Is Adidas to Blame for Derrick Rose's Injury?

It's funny how popular this topic has become, particularly in the shoe world. I'm a sneaker enthusiast myself, and while I lean overwhelmingly Nike, I buy every Derrick Rose signature model. I haven't picked-up the newest pair yet, but that's only because I can't walk thanks to injuries suffered on the basketball court while wearing the Rose 2.5.

Mmm, now that's healed

Shoes don't make you play basketball any better or any worse, for the most part. If you suck, you suck. If you're good, you're good. Some of the best basketball players I know love knowing about different shoes and care deeply about what they wear, while other dominant basketball players I know couldn't care less about what shoes they wear. However, I am a firm believe that your selection can impact your health.

Thanks adidas

Take the Rose 2.5 (shown above). The way the midsole is situated is relatively unstable, and the lightweight (cheap) materials don't provide great ankle lockdown. Rose was banged up all season when he wore these, and I went as far as to blame the shoes for some nagging injuries. I stand by that statement, but I do not believe the shoes had anything to do with his ACL.

Nor do I believe the Rose 4 has ANYTHING to do with his torn meniscus. The web's premier footwear reviewer Nightwing2303 noted that the shoes are fantastic and graded them well for support--the area where the 2.5 lacked.

From my experience, the only really impact shoes can have on a player from a pain standpoint are hotspots (areas where the shoe pinches your foot) and cushioning (some make your feet very bruised/painful). Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour like to boast about how their respective patented cushioning system is better for your knees or "disperses impact" evenly. I'm not sure I buy that, particularly in light of Chris McDougall's Born to Run that traces  injury not to overuse or to lack of cushion, but rather to the unnatural design of modern running shoes. You should read the book--I named it one of the best books last year--but to make a long story short, modern running shoes force runners to strike with their heels rather than their forefeet, causing injuries. He runs with a tribe of Tarahumara Indians that run hundreds of miles without real shoes or injuries. Maybe Nike could show us some evidence to the contrary, but I doubt it.

Players get injured all the time--Russ Westbrook torn his meniscus wearing Jordan shoes. Kobe tore his Achilles in Nikes, and Joakim Noah suffered approximately 4 million injuries wearing his French tennis shoes.  On top of that, LeBron James has seldom worn his new shoes this year--a Nike product!

You can rip on Adidas for making some of the ugliest shoes I've ever seen, but you can't blame it for Derrick Rose's injury any more than I can blame Adidas for my injury. I landed viciously on someone's foot and rolled off. I would have been injured badly in any shoe, though I admit some shoes would have done a better job than others of protecting my ankle. Rose's meniscus came on a freak play and bad pass from Joakim Noah. Terrible luck yes, the shoes? Not a chance.  Rose would have been injured in Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Li Ning, or New Balance.

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