Ricky Rubio signs with ADIDAS!!!

Plus Adidas knows the international market better than the US based shoe companies
 
He probably wanted to switch since wearing Nikes was what caused his knee injury 
tired.gif
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JK, just using the same stupid logic used in the Derek Rose injury thread in s&t.
 
Originally Posted by Magic1978

Originally Posted by RustyShackleford

If true Nike isn't going to match that, 
laugh.gif
. I love Ricky buy he ain't worth that much 

-But Nike needs to give Kevin Love a sig. 



Big men sigs don't sell
x 10
Ask Shaq (with Reebok)

Ask Ewing

Ask Duncan

Ask Morning

Ask Robinson

Hell ask ANYONE..... and you think Kevin Love can sell kicks in DC, New York and Chicago?  You sir have alot of faith in the Living Double Double.
 
Originally Posted by NikeDealer

Originally Posted by Magic1978

Originally Posted by RustyShackleford

If true Nike isn't going to match that, 
laugh.gif
. I love Ricky buy he ain't worth that much 

-But Nike needs to give Kevin Love a sig. 



Big men sigs don't sell
x 10
Ask Shaq (with Reebok)

Ask Ewing

Ask Duncan

Ask Morning

Ask Robinson

Hell ask ANYONE..... and you think Kevin Love can sell kicks in DC, New York and Chicago?  You sir have alot of faith in the Living Double Double.
I think this has more to do with what type of shoe a big guy wears as opposed to just them as a person.  NONE of those big guys wore shoes that looked decent off the court.
 
Originally Posted by NikeDealer

Originally Posted by Magic1978

Originally Posted by RustyShackleford

If true Nike isn't going to match that, 
laugh.gif
. I love Ricky buy he ain't worth that much 

-But Nike needs to give Kevin Love a sig. 



Big men sigs don't sell
x 10
Ask Shaq (with Reebok)

Ask Ewing

Ask Duncan

Ask Morning

Ask Robinson

Hell ask ANYONE..... and you think Kevin Love can sell kicks in DC, New York and Chicago?  You sir have alot of faith in the Living Double Double.
-So Barkley's and Garnet's (with Nike) failed too?
-And what's wrong with giving Love a shoe like the Hyperspoite for his sig. You guys flipping out like I said Nike should give Love his own line. 

-I don't know about Chicago and NY but a %$@# ton of people in the DMV buy which ever kicks that are either new, popular or look good. 
 
barkley sold bc of his personality.

same for KG.

K love? not exactly cool story broing it up
 
People sayin that Rafa is the most popular athlete in Spain: true, but he's a tennis player and Nike doesn't pay him as much because the sport is not as appealing as the roundball. Appeal of basketball to the youth, especially with more Spanish pro ball players, is growing tremendously and Rubio has been and will continue to be popular amongst the young there. Rafa is young, but tennis doesn't have the ability to just go out on the street and play, and because of that reason basketball players like Rubio can be valued so highly by companies like Adidas. Maybe a little overvalued, yeah, but not ridculous as some have claimed.
 
Originally Posted by lobotomybeats

Originally Posted by NikeDealer

Originally Posted by Magic1978




Big men sigs don't sell
x 10
Ask Shaq (with Reebok)

Ask Ewing

Ask Duncan

Ask Morning

Ask Robinson

Hell ask ANYONE..... and you think Kevin Love can sell kicks in DC, New York and Chicago?  You sir have alot of faith in the Living Double Double.
I think this has more to do with what type of shoe a big guy wears as opposed to just them as a person.  NONE of those big guys wore shoes that looked decent off the court.

Not true at all and your comment is probably reflective of your age. You'd have to be 28+ to fully appreciate the aforementioned kicks.

Did their shoes sell out at full price though? Definitely not, but once marked down all the kids had to have 'em and their respective designs were reflective of the 90s.  
 
no they dont, give him some nice PE's but thats it.

you really think a Kevin Love shoe is gonna sell any better than Melo, CP3, and Wade signatures that are a waste of money and materials. they got on sale 2 weeks after they release
laugh.gif

 
Because them ****z are ugly as hell....  If they made some that looked good I'll cop...
 
SLAM/Kicks did a piece on Rubio and Adidas. I'd get a pair of Rubio's if they came out. Gotta support my point guard.




Ricky Is All In

After making a big splash in Minnesota, Ricky Rubio is ready to do the same for adidas.

by Lang Whitaker | @langwhitaker

On a rainy Portland morning, as the NBA Conference Finals are winding down, Ricky Rubio limps up a concrete stairway on the adidas campus following a controlled workout. Rubio had ACL surgery just weeks ago, and he’s in the early stages of rehab, on his way back to where he left off for the Minnesota Timberwolves pre-injury, as arguably the most exciting rookie in the NBA. Rubio has worn Nikes his entire career, at least up until today, when he is officially joining the team at adidas.

