I don't know much about EJ Walker but I do know that kid doesn't skip leg day.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Maybe they had the same mailman?
Looks like he may be going after too many loose balls....maybe knee pads.....?
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Difficult for me to think they don’t take Skyy outright over Boswell given the chance. Heck, maybe that even happened.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Not sure if I agree w/Foran here, but Chester's in it:
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
sacraig
- The desert
Did he even make a statement with which to agree? Does he ever?
217sports
- Springfield
No one could have seen this coming
drsmitty74
- Rochester
snippet - paid article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/sports/kanye-west-donda-academy-basketball.html
“The fallout from Kanye West’s embrace of white supremacist tropes and antisemitic statements continued Wednesday when the organizers of two prominent high school boys’ basketball tournaments revoked invitations for West’s Donda Academy team to play in national showcases this season, which begins next month.
The moves came one day after Adidas, the sports apparel giant that had partnered with West for nearly a decade, and two high-profile athletes — Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics — became the latest to sever business ties with him.”…
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/sports/kanye-west-donda-academy-basketball.html
“The fallout from Kanye West’s embrace of white supremacist tropes and antisemitic statements continued Wednesday when the organizers of two prominent high school boys’ basketball tournaments revoked invitations for West’s Donda Academy team to play in national showcases this season, which begins next month.
The moves came one day after Adidas, the sports apparel giant that had partnered with West for nearly a decade, and two high-profile athletes — Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics — became the latest to sever business ties with him.”…
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Pretty sure Adidas was running that school, or at least helping a ton, so when they cut Kanye loose:
At least they had someone other than their founder write the release. You can tell because it's actually coherent.
I work for adidas and can confirm this is not true.Pretty sure Adidas was running that school, or at least helping a ton, so when they cut Kanye loose:
This is Kanye doing his thing and losing a lot of money hurt his ability to get this thing rolling like he wanted to. Adidas was keeping an eye on the project but this was not something they had invested in … yet.
Dodged that bullet!
Didn't Adidas supply all footwear, apparel, and other material support to Donda's basketball team?I work for adidas and can confirm this is not true.
This is Kanye doing his thing and losing a lot of money hurt his ability to get this thing rolling like he wanted to. Adidas was keeping an eye on the project but this was not something they had invested in … yet.
Dodged that bullet!
In any event, not sure they dodged a bullet rather than did some damage control. That connection was well established and that fact that Kanye's antisemitism plays right into the most unsavory aspect of the company's history is less than ideal. Glad Adidas did the right thing in the end though.
Given how much that actually costs them to make, that's a pretty easy sunken cost to eat.
It's not so much the cost as Adidas clearly wanted to be associated with this project, until they didn't (for obvious and understandable reasons). It's the same with Nike's affiliation with Sierra Canyon. The next frontier in the shoe wars is building relationships with top prep prospects, using NIL to steer them to schools associated with your shoe brand, both high school and college, and having them locked up before they reach the pros and become superstars. I don't think any upstart school like this will be able to succeed without shoe company backing. They've already invaded the AAU circuit, this is similar.
Relationship was definitely well established as you mentioned. I mean, both parties made crazy money. Truthfully, I thought adidas was slow playing everything to try and make as much profit with the last launch. I was on a call today and was surprised they said EVERYTHING is being bought back and coming back to Portland. Not sure what they will do with everything but I assumed they would at least get as much profit as possible given the circumstance. It’s a big hit losing that partnership for the brand from a revenue standpoint, but certainly the right thing to do under the circumstances. All that to say I am pleased with the way it was handled as something of that magnitude couldn’t happen overnight. A lot of red tape. Someone mentioned “can you imagine if something like this was with Nike and Jordan”? No way can things move quickly as it impacts a lot of contracts, lawyers, and people who solely work on the Yeezy line.
To bring it back, adidas did supply the uniforms and footwear, and I am sure there is more. But as someone mentioned, that’s the cheap stuff that really aligns with more of a “grassroots investment” as much as anything. The real impact was meant to “produce major adidas athletes” from there and carry into the NBA. Super cheap for adidas as everything was obviously at cost to outfit the program.
I for one am glad the Donda Academy is likely done before it really started. I like kids going to college to play and especially when Illinois is bringing in top talent. Tough decisions for kids to go through and this makes it one less thing to consider I guess.
Sorry for little politics rant. All in all it’s a good day to move forward to bigger and better things.
Shane Walsh
aka "Captain Oblivious"
- Cynthiana, Kentucky
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