Excuse my callowness, but I figured Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington couldn’t be serious when news emerged that they had collaborated on an independent sneaker line. My exposure to both was limited to Golden State’s fantastic late season run in the 2007 NBA Playoffs. Both Jackson and Al were integral parts to perhaps the biggest cast of misfits and malcontents ever assembled on an NBA court; led by B Diddy at the point, Stack Jack cursed at refs, “Made love to pressure”, launched threes from insensible lengths. Harrington also shot threes—a lot of them. Both ballplayers are deft businessmen, and efforts to build the Protégé brand shouldn’t be taken lightly. They contacted and contracted veteran designer Dallas Stokes (think AND1 Tai Chi and To’Chillin) to handle aesthetic advancement. Both have a sensitive side, too, and their monumental donation with K-Mart to Samaritan’s Feet was more than admirable. Read More »