Nike Zoom Rookie - another Penny Hardaway hybrid (August 2011)

Despite an injury-shortened NBA career, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway is one of the most beloved basketball players to ever lace him up. The admiration for Penny as a player is only rivaled by admiration for him as a Nike signature athlete, evident in his old models continuing to sell out more than a decade after originally being released. To pay tribute to Penny and his overall influence on Nike Basketball's current standing, Nike is set to release the Zoom Rookie, a hybrid sneaker comprised of models Penny wore throughout his career.

Images of the Zoom Rookie originally surfaced back in March, but now we have a little release information, and the wait won't be long at all. According to Penny himself, the Rookie will be launched in multiple colorways sometime in August. He also included a picture of an all-white pair and what appears to be another pair in red.

Take a fresh look at the Zoom Rookie below and stick with Sole Collector for much more details on Nike's newest hybrid release.

via SC

News broke earlier this year w/an image of the neon/black.

...there appears to be an all-red pair next to it?

I guess we'll have to wait and see how the final version looks.

You a little late Ptone, already an official thread regarding these...

good to see a new pic though.

Is that red shoe a Foamposite.... O_O

looks decent
those red shoes tho...............

Rookies look cool. Might cop me a pair depending on the colors that drop.

Looks like the red version of the Zoom Rookie.

I'm a bit confused. Where does the Foamposite element come in when talking Penny's rookie shoes? They were a good 4-5 years away at that point..

I'll stick with the foam 1s.

Reeeeally lookin forward to these, I just hope they're comfortable and not too "hard" feeling

I want to see them all reds....

If you look that red shoe looks like a foamposite mixed with the zoom rookie probably purely a sample we wont get.

I still can't get over the fact that shoe is inspired by shoes Penny wore in his second season not his rookie season. But the shoe does have potential 

Those zoom rookies dont have any ridges on the them..but that red pair does..

copped!

i like the yellow color we saw earlier this year. i just hope they dont run these to the ground with 9 colorways

Pass. Looks like a wrestling shoe 

All red foams? Yuck. Zoom Rookies will sell in orlando colors. And maybe the yellow c/w.

Never was a big fan of those... 

Hmm...those are ok
but if those are all red foams........................

I'm pretty sure that that red shoe is another flavor of the Rookie LWP.The medial side of the sneaker has Foamposite like ridges.
Remember that pic that had the white & black Rookie LWP on the table with the rest of those Foamposite samples (a guy was holding the toe if i'm not mistaken)?
If you can find that pic then you'll see what I mean.

what's the retail?

i wanna say it's 200
  

The red joints look like the red version of these.

Hopefully they drop something like that and it isn't just a sample. They looking fire.

only in the classic blue these will be had

Exactly, the Go LWP came out in the 94-95 regular season and the Flight One came out for the 95 Playoffs,He also wore Air Ups and Air Lambaste that year  Pennys rookie year was 93-94 and he wore Air Force Mid, Air Swift and Jordan IX in his rookie year ,its pretty sad that Nike probably doesnt even realize that these shoes theyre using for inspiration werent even from the Rookie Year.....

So that's bad enough, but like I said in my original post..

How exactly do the Foam Ones fit into the theme of Penny's rookie shoes? I'm guessing they just used the Foamposite element because it's easy to work around.

I think you all are reading too much into the name of the shoe. It's just another half cent mash-up of all his shoes. They named it the Zoom Rookie. Were yall complaining about the name of the half cents because they weren't fractionally correct since they were made of more than 2 shoes?

This is what Penny had to say about em himself:

Penny Hardaway

@Iam1Cent

The 'ROOKIE'!! Coming soon! The Rookie is a combination of the shoes that I wore my rookie year. Coming in august. All colors!

June 23, 2011 8:37a, from Echofon

if it turn out to be comfortable/good basketball sneakers i will buy

   "All Colors"... I Dont Like The Sound Of That... Jus Keep It Simple With Maybe 1 Or 2 Colors Out The Gate... Not The Whole Rainbow...