Fashion accessories for men pale in comparison to those made for women. For a basketball-crazy country such as the Philippines then, basketball shoes that you wear on and off the court can tell a lot about you. SPOT.ph lists the ten essential basketball shoes every guy should own based on factors like design, technology used, colors, and "historical importance."

1. AIR JORDAN XI

This is the "Holy Grail" of basketball shoes. Designer Tinker Hatfield had a vision to create rubber shoes with patent leather, and the shiny material has been a sneaker staple ever since. This was also the first pair of basketball shoes with a full-length Air Sole unit and full length carbon fiber plate that has become synonymous with foot stability. Whether it be the white/black combination, the black/gold Defining Moments variant, the famous black/red or Bred color, they all take a backseat to the colorway known as "the Space Jams." Michael Jordan had just come out of his baseball misadventure in 1997 and proceeded to lead the Chicago Bulls to a league-record 72-10 win-loss record and a fourth National Basketball Association (NBA) championship. MJ then shot the film Space Jam with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang. Whenever any variant of Jordan XIs are re-released, they often don't last in store shelves more than a few hours.

2. NIKE ZOOM KOBE V

Fresh off his fifth NBA championship, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is still relishing defeating the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. For this past season, he wore different colors of the Nike Zoom Kobe V. This was his second low top shoe (more details in the next number) and it was even lighter than his previous model. The best colorways were inspired by characters that Bryant idolized like the yellow/black Bruce Lees and the graphite/royal Dark Knights. The white/purple/black Inlines were also hot. Still, we can't wait to get the model sporting the two colors he wore during the Finals. Called the "Big Stage," the home and road variants both had laser etchings of some of Bryant's accomplishments from this season, including beating Jerry West's all-time scoring record for the Lakers.