Finally found them. Also in my search through the 1000’s of pics I have stashed for reference found these Nike 227. Similar product geometry on the outsole I always loved.
i remember those 227s. My first boss at nike designed them, Richard Clarke. I believe the story behind the name was that a PLM said “Richard, you need to stop designing shoes for you and your seven friends”… which morphed into the abbreviation YY7 (You and Your 7)… and then oddly became 227 at some point. I always thought the Yves Behar Birkenstock stuff was so close to be cool. The core gesture was there.