The unofficial and in no way authentic Starbury II review

April 1st marked the release of the new line of Starbury merchandise including the much anticipated (evidently) release of the Starbury II. Their availability is leaves something to be desired being that they are only sold at Steve and Barry’s and that they are almost always sold out. This problem may have something to do with the sign that I saw posted near the register which read, and I quote: “In order to be fair to fellow customers, no more than 10 pairs of the Starbury II per customer”. At $14.98 per pair, every cheap bastard you can imagine was buying a pair whether they played basketball or not. I did manage to snag a pair of white ones in my size. Now white shoes for me are a problem considering that I primarily play on blacktop courts, a white shoe would get trashed fast. I then came up with the brilliant idea to purchase a pair of black Starbury Ones (which the store had much of) to wear outside. Previous to my purchase of both pairs of Starburys I balled in a pair of generic Nikes that cost me about $50 (as you can see I am cheap when it comes to shoes). Now for those of you that had complaints about the Starbury Ones, I hear you. I never tried on a pair until my recent purchase and the faults are definitely noticeable. For example, the ankle is high, to give support I imagine, but often makes you feel locked in to the shoe, not to mention the chaffing. If you are a flat-footed individual, you will definitely want a shoe with more arch support, this shoe has none. Overall though, the shoe feels about as good as my $50 Nikes (which often gave me blisters). So with the Starbury Ones you are essentially buying a pair of $50 cheap Nikes for 15 bucks (the Starbury One also looks a bit sleeker).
One good thing about having Stephon Marbury actually wearing his shoe on court is that he knows if there is a problem with the product and can adjust accordingly. Now enter the Starbury II. Almost all of the major problems with the Starbury One have been resolved (I say almost because the arch support still leaves something to be desired, it’s better but not great). The shoe doesn’t ride high in the ankle so the chaffing is gone. This also makes the shoe easier to get on and off. The shoe construction is much better too. One upside to the Starbury One was that it was light, if a bit clunky. The II still maintains the lightness factor but has improved on the clunky factor (this is probably due to the lower-riding ankle that allows for more flexibility and the increase of arch support). The One also had a bad habit of caving in on your foot with the most basic of movements (like walking forward, for instance), with the II, no such problem.
The Starbury II, like the One, is advertised as being just as good as the $130+ Air Jordan’s, Adidas, or what have you. Like I said before, on a scale of dollars, I’d rate the Starbury One at $50 bucks. Not bad for a $14.98 shoe, but no where near the mission statement. The Starbury II is more likely in the $80-$100 range, still not at the promised value but not too shabby to say the least. I plan on ballin’ in them from now on (barring some horrible defect, like they completely disintegrate after your tenth pick-up game).