Portland Trail Blazers: Ranking the 10 most iconic signature shoes
Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 2019. CJ McCollum. player. Li-Ning Sonic VII Rose City. 4. 34
Shoe: Li-Ning Sonic VII Rose City
Blazer guard CJ McCollum’s brand has continued to evolve in the city of Portland, and his climb with China-owned company Li-Ning has offered him additional chances to build upon that.
Earlier this year, Li-Ning dropped a special Portland Trail Blazers edition of their YuShuai 12, a Rose City edition. The shifty guard has wasted little time putting defenders onto posters, using his herky-jerky style to generate buckets. But it was shoe from last season’s Western Conference Finals run that best mixes both iconic mystique and aesthetic brilliance.
The shoes are unorthodox with the rubber EVA outsole and the cheese-block type holes on the side. But with the right colorway — in this case, the red with the white bottoms — and the wrong defender trying to defend him, McCollum had no problem making the shoes look like a work of art.
As a whole, he produced one of the great co-star runs in recent Playoff history, averaging 24.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, while also ranking No. 5 in net rating and No. 11 in clutch scoring during that run.
3. player. Damian Lillard. adidas Dame V. 2019. 34. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis
Since joining the NBA’s rare upper-class of players to have their own signature shoe, Damian Lillard has become a superstar. But, even superstars need the stars to align. In 2018-19, everything appeared to come together.
In the Dame 5 shoe, Lillard was the driving force behind the Portland Trail Blazers’ first Western Conference appearance in two decades. Along the way, he took full advantage of the NBA’s new era of shoes, giving us nights of lime-green, “Hulu has live sports”, highlighter shoes, something Twitter certainly took note of.
In the most iconic game of his career, the game-winner against Oklahoma City, he smoothly rocked the suede beige, which in my eyes, told the story of both businessman and on-court assassin.
The shoes themselves were certainly some of the best of the 2018-19 season. One could argue, though, that Lillard has had some better shoes, but they weren’t quite as iconic without the moments to go alongside them (i.e. the Dame 3s from 2016). Nonetheless, it’s still worthy of a top spot.