The website reported about a week ago that Derrick Rose's torn ACL injury might have to do with his shoe change, judging from an Adidas employee's tweet.
Here's what he wrote:
The man's name is Leo Thornton, who works at Adidas. He is the "department coordinator in footwear quality," according to his LinkedIn account.
However, after Mr. Thornton made the tweet, he was fired a few days later, tweeting to Mr. Heiser the following:
It's a little weird, as it would first seem that the Nike employee would get fired first for his insensitive tweet about Rose writing that he should have joined his company or else he wouldn't have gotten injured. However, he still holds his job.
Heiser would later contact Addias about the matter, summing up the whole story:
I also contacted Adidas for comment on Thornton's dismissal and received
the following statement from Lauren Lamkin who works in Adidas' Public
Relations department.
"As a matter of company policy, we do not comment on personnel matters.
Also, on your earlier story, reports that Derrick’s shoe was modified from the version he wore earlier this season are inaccurate. He’s worn the same version and size of the adiZero Rose 2.5 since he began to wear it on court, and we work closely with Derrick throughout the season to ensure he received the best product to perform on the court."
To sum it up, Adidas won't comment on personnel matters and claim not to have altered Rose's shoe, which directly contradicts what the recently fired Thornton said.
So why would they have fired Thornton if his comments didn't actually hold any merit? In Thornton's direct message to me from May 4, he directly said our "story" cost him his job.
At the end of the day, Adidas is going to do everything it can to protect their brand and relationship with Rose, who they recently signed to a contract valued at over $200 million. Thornton made it clear why he thought he was dismissed by Adidas, even if the athletic equipment company won't comment on the matter.
"As a matter of company policy, we do not comment on personnel matters.
Also, on your earlier story, reports that Derrick’s shoe was modified from the version he wore earlier this season are inaccurate. He’s worn the same version and size of the adiZero Rose 2.5 since he began to wear it on court, and we work closely with Derrick throughout the season to ensure he received the best product to perform on the court."
To sum it up, Adidas won't comment on personnel matters and claim not to have altered Rose's shoe, which directly contradicts what the recently fired Thornton said.
So why would they have fired Thornton if his comments didn't actually hold any merit? In Thornton's direct message to me from May 4, he directly said our "story" cost him his job.
At the end of the day, Adidas is going to do everything it can to protect their brand and relationship with Rose, who they recently signed to a contract valued at over $200 million. Thornton made it clear why he thought he was dismissed by Adidas, even if the athletic equipment company won't comment on the matter.
Pretty interesting stuff, nonetheless.
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. He also contributes at Hoops Authority and Eight Points Nine Seconds. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