“My Nike contract was finished last season,” Ricky, who averaged 10.6 ppg and 8.2 apg as a first-year NBA PG, explains, “and we were talking about re-signing, but they weren’t that interested, as much as other brands like adidas. Making my own shoe over here is a big deal.”

Before the ink on the new contract could dry, the team at adidas invited Ricky to Portland for a day of what they call brand orientation. “We do this for a couple of reasons,” says Chris Grancio, head of Global Basketball Sports Marketing for adidas. “The first is selfish, because we want to make sure our partners know who we are, what we expect of them and how they can help support our business. But the other is that they have great insights. They’re just a step past being our target consumer. They’re all, in some cases, one or two years outside of that 14-19-year-old kid, the consumer we’re going for. They’re sneaker geeks, they’re basketball fanatics, they’re people who embrace the game, talk about the game, are into social media. We learn so much from them, spending time in an environment where they can interact with our product and give us direct feedback.”

You often hear athletes talk about the business side of being an athlete with worldwide fame, but you don’t always see what goes into making those relationships work. Well, we did: KICKS spent an entire day with Ricky Rubio as he went through his brand orientation at adidas. Sure, there are a lot of shoes and gear thrown around, but it’s as much boardroom as basketball court, where instead of phrases like “pick and roll” and “help defense,” the operative terms are things like “partnership,” “marketing,” “activation” and “stories.”

The morning begins in the adidas conference center. As we enter the building, the flatscreen TVs that usually serve as directories have all been reprogrammed to read RICKY RUBIO IS ALL IN, a nod to adidas’ current ad campaign. As we wander through the buildings, everyone who crosses our path gawks at the tall, thin 21-year-old rocking three stripes from head-to-toe: adidas running shoes, track pants, a t-shirt and a snap-back hat with an impressively flat bill. (As we stroll past one desk, a woman asks her co-worker, “When did we sign the skateboarder?”)

We eventually reach the adidas basketball showroom, which is full of various employees. Ricky plops down on a couch in front of the room, elevates his left knee, pulls up his pant leg and idly picks at the scar. A physical therapist from the TWolves traveling with Ricky hooks him up with some ice, something he does throughout the day to help with swelling and promote healing. A few mannequins in the front of the room model Rubio TWolves jerseys, and a wall up front showcases dozens of different adidas shoes, from performance kicks to Originals.

The day begins with Grancio running through a PowerPoint presentation. Grancio, who looks like wrestler The Big Show but speaks like the Harvard grad that he is, begins with the “brand architecture,” hitting basic points about how they want this partnership to play out. The presentation closes out with Grancio discussing several of their other brand partners, the level of whom would seem to indicate Rubio is in capable hands: Lionel Messi, Derrick Rose, Real Madrid, FIFA and the NBA.

Grancio is followed by Robbie Fuller and Travis Blasingame, who present a footwear and apparel overview. They begin by talking about things like “base layers” and “transition gear,” and they ask Ricky specific questions about his uniform and his shoes. Blasingame, the Global Director of Basketball Apparel, breaks out several pieces of gear they’re working on that are so far from hitting the market that I’m sworn to secrecy before I’m even allowed to look at them. Fuller, the adidas Global Designer for Advanced Concepts, is the man who designed the adizero Crazy Light 1 and 2, as well as Rose 1 through 2.5. He shows Ricky some experimental designs that are being developed, and then they talk through exactly what Ricky’s looking for in a shoe. Ricky notes that his big toes often take a beating, and Fuller writes this down in a notebook. They talk about potential colorways for the Crazy Light 2, the shoe Ricky will wear next season, as well as little personal touches they could add to his kicks. Their presentation ends with them giving Ricky a few minutes to design a custom pair on miadidas.com.

After a break, Ricky hears from adidas Originals, and then the head of adidas sports marketing in Spain, freshly arrived in the States, takes the podium. He cues up a video of several of adidas’ Spanish stars, like Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas, welcoming Ricky to adidas. The video ends with Vicente Del Bosque, coach of the Spanish national soccer team, holding up a Spain soccer jersey with RICKY 9 on the back; then the actual jersey is handed to Ricky and he beams with delight. We pause for lunch, then return to the conference room for a brand activation presentation, in which members of the marketing and PR teams discuss everything from possible social media hashtags (#rickyisallin) to new ways Ricky can engage with fans on Facebook.

Once the presentations end, we all head over to Athlete Services, where we’re escorted into a room that looks like a high-tech shoe store, albeit a shoe store with tools hanging on the walls. Ricky sits in a seat that resembles a barber’s chair, removes his shoes and socks, and places each foot on a sheet of plexiglass. A technician boots up a laptop and painstakingly scans Ricky’s foot. As he moves the scanner back and forth, a 3D image of Ricky’s foot develops on a screen in front of us, like something from a sci-fi movie. Years ago, shoe companies took plaster molds of their athletes’ feet. These days, it takes 10 minutes and a laptop and they’ve got an exact form. Then we head upstairs, where Ricky undergoes a body scan and is fitted for TechFit padded compression—Ricky tells the technician that his thighs don’t get banged up like many guys; instead he needs extra padding on the hips, where he often gets clipped coming off picks.

