Westbrook’s signature shoes have important position on Jordan brand. Today, we want to have a look at the performance of Why Not Zer0.2.
We find a workmanship flaw on this shoes. The ZOOM air cushion on the outsole of right and left forefoot is different.
The right outsole plump a little up. The left outsole is normal. The rubber on right outsole should haven’t been glued well, or the air is leaked when producing. Sure, it should be a case-by-case.
It’s easy to wear Zer0.2. After loosing the shoelaces, the opening of shoes is big, it’s easy to wear. But it has double tier of inner sleeve on heelpiece like PG2. Who prefer to slip-on, it would be easy to tread this inner sleeve.
Although it looks like PG2, but the difference is, the outer sleeve of Why Not Zer0.2 is higher than inner sleeve, but the inner sleeve of PG2 is higher than outer sleeve. The inner and outer sleeve of PG2 is seamed together. But the inner and outer sleeve of Why Not Zer0.2 is half-detached. Please you have a look at the dismantled parts.
After tighting the shoelaces, I feel that the center of gravity is a little high. I want to talk about the big Zoom on forefoot. The first feeling on foot is the big and thick Zoom. The Zoom on forefoot is also used on AJ32 and AJ33. Let’s compare them simply.
For the center of gravity, Why Not Zer0.2 is higher than other two sneakers. Why Not Zer0.2 is softer than AJ32 and AJ33.
When we’re dismantling the shoes, we found that the structure of Why Not Zer0.2 is similar to AJ33, except the insole of AJ33 using FlightSpeed, but Why Not Zer0.2 just use a tier of insole material. That is the difference why Why Not Zer0.2 has high center of gravity and soft midsole. The material of FlightSpeed is thinner than Phylon, but Phylon is softer than FlightSpeed.
The black area around the shoes looks like FlightSpeed. But it is just black coating.
You can start quickly. It doesn’t have obvious collapse and drag like previous ZOOM.
We have compared several kinds of air cushion. We found that Jordan prefer to use big ZOOM on forefoot recently, the air pressure is better than other kinds of air cushions like full-length ZOOM, fan-shaped ZOOM and Kyrie 5’s Zoom Turbo. If the air pressure is enough, the ZOOM will be softer. But the disadvantage is, the cushion will descend.
The area of square ZOOM air cushion is big, covering the forefoot. When you start from forefoot, you will feel that the ZOOM likes spring. Each deformation of air cushion will bring great elastic potential energy to push you to go ahead.
Lateral movement and the outsole form:
The big area and high-pressure ZOOM on forefoot can push you to go ahead, but the lateral movement is not very good. The main part of lateral movement is rollover prevention and lateral traction.
The ZOOM air cushion of Why Not Zer0.2 can be said the thickest inner ZOOM air cushion. Enough air pressure can reduce the deformation. The high center of gravity don’t have good rollover prevention. That’s why Kyrie 5 make ZoomTurbo for the outsole shape.
Second, the visible gradient of the outsole also works for ZOOM. The lateral traction is not very good.
Generally, the forefoot design is great for the players who have strong physical quality and linear acceleration explosive force.
Heelpiece
Comparing the full-length ZOOM of Why Not Zer0.1, Why Not Zer0.2 only use ZOOM on forefoot, and it just stick the shoe logo on the heelpiece. We have compared PG2 and Kyrie 5 which also haven’t used technology on heelpiece part. The heelpiece cushion effect of Why Not Zer0.2 is better than PG2 and Kyrie 5. The outsole on heelpiece is not very stiff.
The insole material of the sneaker is soft. Comparing with PG2, the insole of Why Not Zer0.2 is soft, like Adidas Bounce.
Why Not Zer0.2’s arc-shaped design on heelpiece is for physical cushion. When you fall to the ground on heelpiece firstly,the arc-shape on heelpiece will push the vibration sense to other place to reduce the force of heelpiece. So the cushion on heelpiece is not bad. I like this design.
Wrapping and Supporting Performance
After tighting the shoelaces, I feel that the shoes fit well with the foot. After wearing the shoes for a long time, you will find that the great wrapping performance is coming from the thick inner lining.
Comparing with AJ32 and PG2，the wrapping performance of Why Not Zer0.2 is not excellent. It doesn’t fit very well as AJ32.
But if you has wide forefoot and high instep, it’s very suitable for you to wear Why Not Zer0.2.
For support, although Why Not Zer0.2 has the lateral strut as KT3 and the middle support plate as Howard 3 which give good support to the shoes, but the outsole is too soft and not very stable, and it doesn’t have extra rollover prevention design, which reduce the shoe’s stability. It would be more suitable for people who has heavy body weight and great power of ankle.
Traction is normal.
The grain of outsole is similar to the claw of octopus. I slipped for a few times when playing basketball. Marquee Boost and Lillard 5 also has the slipping phenomenon. But the traction of Why Not Zer0.2 is not better than Marquee Boost and Lillard 5. The camber on outsole may cause the slipping. It may also due to the wet weather. I am not sure about the exact reason. You can pay an attention on it.
We suggest you to wear it to walk for a while to break-in before actual combat. It may reduce the slipping times when actual combat. Here I also want to remind you to be careful when playing basketball on wet weather.
The personal review for the design:
I think it’s reasonable to add the stiff material on the midsole and heelpiece area. It’s unquestionable that the design of Why Not Zer0.2 is good. The shape is very suitable to the individuality of Westbrook.
