That's a good question. To be honest, I wasn't into basketball at the time of first seeing these shoes. It was that one time of the year to get my next shoe, and I went to a local Champs to buy whatever I liked that they had available. I was attracted to the design. I LOVED visible air. The first time I saw it was on the Air Trainer III (navy/white) (originally the Air Trainer SC). I loved the tech of Air and all of the plastic. I didn't get that AT3 at the time b/c they didn't have my size and I didn't want to trouble my mom to drive to a diff store, so I settled for the AT TW, and regretted it ever since. For me the AJ4 was very much like that with the visible air and the plastic wings and back tab; just loved it. It didn't really kick in for me until later that it was a Jordan shoe and how awesome he was; that just added to the shoe's appeal for me.
i.e. For me it was, and remained about the look of the shoe. I LOVED the 5 and 6 following the 4 (never really encountered the 3 at the time). Wasn't crazy about the 7, and the 8 was just OK, but where I really started to lose interest. I stopped buying Jordan's until my first retro in 2013. I would check out the new Jordan models each year in the store and thought they were so ugly (yes, even the 11!). I was more about the dressier look of Cole Haans with visible air b/c I loved the comfort and tech of Air, and figured I had grown out of wearing sneakers on a daily basis.
Now I buy them for nostalgia and the designs and colorways that I like, and don't care what people think (ex. Older people shouldn't wear Jordans). I love certain OGs, but appreciate the new colorways as well; not all, but buy the ones I like.