The key decision-making factors in a shoe contract, according to Norman, range from the player's market to his character, personality and style as well as the position he plays. In Lillard's case, he just so happens to be based in the city where both Adidas and their No. 1 rival, Nike, call home. And with Adidas' top basketball athletes, the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose (two season-ending knee injuries) and the Houston Rockets' Dwight Howard (negative publicity relating to his Aug. 2012 exodus from Orlando), having fallen on such hard times in recent years, Adidas' competitors in the industry understood that the time was right for them to take a calculated risk on Lillard.
As Norman detailed, the fact that Lillard was not only a point guard but a score-first point guard (like Rose) means he's much more likely to get facetime on camera while playing his way onto the nightly highlight reels that are key for exposure. Winning is key as well, and the Lillard-led Blazers checked that box by going from 33-49 in the regular season a year ago to 54-28 in 2013-14.
Lillard's personality also played a part ("He's very team-first," Norman said), as did his social media following and habits that are among the most unique of any player in the league ("he went from 79,000 followers on Facebook a year ago to 1.3 million; he's got over 400,000 Instagram followers; he's got over 400,000 Twitter followers," Norman said). Everything factored in, Norman said, even good, old-fashioned looks, personal style and the fact that Lillard is interested in sneaker culture.
Norman, who noticed Lillard's habit of pointing to the front of his jersey (the team name) rather than the back (his name) back when he was a relative unknown player at Weber State, said the deal was only seen as a risk because the rest of the world is just starting to see all the sellable sides of Lillard that they have seen since signing him as a rookie two summers ago.
"He's located here, down the street, and he's in our office a lot hanging out with guys from our brand all the time," Norman said. "We know what Damian Lillard is about. We know the value that he puts on family and friendship and the relationship we have. It was not risky at all, knowing that we had the right character, integrity and personality. There was no risk.
