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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Why Won't LeBron Wear his New Shoes?

On occasion, Stormin Normin likes to share his opinions on fun issues that are loosely related to what matters in the NBA.

Performance footwear is a strange hobby of mine, so whenever a footwear topic becomes a hot button issue in the NBA, I simply can't help but comment.

The performance footwear blogosphere (yes that does exist) has been buzzing because LeBron James has only worn his flagship Nike LeBron XI shoe for a handful of quarters this year, opting instead for the previous version of his shoe. Nightwing2303, the premier performance footwear reviewer, in my opinion, considers the LeBron XI the best iteration of the line.

I can't walk right now, so I can't comment, but the shoes look awesome, and the technical specs suggest the shoe will play extremely well.

So why aren't they good enough for LeBron and his terrible feet?

Obviously James wear tested the shoe, so I cannot imagine this is the first time LeBron's ever worn the shoe. However, the nature of the materials dictates a fairly long break-in time, so LeBron's preference for a fresh pair every game may not provide him with the break-in time adequate for the shoe to fit comfortably.

Nike is paying LeBron a lot of money to be playing advertisement for this $200 basketball shoe, so I imagine Beaverton is none too pleased with James' current selection. Guaranteed Nike engineers are working on anything possible to get the shoe up to snuff for LeBron.

While I doubt sales of the fashion-driven men's version of the shoe will suffer, kids across the country may not want their parents to shell out $200 for a shoe LeBron isn't even playing in. Derrick Rose's last adidas shoe is still sitting on shelves, largely because he never played an NBA game in them.

What does this have to do with the Bulls?

Footwear is important to any basketball player. No, the LeBron XI won't add 5 inches to my vertical, but I will be comfortable and not have to worry about the shoe while I'm playing. The same cannot be said about playing in Chuck Taylors or Air Force 1s or any really old shoe. Being comfortable while you're playing basketball is paramount to success, particularly over a long, grueling season.

So you can imagine just how happy I am that Joakim Noah quit wearing tennis shoes, opting for Adidas basketball sneakers this season. Noah has struggled with foot problems, and I think the major reason was his Le Coq Sportif shoes. 

I would never wear these on (or off) the court.

Essentially, I hope James, and to a greater extent Noah, help stress the importance of footwear on the court. The last thing I want to see happen is a Bulls injury because a player gets another $50k a year from an unknown brand instead of sticking with the tried and true Nike, adidas, and Under Armour.  

Is Adidas to blame for Derrick's injury woes?

As recent followers of SN might have realized, this isn't your everyday Bulls blog. I don't need to give you a summary of the game, the Trib does that. I try to provide valuable/funny/stupid insights and posts to enrich your life as Bulls or basketball fan.

That being said, I'm typing this with the Bulls pounding ATL. JL3 is continuing is dominance as the most irrational confidence guy since Jamal Crawford (hey, at least BG's confidence was rational), and Zaza is pissing me off. Such an annoying and dirty player. Luol's dominating, and Boozer looks like the Carlos we all hoped for after he posted such great numbers in Utah.

It's troubling that this game reaffirms the current trend of getting up for big games and then coasting against teams like Toronto. With Rose out, the team doesn't have the killer, MJ-esque attitude where they just want to be the hell out of you for 3 quarters and hit the bench. Ultimately that's not surprising given the way our offense currently functions.

Overall, I'm still really impressed with this team's ability to win when they're tired and don't feel like playing and pick up the slack when Derrick's out of the line-up. But if there's anything that makes me nervous about the playoffs, it's Derrick's health.

It's almost a laundry list at this point, but he told the Trib's KC Johnson the other day that he thinks they're all linked. This makes perfect sense. I recently sprained my ankle (wearing Adidas Rose 2.5's mind you) and can already tell I'm developing some knee issues linked to crutching.

What do I think caused his injuries, you ask?

First and foremost, his style of play. Yeah, guys like LeBron and Kobe also get injured and take it to the rack with no regard for their bodies, but they're also bigger (or, in LeBron's case, fucking huge). But they also don't get slammed to the ground as much as Derrick does, and they continue to own the zebras. You'd see some people on the Knicks fouling out if they did LeBron like they did Derrick.

At the same time, Steve Francis and Penny took the ball to the hole a lot, and they got hurt. Dwyane Wade does the same, and he's also rather injury prone. It's not unheard of that a guy going up all and getting hit all the time get injured, but it is dangerous when that guy is the heart and soul of your team.

But that's a little too easy.

As Mars Blackmon once said, "Its gotta be the shoes."

Stay with me here, and take a look.

Take a look at the midsole (the white area) in the top picture. If you look closely, you'll see that the part of the shoe he's standing on is likely narrower than his foot.

This is the Kobe VII. You can see the midsole is mostly intact with the ground at all times, and that the sides actually flair out on the top part of the sole to provide more stability.

I think this stability issue, along with the inferior cushioning provided, may be the source of Derrick's issues. It'd be interested to see if his injuries still nagged when he's wearing a far superior performance product.

It's not crazy to think footwear can make that much of an impact. I.e. I went 5 years without an injury, and played in Adidas for the first time in nearly 10 years, and now I can't walk. Most of my Nike's have been able to compensate for ankle rolls and limit the damage.

If you want a more in-depth review of either shoe, let me know, but for now...I'm wishing Adidas hadn't thrown D.Rose $200 million...

For basketball success, rock these instead NIKE Jordan Son of Mars Men's Basketball Shoes, White/Black/Purple - 10.0