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Nike designer: Injured Derrick Rose, an adidas man, 'chose poorly'

Apr 29, 2012

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Nike designer: Injured Derrick Rose, an adidas man, 'chose poorly'

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Nike designer: Injured Derrick Rose, an adidas man, ‘chose poorly’

After Derrick Rose suffered a season-ending ACL tear during the Chicago Bulls' 103-91 win over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday afternoon, the reaction of NBA fans, media members and fellow players alike consisted largely of shock and sorrow. A bummed-out legion began to wrap its mind around the enormity of the 2011 NBA MVP's injury and what it means for the top-seeded Bulls' title hopes and, potentially, the career arc of one of the league's brightest young superstars.

I say "largely" because the reaction also contained stuff like this bon mot from the Twitter account of Jason Petrie, a "senior footwear designer at Nike," according to LinkedIn , and the designer of the popular Nike basketball sneakers worn and endorsed by Miami Heat star LeBron James:

(Screencap via @sevenzro1, Nike designer Jason Petrie's Twitter feed)

"Pooh," of course, is the nickname Rose was given by his grandmother when he was a kid. Rose, of course, wears and endorses adidas shoes; the Bulls point guard recently signed a 13-year endorsement deal with the shoemaker that, with incentives, could pay him more than $200 million. The intimation, of course, is that Rose wouldn't have torn a ligament in his left knee if the shoes on his feet when he landed that jump stop were emblazoned with a swoosh. Of course.

In this context, the hashtag "#GWS" likely stands for "get well soon." That'd make sense, anyway. That's what you always say to someone who just, for example, suffered a severe injury and is going to need surgery, rehabilitation and an awful lot of rest and healing before he can resume regular life activities, let alone go back to being one of the best basketball players alive.

The other stuff, though? Where you use the horrendous trauma someone just suffered as a snickering means of, what, promoting your brand? That doesn't make sense. That's not what you say.

Oh, you might think it — Petrie's tweet wasn't the only one I saw that made the "correlation equals causation" jump between Rose and New York Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert wearing adidas on the court and suffering injuries on Saturday. But you don't say it. Not if you've got some compassion, sense or perspective.

Or even just some appreciation for the fact that, as a representative for brands as mammoth as Nike and LeBron James, snarkily reveling in someone else's trauma — especially a well-liked someone like Rose, whom "everyone loves," according to James' Heat teammate Dwyane Wade, who's signed with Nike subsidiary Jordan Brand — probably isn't a great move, corporate-wise.

(Screencap via @sevenzro1, Nike designer Jason Petrie's Twitter feed)

Petrie's right; we don't know him. Most of us probably didn't even know who he was before tonight. But we do now, and this is what we know him for: poor-taste remarks about someone getting hurt, followed up by excited reveling in the whirlwind they kicked up. You've got to wonder if that's going to make Nike, LeBron James and the other people Petrie's in business with very happy.

Related tweets — «Can't believe this guy actually used Rose's injury as a way to promote Nike!? via @WojYahooNBA #HopeHeGetsFired #fb»

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