Arenas To Release New Shoe With Multiple Versions

Arenas Uses His Blog To Help Rollout New Shoe

Wizards G Gilbert Arenas on his NBA.com blog yesterday announced the rollout of his new GilIIZero adidas shoe. Arenas: “I was calling them the Gil 20s, because that’s how it’s pronounced , but when you go buy them in the store… it will say GilIIZero on the box.” There will be 20 versions of the shoe, most of them limited editions, being released in different cities on different dates. There are 18 different color ways and two “inline versions” that Arenas wrote will “meet all the uniform standards of [NBA Commissioner] David Stern and the NBA.” Arenas said he asked adidas, "What if we came up with the GilIIZero, where I have 20 versions of my next shoe? You know, have them come out in different cities, have all different release dates.  It's never been done before.  It will be something different and let's see how people respond."  He added that there are “20-25 signature player shoes in the NBA that come out each season. Next year, I’m going to have 20 just by myself!”  Some examples of the special editions and their release dates: an "NBA Live 08"-branded version due out December 13, but Arenas noted he "might push the release date up" since the game comes out October 2; a Redskins-inspired "DC Football" version on December 29, the day before the Redskins play the Cowboys; "Coke Zero" on January 11; a "Halo" videogame version on February 8, but the release date could be moved closer to game release date of September 25; and kids-only Looney Tunes Bugs and Looney Tunes Tweety versions due out February 11 and 13, respectively (NBA.com, 9/18).