The 2003-2004 season was a very forgettable one for Tracy McGrady. Never mind that his Magic finished in last place, McGrady took big time criticism for giving up on his team. Some said he didn’t care enough to win while others looked at his earnest effort to win a scoring title at the expense of the team. As the criticisms mounted, the distraught season made its impact on adidas’ shoe sales. Just a year earlier, the T-MAC II was a best-selling Shoe of the Year sneaker that was a favorite among the masses. The III, on the other hand, didn’t come anywhere close to the success of its predecessor. Despite adidas’ ability to build a superior shoe in terms of comfort and performance, the public simply didn’t embrace the III. The kids weren’t gawking after III the way they did for the previous T-Mac's. The entry of rookie sensation Lebron James added another wrinkle to adidas’ plans. Matter got worse during the off season when Tracy declined to join Team USA in the 2004 Summer Olympics. It was adidas’ last chance to hype up a summer release of the T-MAC 3.5’s. It’s safe to say that an adjustment was needed to change things up … what the consumer wasn’t expect to get is a complete rebirth.

The IV has a simple and clean design up front. The downside is that the toe area will easily crease and wrinkle. Following the tradition of the Air Jordan line. The T-MAC 4 comes with a booklet that describe the technology used behind the shoe. From this angle, you see how the lever can be pulled down from the rear to allow fit adjustments to be made to the HUG.

The 3 Stripes have given sneaker fans a major reason to be hopeful this season. Thanks to a gift from the new Magic GM, McGrady was traded to Houston Rockets to team up with Yao Ming. Not only does this give McGrady a new beginning, but it was also his chance to finally get deep in the playoffs and regain the recognition as a great player in this league. With greatness come expectations. The design team at adidas recognized the potential of this NBA season and put a huge financial backing into the making and marketing of the T-MAC IV.       Up to now, the adidas T-MAC line has progressed in a gradual way. The shoes were a distinct line of signature kicks that couldn’t have been mistaken for anything else. But faced with low sales numbers and the need to build a fresh new image, adidas allowed designer Kyle Pulli to go in a completely new direction for the new model. He eased the transition process with the T-MAC 3.5, which served as a bridge between the III and the IV. This gives the consumer a good chance to get acquainted with the design cues of the upcoming IV but also allows them to brace for a huge new era of the T-MAC line.       The T-Mac IV is the first shoe in the adidas lineup to feature the revolutionary HUG system. What is HUG? To put it plainly - a fitting structure with no laces. Instead, the system uses a series of latches, cables and a dial to give the player a much more locked down fit than traditional laces. Up to this point, there has never been a serious performance basketball shoe without laces (Yes, Puma has tried this before, but we said “serious”). The HUG technology was inspired by the Salomon skiing products. Adidas had tried to incorporate HUG into basketball shoes as far as 4-5 years ago. Through a series of refinement and alterations, adidas was able to fit the new T-MAC around this technology.

In this view, the lever is opened and we can peak inside at the wiring harness. notice Tracy's signature at the heel tab and the #1 that is prominently displayed on the inside.

Once opened, you see the dial where the adjustments can be made. Turn the dial to loosen or tighten the fit of the HUG system. As you can see, the trick is merely a set of wiring cables that will pull the TPU down towards the foot.

      The inspiration behind the 4th edition comes from many things. Among them is Tracy’s sports car: the Lamborghini Murcielago. If you look at the perforations at the back, it is much like the carbon exhaust plates that allow the car to vent and breathe. The windows at the top of the shoe where it encloses the HUG’s wiring harness is much like the louvered glass panes at the rear of the Murcielago to flaunt the awesome 6.2 liter V12 engine. If you take a step back and glance at the shoe, it is easy to see why the shoe matches the car in terms of class, sporty ness and luxury.

