Sneaker shortage in Raptorland

There’s a sneaker shortage in Raptorland, and nobody involved with the club remembers anything of the sort happening before.

Kevin DiPietro, the Raptors longtime equipment manager, says the average player uses about 30 pairs in an 82-game season. The Raptors’ locker room has an entire storage room devoted to maintaining sufficient inventory for the roster. And so deep is the potential attachment between pro and sole that Jarrett Jack, the Raptors point guard, converted a bedroom in his Atlanta-area home into what he calls his “shoe room.” He’s got 600 pairs of sneakers in there, and is currently having the place renovated with custom racks and lighting.

“Most people who know me, know I have an obsession with sneakers,” Jack said.

Against that backdrop of abundance, imagine DiPietro’s shock in the knowledge that a supply of the preferred on-court footwear of two of his team’s best players, Leandro Barbosa and Sonny Weems, has been elusive this October. For two pre-season games now Barbosa, the guard from Sao Paulo acquired in an offseason trade, has played in shoes bearing the yellow, green and blue of his beloved Brazilian national team — hardly a good match for the red, black and white colour scheme of his new team.

And Weems, who recently signed a one-year deal to endorse adidas, has been committing a shoe-industry sacrilege — he has been sporting a high-top model manufactured by Nike, the corporate rival of the company that signs his endorsement cheques.

“(Adidas) is just having a little bit of a crisis right now. ... It’s the first time ever,” said DiPietro. “I just thank God (Barbosa) had his shoes from Brazil.”