Ross Dwyer

The best power forward to ever play the game of basketball retired yesterday.

Tim Duncan called it quits after 19 seasons (all with the San Antonio Spurs of course), 5 NBA Championships, 2 MVP’s, 3 Finals MVP’s, 15 All-Star selections, 10 All-NBA First Team selections, and a whole host of other honors.

In true Tim Duncan fashion, he announced his retirement quietly and without fanfare. He didn’t need to have a big, over-dramatic final season filled with sappy tributes and everyone waxing poetic about how great he was every time the Spurs were on TV. He didn’t need a farewell tour. He wanted to retire quietly, on his own terms, and he did just that. read more

There’s only three things guaranteed in life: death, taxes, and Nike releasing an Olympic Pack of sneakers every four years. This installment of Olympic kicks offers everything from basketball shoes to retro runners, and there’s definitely some heat to be had … so you already know what we had to do. We had to hit you with the official KicksOneTwo rankings. Let’s get right to it.

6. Air Max BW

Coming in at the bottom of the list is the Air Max BW. The shoe itself is nothing to write home about, and the black/white doesn’t work so well with the red, navy, and gold accents. Not bad, but not special. Not much more needs to be said. read more

I love the Nike Hyperdunk. It’s my favorite Nike Basketball shoe of all time. You may remember that I wrote a whole piece on my love for the Hyperdunk a little while back. So obviously when I found out that the original Hyperdunks would be re-releasing, I was extremely excited. I headed on down to the mall earlier this week to grab a pair of the all-black colorway (my favorite), but when I got to the mall, I was sorely disappointed. It wasn’t like the original (which I still have, mind you) at all. read more

You’ve heard the news. Kevin Durant has decided to join the Warriors. You’ve heard the opinions on KD’s move to the team who last year set the mark for best regular-season record in the NBA too, mostly negative (for the record, we don’t love it either. You’re one game away from the Finals, and you leave to join the team that you lost to? Nahhh). You’ve probably also heard about the potential sneaker ramifications, and that’s what we’re talking about today. read more

We’re not even going to front: basketball shoes are expensive. Take the newest technology from a big company, be it Flyknit, Boost, or Charged Foam, slap it into a well-designed shoe, and put a famous player like LeBron James or Steph Curry’s name on it, and you can pretty much charge whatever you want for it.

It’s marketing, capitalism, and sneaker design at their finest, and they can’t be stopped. The disadvantage to this is that they can’t always be afforded either. Not every mom/dad can afford to drop $150+ on a pair of signature shoes for their kid, no matter how badly they’d like to. read more