Finally, eight hours after we started, we head down to Grancio’s office, where Ricky sits, icing his knee again. Before he hits the employee store to stock up on gear, we finally get a chance to sit and talk…

KICKS: Tell me about your rookie season. Was it fun?

Ricky Rubio: It was so much fun. After a tough year in Spain, I was thinking about how fun basketball was when I was a kid. But the last year wasn’t like this. Since my first game in Minnesota, when the team was together, it was a different feeling. I felt freedom again. It was amazing.

KICKS: The first time I saw you was in ’07, and people wondered when you were coming to the NBA. Were you tired of hearing that?

RR: I wasn’t thinking about that. People can ask, people can talk, people can make their opinions, but I’m the one who will have my own opinion. I was ready in ’09 when I entered the Draft, but I couldn’t come. Finally, last year I was making a big step coming here to the League. Maybe it wasn’t after my best year in Spain, but I was sure I could play here, because when we played the US in the Olympic Games, that’s the kind of style I wanted to play. Seeing a lot of NBA the last couple of years, I was thinking about playing here some day. It finally came.

KICKS: You said your last year in Spain was tough. Why?

RR: I had a lot of pressure, even when I came here, and I was worried about that. It was a different pressure over there, because you must win, no matter how. Sometimes you prefer to have fun. Sometimes you lose, but if you had fun, for me that’s the most important thing, and the same level as winning. So sometimes when I lose one of them, I lose my identity, you know?
KICKS: You hear guys talk about how basketball might not be as much fun as it used to. You’ve been a pro since you were, what, 14?

RR: Yeah [laughs]. I’m trying to have fun all games. And I know it’s tough, I know it’s hard when you’re fighting for a championship or something like that, that you must win no matter what you do. I had that experience, that different experience, when you win and you have fun and you win and you don’t have fun. It’s so much fun when you’re winning and having fun. It’s like…good memories.

KICKS: Derrick Williams said the goal this season is to just improve from a season earlier.

RR: Yeah, we lost the last three, against Miami, Oklahoma City and Milwaukee. But people were talking: “I like how they play.” Back in [Spain], when you lose one game, everybody kills you. Here, you want to win, of course, but you want to have fun, and we have a lot of fun. The fans were cheering all games, even when we were losing. But then we figured it out and finished with a good record.

KICKS: Was it fun playing with Kevin Love?

RR: He was balling. I’ve played with [Juan Carlos] Navarro in his top moments, but it reminded me a little bit of when Navarro was hot in last year’s European Championships: You’d hit him, and no matter how he could shoot it, he’s gonna make it. It was like playing pick and roll with somebody that you know he’s gonna make a three, if you shoot he’s gonna take the rebound. It’s like a joker in your pocket that you can play.

KICKS: Like a video game almost.

RR: Yeah! Actually, he was on fire all year. He was hitting threes, especially after All-Star, and his confidence was even higher than before. It was amazing playing with him.

KICKS: How does your knee feel?

RR: Feeling better. The first six weeks was tough because I couldn’t walk, couldn’t put any weight on it, so it was pretty boring. But right now I can walk, lift some weights, but under control. But it’s hard watching the Playoffs and all you can do is go to the court and sit with the ball.

KICKS: Being here at adidas seems like a big story for your summer.

RR: I feel like a superstar. They treat me amazing. I like how they’re doing everything, and I’ve only been here one day. I feel very comfortable.

KICKS: What do you look for in a shoe?

RR: First of all, comfort. I like a light shoe that fits, like you don’t have nothing on your foot. At the same time, you don’t want to feel like you’re going to twist your ankle, because your ankle is important. Playing every night, you get fatigued, and everything has to be under control. I want the shoe to be comfortable, and a little fancy, why not? I like classic, not too much colors and cool.

KICKS: Most guys wear new shoes all the time. You only wear three or four pairs all season?

RR: Yeah. I only use three or four pairs per season, sometimes five. I don’t want to change shoes. If the shoe fits well and I feel comfortable, I don’t see why I have to change it every game.

KICKS: You change it for bad luck?

RR: Yeah, when I start with a new shoe, if it gives me two or three games in a row where I’m not playing good, I’ll try to change it. Maybe next year if I’m playing bad maybe I’ll wear 20 pairs of shoes [laughs].

KICKS: Well, let’s hope next year you only need, like, one pair of shoes.

RR: Yeah, that’s good.
 
i hope they give this dude a sig shoe and come correct on it. Only sig shoe adidas does right is the rose line...

step it up adidas... now that howard is a laker get that fool a sick sig line...

a
 
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