Remembering Eddie Jones and the Jumpman Pro Quick

The Los Angeles Lakers, my hometown team, acquired Dwight Howard today and I'm extremely giddy about it. Not sure it has completely sunk in yet. I was trying to come up with an idea for a post related to how Adidas might approach having their first signature athlete in L.A. since Kobe was reppin' for the three stripes. I ultimately came to the conclusion that I didn't feel like writing about how Adidas will make purple and gold Howard shoes.

I ended up reminiscing about some of my favorite Laker teams of the past and one that always comes to mind is the 95-96 Laker squad. This was the last year before Shaq and Kobe. The team was young, exciting, and even had a recently un-retired Magic Johnson. The player that defines the era between the "Showtime" Lakers and the Shaq/Kobe era is Eddie Jones. Eddie was that dude. He was a hyper-athletic kid from Philly who could shoot, guard the opposing team's best guard, and finish with the best of them. Eddie was so dope that he was the reason Kobe came off the bench in his first two seasons. If you aren't familiar Eddie's game, peep this vid. Nine minutes of Eddie Jones dunking on just about everyone.

If you don't have 9 minutes to spare, here are some of the gems:

• At the 1:48 mark, Eddie drives and dunks all over Hakeem Olajuwan
• This one is amazing because of all the people involved. Magic Johnson posts up a young rookie named Kevin Garnett, and delivers one of the best alley oop passes you'll ever see. This one is straight basketball porn. 2:23 mark.
• At 3:09, rookie year Kobe gives Sean Rooks a shoulder rub. Awkward.
• Monster putbacks at 4:04 and 4:29.
• Back to back dunks on 7'6'' Shawn Bradley at the 6:06 mark.
• At 8:30, Eddie picks up a loose ball in transition and takes off from just inside the free throw line to dunk on Andrew Lang.

As Eddie Jones became a bigger star, he drew the attention of Michael Jordan. So much so that Jordan decided to sign Jones to "Team Jordan" when Jordan became it's own brand in 1997. My favorite team Jordan shoe that Eddie used to rock was the Jumpman Pro Quick:

This was a favorite of mine at the time that they dropped. These were among the first "team" Js ever, so they sold very well. They were especially popular in L.A. because people thought of them as Eddie Jones' shoe. This shoe, much like Jones, has been relatively forgotten despite its greatness. Maybe that's why I have such a soft spot for them. I would love to see these retro. Jordan Brand recently retro'd the Vin Baker team shoe, Jumpman Pro Strong, so these might be on their way also.

You can expect to see more sports and music related posts on the blog because they are part of the fabric that makes up sneaker culture. So with that said, please continue to visit the blog and thank you all very much for taking the time to check. I love being able to share my passion for kicks with others who share it,