Adidas looks under the hood to discover NBA players' strengths

"Every brotherhood need creators and commanders." That is the message behind a new Adidas campaign honoring basketball stars Dwight Howard (the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year) and Derrick Rose (the Rookie of the Year). These two animated videos, which broke Wednesday on YouTube and AdidasBasketball.com, focus on the strengths of each player. Narrated by Chali 2Na from hip-hop group Jurassic 5, the ads describe the players as superhuman. Dwight Howard is called the "most dominant commander in the game today," thanks to his mind, his spirit, his legs and, of course, the Adidas gear that he wears. TECHFIT PowerWEB gear gives Howard "increased energy and strength," while his Adidas sneakers allow him to leap and bounce. In a similar setup, Rose is dubbed as an "explosive creator" whose strengths include TECHFIT padded undergarments that protect him form the "collisions accrued over the course of the season," the Adidas ankle-support system "proven to be five times more effective than tape" and motion technology built into his sneakers that "make him quicker than he already is, which is scary if you think about it." Both videos end with the tagline: "Impossible is nothing." But it's clear that what Adidas means is that the impossible would not be possible without its gear.

—Posted by Elena Malykhina