No prob and unfortunately I have to stand by my words, I'm real so sorry for ruining your day bro'.
Love the look of the IX's. OG's back in 94' were super comfy and great to play in on rubberized flloors/mondo courts and for weight training sessions. (Still got 'em to this day somewhere under all of the other shoe boxes)
In 2010 bought 2 pairs of wht/Carolina retro IX with midsoles hard as bricks...was very disappointed by that and no matter how hard I tried to break 'em in over time in hopes to eventually use 'em on super clean courts for nostalgia purposes, despite their crazy lack of grip, just because this particular colorway has always been one of my favourites. Had I known beforehand I would have only got 1 pair for casual purposes only because I was never able to break 'em in properly and soften up those brick retro midsoles! My OG were super comfy and plush as I said, but my retroes never got any better, to the point where I only wore 'em casually and even then, standing or walking for too long in these shoes literally hurt my heel, so they keep sitting in a box and I can't enjoy them for their intended purpose, so this year I gave a pair to my son for his J's collection and for casual wear since he now wears the same shoe size. He's stoked about having rare shoes and does not complain about heel pain or anything...maybe because he weighs 60lbs less, IDK.
My 2012 wht/blk don't seem as bad in that regard, but they are not like the OG's either, so after that I don't recall buying any more IX's since all those I have are almost in DS condition, hard as brick and no grip on top of that.
Long story short, sorry for the disappointment man, prepare to wipe your soles at every whistle and during plays sometimes just to have subpar grip levels.
...unless they changed the materials on more recent ones.
As for the X's, still have one of my OG's(long retired) and I got at least 2 retros I can think of right now and they felt pretty much like the OG's on court if not the same and traction will be just ok, as long as you wipe the soles often. You'll find that if you run much, dunk, if you jump really high, land hard or do many power lay-ups that your under foot might start to hurt at some point or even get some plantar injuries. That's why I don't use them frequently, BUT I really enjoy the shoes ocasionally. I now keep 'em mostly for strength training where they do pretty good.
If they manage to correct the IX midsole issue I will def get a pair for casual or gym since I really like some of the colorways.
As for the 10, if they ever retro the Mitch Richmond colorway, I'm in for a pair! Always wanted these since I saw them on display in a store in Chicago along with all of the other PE's in 96. I remember trying about everything and talking with the manager, then the store owner to try to get my hands on them, but they were absolutely NOT for sale at any price, nor anywhere down the line!
