down is traction. It’s hard to find a shoe
that has any issues in terms of grip on a court, on any court conditions, and
the KD 8 is just that. You are covered with the digitized herringbone pattern
in the form of nodules, similar to the Kobe 10. The pattern will fail
slightly only on super dusty or poorly maintained court conditions, but with a
simple wipe or two of the bottoms you will be good to go. Durability is an
issue for this pattern, as the rubber nodules started to fray in the toe areas.
I recommend to stay strictly indoors with these; I did not even take these
outdoors and it has started to fray. While this pattern is still intact you
will get some really nice traction.
Cushion: Cushion is solid for
sure. Full length Zoom is always promising. This Articulated Zoom Air unit runs full length
and is bottom loaded, but don’t worry about that, you get plenty of impact
protection and responsiveness still. The most responsive portion of the
articulated Zoom is right under the ball of your foot, as nothing hinders the
compression, like the plastic support pieces. The unit itself has plastic
support pieces to keep you stable, but that hinders the compression of the Zoom
unit, thus making it unable to give that responsive bounce we all like. Either
way, if you’re just looking for a cushion set up that will be sufficient for
impact protection and offer flexibility at the same time, the KD 8 is a good
option for you.
Materials: A new material for Nike
Basketball is introduced here on the KD 8 and
it’s calledFlyweave. Basically, you have a
woven upper, similar to the Air Jordan 29 (which you can now grab for under
retail), but not as thick as the Air Jordan 29. This gives you a very sock-like
fit, and contours to the foot’s shape. No break in time is needed since it’s a
woven, and very minimal Fuse is used as overlays. The only downside to this
type of material is durability, as you can expect any type of mesh, woven, or
softer materials to eventually start to tear. Who knows how long though–it
depends on every type of player.
Fit: Like some KD models from
the past, the fit of the KD 8 is more on the narrow side. Length wise, it’s
pretty much true to size but in the midfoot area, near the lacing system, I
experienced a very tight fit that almost made it uncomfortable for me, so I had
to go up half a size. If you can deal with the tight fit in that midfoot area,
then by all means go true-to-size. The lockdown of the shoe was very solid. You
have F
lywire containing your
forefoot to the footbed, while taking the load of your force upon lateral
movements to keep you from rolling your ankle. You also get really nice
lockdown from the overall fit. Coupled with the internal heel counter and
thickly padded heel area, the sabertooth counter really does nothing as it
wraps up the internal heel counter, so it is there for more of design purposes.
Support: You are covered in
support with the KD 8. You have a Flyweave upper to give you a one-to-one fit,
Flywire to keep you locked in, a flat stable base, and the internal heel
counter to keep your foot from shifting side-to-side too much. The flat stable
base gives you a nice foundation, and the Zoom unit is stabilized where needed
by plastic support pieces (see cushion section as well). Flywire contains your
foot upon lateral movements and keeps your foot locked to the footbed as well.
And we all know what that heel counter does by now, so that’s that. One thing I
forgot to note in my video was the extra long heel area in the midsole. It came
out beyond your foot too much, so much that people would always be tripping me
because they’re stepping on this heel area. Just something you have to watch
out for.
Overall: I personally loved the
KD 8. It had really solid traction, cushion was overall really good, the fit
could use a little work, and you were definitely contained into th
e shoe and locked in.
You can never really go wrong with a woven upper, if used correctly, and it’s
something that you just have to try out to enjoy. If only the price point on
these weren’t so high, I would be grabbing multiple pairs of these personally.
If retail was still at the $150 price range as the KD 7 was, then I’d say you’re
getting a hell of a hoop shoe for $150.
