reaction he sees from athletes themselves. "We sort of know we're onto something special when we have a hard time getting shoes back from athletes," said Grancio, who later admitted to adidas still having "bigger and better plans for Boost in the future."
Boost's foray into basketball may not give you a Derrick Rose or Damian Lillard-type vertical, but the added cushion and explosion you feel from those little squishy capsules is still pretty impressive.
Want to see what hooping in Boost is like for yourself? Cop the adidas Crazylight Boost starting Sept. 1 and the D Rose 5 starting Oct. 16, each for $140.
Maurice Peebles is an Associate Editor for Complex Sports, a former blogger for Barstool Sports, and a believer in the rule of three. Be social: Twitter | Instagram.
