Sneaker Fiend

Celtics guard Nate Robinson talks kicks.

by Christopher Cason | @C4Dunk

In a locker room not void of entertaining personalities, Nate Robinson arguably stands the tallest amongst the Boston Celtics.

Known for his sparkplug energy and dunk contest exploits, the Seattle native has also become a topic of conversation in sneakerhead circles for the kicks his feet hold on any given night.

A few weeks ago, Robinson went to twitter to show fans a new collection of Nike Air Max 1 ID collection and with the Celtics in town to square off against the Chicago Bulls, Nate was all too happy to share his thoughts and stories about his passion for sneakers.

When did you become a collector?

It was hard for me to collect, back in the day because I have so many brothers that wore the same size as me and they always took my shoes and messed them up. I’ve been a sneakerhead for a while. Ever since I could go back and remember. I had the old-school Deion Sanders, when he had his football shoes; the Bruce Smith’s, when they had their football shoes; Bo Jackson’s. I had all those kind of sneakers. It just happens and then Jordan’s come out. Those are classics. You can’t go wrong with those.

I see you have on a pair of your Nike ID Air Max 1′s. Obviously it’s one of your favorite models in seeing the video you posted a few weeks ago?

I wore my blue ones today with the “word aapp” on the back, my own little thing. It’s just something that I started. I love shoes. I create my own shoes and I wish Nike would just let me create whatever Nike shoes that I wanted, like [Nike] ID for myself. I would love to have a future in shoe design, creation or something like that—colorways and things like that. One day, even be a rep. that would be pretty cool.

What’s the significance of the Deion Sanders Diamond Turf to you?

That was my first shoe I ever hooped in. I hooped in football shoes when I was a kid. That was my first shoe that I hooped in.

Gilbert Arenas kind of has the game on lock right now because he’s rocking something different every game, but I know you have something in store or something you want to bring back?

Depends on what I find. With me, I just go online and just see. I was on my retro stuff. I’m trying to find some retro shoes but those are kind of hard to find in black and green or all black. They have the funky colors but you have to be creative. You have to find them. New York has a lot of shoes. L.A. has a couple of places that have some nice retro stuff. There was a store in Seattle, Capitol Hill, that had a lot of retro stuff, but they’re not on that street anymore. They had to move because when I went back this summer, I was like, Where the hell is that store? I used to go there all the time and find all the retro shoes but they moved.

What’s your sneaker count at it?

I can’t even count. I know with my Air Max’s I just got, I just ordered like 40 pairs. Those are only shoes that I have that nobody else got. Those are the ones that I created for myself. I got a lot of shoes. I have four other brothers that wear the same size as me, so all my shoes, I give to them and they kind of took away from my collection. At the same time, I was proud because I knew I had almost every shoe. I have almost every Jordan, colors and all of that. I’m a Nike guy, Jordan, Air Max.

What would you say is your favorite Jordan because I’ve seen you in the “Altitudes” and the “Candy” pack this season?

It’s some Jordan’s I like to wear when I hoop and there are some J’s I like to wear just to rock. The one’s I like to wear when I hoop are the XIII’s, X’s and XI’s. The ones I like to rock are the VIII’s, the VII’s, the Olympic ones, the VI’s, all those. Those are hot.

You talked about a possible future in shoe design. Is there anything you would bring back or do different?

I just wish they would let me recreate the Charles Barkley’s, the CB34′s. Those are my favorite shoes of all time. If they let me recreate those, I would be in heaven.