Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Shoe Companies & Their Influence

Over the past couple of months I've wrote on numerous topics in regards to travel basketball. This next story is one that many "in the game" have dealt with for many years. How much influence do sneaker companies have in travel and high school basketball?

 Here is an interesting article in regards to top 25 national recruit Antonio Blakeney and his recent decommitment from Louisville. There are some really interesting quotes from recruiting expert Jerry Meyer in it. He talks about the influence of a "Nike player" committing to an "Adidas school" and how it doesn't necessarily go over well in his circle. Blakeney has played the Florida based E1T1 the past couple of summers and has really gotten attention from high major schools through his play during Nike's EYBL.

 Here's another article regarding Blakeney.

 If you are a top 50 recruit in the country, one of the goals is to play in the McDonald's All-American game. Many have goals of playing in the Jordan Brand Classic as well as the Nike Hoops Summit. The McDonald's game is sponsored by Adidas and is supposed to be for the elite of the elite players in high school and it's not supposed to have anything to do with sneaker affiliation. The Jordan Brand Classic is supposed to be strictly for players that have played on the Nike circuit (EYBL). The Nike Hoops' Summit is clearly sponsored by Nike and it might "help" if you played for a Nike team during the spring and summer season.

 There are exceptions to this to what I said above and most of it has to do with where these prospects are going to college. A great example of this is the Harrison twins (more on these guys in a bit) from Kentucky. They were sponsored on their high school and AAU team by Under Armour BUT they signed with Kentucky and Coach Cal has a lot of pull to get his guys into games like that (just as Duke and UNC signees do as well). This year, only Karl Towns (I believe), a Kentucky signee, played in the JBC after playing in the UA circuit the summer before. 

 Why is it so important to play in the McDonald's and Jordan game? You only get two all star games after you play your season. McDonald's has been the cream of the crop for a long time and who wouldn't want a bunch of Jordan gear? Those games are much better than any other sneaker company can and will put on.

 Now going back to Blakeney, let's take a look a few other prominent players that have been influenced by sneaker companies during their recruitment. Derrick Rose played for a Nike based team for a majority of his high school career (Meanstreets, same as Anthony Davis) and then Adidas got involved in his family's life. He then had Kansas and UCLA in his final five even though neither were recruiting him, but both are sponsored by the three stripes. He choose Memphis, who at the time, were sponsored by Adidas as well. He signed with Adidas when he got to the NBA. Shabazz Muhammed played for a Nike high school in Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas but his AAU team was created by his father/Adidas and it was a known secret that he was headed to UCLA after a lot "funding" to his Dad's AAU team Dream Vision.  He also signed with Adidas as soon as he declared for the draft. Here is an article about the Harrison twins and how much they were influenced by Maryland and Kentucky aka Under Armour and Nike. 

 If you look at many of the higher profile players that play for Nike sponsored high school teams, they end up playing AAU for Nike AAU teams. Why? Now, I'm not 100% certain on that but I wouldn't be surprised to see increased funding or more gear for high school programs that have their high profile players playing for Nike during the spring and summer. And that could be the reason why you'll see kids switch AAU programs after they have established themselves as mid to high level recruits. To go along with this, AAU programs are given an allotment of money from the sneaker companies to outfit high school programs with gear. They usually will go to a school with a big time recruit or go to a high school program that coaches in both the AAU organization as well as a local high school. The kids will have to "pay" for the gear but the price is essentially for used sneakers and sweatsuits. What's the price for the gear after it's been used all season? $25.

 There is a great book called Sole Influence by Dan Wetzel that goes into the knitty gritty of AAU basketball. The book was written 14 years ago and I couldn't imagine some of the changes that have happened since then. I do remember a few stories in the book. Wetzel talks about how Marvin Stone (Louisville) and Casey Sanders (Duke), both big time recruits at the time, got their high school programs "Nike contracts" when they attended the Nike All-American Camp. 

 Here are some more reasons why kids and adults are enamored with shoe companies
















This last part is pure speculation and I have no clue if it's true or not but I wouldn't be shocked from all the things I've seen and heard over the past 10-12 years. If a recruit ends up at a college that is sponsored by the same sneaker company that their AAU/HS is sponsored by, then those programs will get more money/gear from the sneaker company. Again, I could be blowing smoke with high level recruits, NOTHING surprises me anymore.


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