      The HUG consists of an inner bootie that’s padded right on top of the foot. A wiring harness is anchored at the front of the shoe and the cables connected to the dial pull it tight. The concept uses the heel as a pivot point and so when you open the rear lever and pull it down, the system will come loose. It is only when you have adjusted the fit and re-raise that lever does the tightness settle in and lock down upon the foot. The advantage of this HUG technology is the elimination of pressure points that you usually get with the traditional lacing structure. There is now a larger surface area holding your foot down instead of narrower laces which spreads out the pressure over a larger surface area. The good news is that the TPU placed on top of the bootie won’t stretch out over time, thus making your fit constant over the lifespan of the shoe. For micro-adjustability, you can always just readjust the dial over the course of a game. Hence, the technology and concept of HUG should accommodate any foot size and shape.

      The complex mechanical heel contrasts well with the simple and elegant forefoot. Esthetically, the T-Mac IV is beautiful on or off the court. The only gripe we have from the visual point of view is that the full grain leather at the front easily creases. That is the price to pay for such a plain and simple design up front. At least the All-Star version will have 3 stripes going up the front of the IV.

      The shoe has increased in price from $100 to $125. The elevation in price may catch some adidas buyers by surprise, but the Portland office felt that the price needed to increase with the elevated functionalities of the shoe. After all, more technology means more dollars right? Here is where we digress.

      The T-MAC IV is cool. Very Cool. In fact, the cool factor is the main reason why you should buy this shoe. Two straps up top, one pull lever to adjust the fit in the back. How easy is that? The shoes look fantastic, clean, mechanical and stylish. But the hoopla that has been built into the T-MAC 4 is that it is a technologically advanced shoe that makes our lives easier and therefore better. That couldn’t be further from the truth. First of all, it is simply a pain to adjust the dial lever in the back. Sure, adidas is quick to point out that the adjustments are only minor once you get your correct fit. But we would beg to differ. On the court is just one place where one would expect to wear this shoe. Some consumers would like to wear this shoe much looser off the court – or even during pre-game shoot-around/warm-ups. Such a change that allows the shoe to go from very loose to very tight would require a drastic change in the back. By the time you’ve adjusted the dial at the rear of the shoe, you’ll mostly likely have turned it 30-40 times and lost two layers of skin because the dial requires so much effort to turn. There should be no reason why customizing the fit should be so painful. This is not like putting together your little brother’s bike from scratch or screwing on the last bolt to rebuild a car’s engine. Remember the GP 1’s where Nike locks the lace cover by a strap lock that snaps in place? That pull-and-go type of adjustment was easy and painless. Granted, it didn’t give you customization at the most granular level, but that system WORKED, and was every bit as easy to use as tying the laces.

      The good thing is that the HUG system really does tighten the shoe to the feet. In fact, the idea seems so ingenious one would wonder why it hasn’t been done for all the shoes up till now. The problem does not lie in the design or the creativity – all of that has been great. The real issue is in the execution. This shoe really could’ve been much better than what it is. Perhaps adidas can improve on this in the next generation or even a TMAC 4.5? Unless you crank the dial all the way to maximum tightness, it would be difficult to compete at the absolute highest level – the kind of fit you know you can expect when you tighten your laces to the max. This is where the IV falls short. Air Jordan’s have always put performance first. But it seems like the TMAC IV has put the cool and hype factor before performance here. Buy the shoe if you love a comfortable and stylish shoe. But if you plan on buying these for high level competition, we strongly recommend that you try these babies on first to assure your foot can get the maximum fit from the dial. At your local Finishline, crank the setting to the max and see if that is satisfactory. It is very possible you may need to go half a size smaller to get the best fit.

      The other downside to the shoe is that the IV’s tend to feel bulky and sticks out at the rear. Until you break them in and get used to them, you’d probably be tripping over your own feet rather than breaking your opponent’s ankles. Weight is also a factor your should consider. The T-MAC 4 is heavy and porky and may not be suitable for those quicker guards who are used to super light-weight shoes like the Huarache 2K4. On the bright side, the traction is quite good and we’ve had no problems with quick stops or hard cutting in these shoes.

      The bottom line is this, the T-MAC 4 is a nice buy if you just want to kick back and get a comfortable shoe to chill in. On the court, the shoe has a lot of room to improve if adidas wants to challenge the $125 price segment. If serious performance and price is a factor, then we think this shoe is a better buy at $100 and under.

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