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Scaletta: Behind Every Player Brand is a Human Being

Tyronn Lue recently told Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to “focus less on their brands” and let “winning” take care of that. Ironically, he left LeBron James, whose branding has possibly exceeded that of any athlete in the world right now, out of that bit of constructive criticism.

But branding is a huge part of being a superstar now, and it’s somewhat silly and naive to deny it. And I’d say it’s equally wrong-headed to suggest it shouldn’t. It’s easy to criticize someone for worrying over their brand when you don’t have one, but when it starts becoming worth millions, 10s of millions or even hundreds of million dollars, that’s just fans being free and loose with other people’s money.

What’s more, we have no problem with players who have brands if we like the players.

We have a pending Super Bowl where Peyton Manning is getting pitted against Cam Newton. While Newton’s been criticized for his “dabbin'” after games, only Manning has ever been fined for taunting. In fact, Newton has never been fined at all. But he has gotten angry letters from moms in Tennessee.

But Newton’s dabbin’ is no different than Manning’s wry humor when it comes to marketing. Or, for that matter, how Aaron Rodgers has used his “double checking” touchdown celebration into millions of dollars in endorsements which helps to fill up his $7.5 million a year.

Kobe Bryant, one of the most celebrated athletes in the history of the world, and Michael Jordan, the most celebrated athlete in the history of the world, are both notorious for being — keeping it PG here — arrogant jerks.

Derrick Rose, before he tore his ACL, inked a $185 million deal with Adidas. His appeal was his flashy play on the court and his humility off it. Kevin Durant tapped into the same market.

Allen Iverson, who made “street cred” a thing, had one of the most-sold jerseys of all time by tapping into the same demographic that Newton appeals to now, although, while Iverson was “hard,” Newton is happy. If anything, it’s the way he expresses his joy which irks so many (and truthfully, that’s a strange thing to be irked by).

Russell Westbrook is just a weirdly dressed superhuman nerd. But he’s making $5 million a year in endorsements.

And all of this is said without any value or judgment against these many and varied personality types.

There are two fundamental things that we need to recognize here:

  1. Players have different personalities
  2. Fans have different personalities

Branding exists, and players make money off it. They make money off it because fans like to look at a player that reminds them of themselves and live vicariously through them. For instance, I’m a self-confessed nerd, so it’s easy for me to look at him and say, “If I were an eight inches taller and about a billion times more athletic and explosive and about one percent sociopath, I could be like him.

We go out and buy Air Jordans because we really do want “be like Mike.”

We like to look at our favorite athletes and see something of ourselves in them. We want to be Jordan because we admire his competitive drive, and we want to emulate that.

Cam isn’t a “race thing,” but there are more black kids who can look at him and see something of themselves. “Dabbin'” wasn’t invented by Cam; it’s a dance move that existed within a certain culture. People who live in that culture identify with it.  That’s not a judgment; it’s just a reality. People who don’t recognize can’t identify with it.

Jim Dedmon/ Icon Sportswire

The same thing was true of Allen Iverson. The people who didn’t like him were those who weren’t seeing cornrows when they went to work every day.

No one ever asked Tom Brady about “street cred,” though. And Johnny Manziel seems to have embraced aspects of African-American culture, rapping to “Future” and flashing money signs, for which he’s made himself the subject of much criticism.

Point being:

  1. Players have different personalities
  2. Fans have different personalities

Seems like I already said that once. Branding is huge money, but the reason so many different types of people can make money off it is that we, the fans, are so many different kinds of people.

Look, some people like Coke; some prefer Pepsi. Some drink Dr. Pepper. Some think McDonalds is better while others would much rather have a flame-broiled experience at Burger King.

And the underlying thing of it all is that if you like what I do, it’s no skin off my back. Just cause I wear Levis doesn’t mean I feel inclined to go and start arguments with every passerby on the street who’s wearing Wranglers.

If a player acts differently than the way you would have, so what? I know this is breaking news in the 21st century, but there are different strokes for folks. If you don’t like a brand, don’t buy it. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend half your life protesting it either. And we have to realize that in this day and age, that’s what athlete brands are. 

They aren’t ideas — some abstract thing to be debated on ESPN talk shows. They aren’t political points, shaping the future of the nation.

They’re actual people. And if they aren’t doing something criminal or violent, they don’t deserve the indignity of having their personality dragged through the mud, or — perhaps even worse — held up like some iconic figure.

If a player doesn’t match you, don’t whine. Just cheer for a different player. It’s really not that hard.

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