An Ode To My Brother: A first ballot inductee into the "Athlete Creator Hall of Fame."

A lot of the dialogue surrounding 'athletes as creators' is geared toward attracting and securing brand dollars. I think this is a mistake, especially for long tail/role players at the professional level. This may sound counterintuitive, but I believe strongly in keeping the main thing the main thing. And frankly, the main thing is being on a team.

When you step outside of the realm of superstars, the margin between those who last and those who do not is razor thin. Therefore, any supplemental value you can provide to the franchise outside of competition can be the difference.

Having a distinct voice. Creating compelling content. Authenticity. These are always important. But it's also wise to think about whether or not what you're putting out to the world aligns with the goals/values of your franchise -- especially if you're a MNBA/NFL player where even a mid-level contract is going to dwarf any paid brand partnerships you might ever get.

I've been reflecting on my brother's career through this lens. Look, I love teasing him (he's my brother after all), but intentional or not, he was ahead of his time on this front. And I truly believe his approach to creating content played a role in his longevity in the league.

Looking at what he was doing a decade ago, provides some compelling insight for what athletes (and franchises) could be doing today.

1. Quality: Thoughtful and compelling content performs. Part of the reason his stuff performed was because... well, it was good stuff!
2. Timing: Timing matters. We held back or delayed publish dates many times based on real time factors as pertains to the team. Even if you made a video in the off-season, you don't want to put it out after a bad loss and appear distracted.
3. Consistency: Matt was pretty consistent with pumping out high performing content. This doesn't mean every day. But he wrote a blog every road trip, and maintained an 'every few months' cadence on videos. We often act like athletes have no time during the season, but the reality is, they kind of do.
4. Distribution Channels: Matt wasn't even on social media during his playing career. He put most of his content out through the Spurs owned channels or through a media company with its own massive audience. This provided real value to the Spurs franchise and also expanded the reach of the content. He also produced stuff that touched adjacencies to sports landing organic coverage from the likes of COMPLEX, First We Feast, Rolling Stone, Pitchform, etc.
5. Intention: After releasing his viral Spuran Spuran video (see below), CBS asked him why he made the video and his response was remarkably simple, "to make the fans smile." He was never trying to get anything out of these efforts. He was having fun, and the purity was evident. This helped build a real bond with NBA fans.
6. Support: Everything Matt put out was his. But that doesn't mean he did it all on his own. He also didn't have an unnecessary robust team behind him. He would shoot a blog post to me for a quick edit. He would ask questions with the videographers and editors the Spurs had. He would get their input and feedback on how to pull videos together. I think this played a role in giving him the confidence to put stuff out to the world without getting paralyzed in a pursuit of perfection.

Ok now, let's run through some of his greatest hits with some additional behind the scenes fodder...

It's gotta be the shoes.

New Balance is now one of the hottest brands on the planet. This wasn't always the case. And frankly, my brother had the audacity to wear years old, clunky New Balance basketball shoes on the NBA court. To this day, millions of people know him for this. He wore them because he thought they were comfortable. It was as simple as that. Not only was this a direct reflection of who he was, but it also reinforced a core brand trait for the Spurs. They didn't care about flash. They cared about production and consistency.

In a silly act of self deprecation in 2013, for their marquee Christmas Day game, he dressed up his ho hum New Balance with red laces and drew a snow man on the side. This move set Twitter ablaze and even landed himself placement alongside the biggest stars in the NBA in a Sports Illustrated piece showcasing the best Christmas Day shoes of that year.

A year later, Matt's stockpile of New Balance basketball shoes ran dry. He ended up securing a last minute deal with adidas via a take over of the Nice Kicks Twitter account. George Kiel III then set him up with Jake Danklefs to create a custom pair of Crazy 8s for Christmas.

This was interesting, because George and Jake documented the entire process, so fans were brought along for the ride from concept to creation. And, the shoes ended up being one of the best Christmas shoes to date... in my New Hampshire lumberjack opinion at least.

The Sandwich Hunter

My brother has always LOVED sandwiches. He had a routine of getting a sandwich for lunch before every road game. He decided to approach the Spurs digital team to see if he could document his gameday sandwich adventures with his own blog on the Spurs site. At this time, blogs were pretty popular but athletes were not super active in the blogosphere.

On the surface, it sounds kind of silly... an NBA player would like to write about his gameday sandwich.

But one thing I've learned over the years working with athletes is that the ordinary can become extraordinary when it's coming from a pro athlete. This blog was quirky, and it showcased Matt's humanity and highlighted local establishments in every NBA market.

He was also CONSISTENT with his output. The blogs did not need to be perfect to be impactful. His Sandwich Hunter page ended up routinely being the highest ranking page on the Spurs website -- and keep in mind this was during a time when the Spurs were winning NBA championships!

Fundamentals of the Game with Coach B

One day when I was playing hoops in Lithuania, my brother emailed me about his idea for a video series that would sort of poke fun at internet basketball trainers. I thought it sounded fun. He ended up putting most of it together, and I assisted with the edit and feedback. He thought it would be good for me to have a small cameo as a Lithuanian correspondent. Through this, we taught ourselves how to use Final Cut. The videos were ridiculous: dry humor and REALLY long for the internet (especially during the time he put this out.) The result was incredible. The first episode ended up being the top viewed video on NBA.com for a period of time. Not bad for a guy who averaged 7.3 points and 3.6 rebounds that season -- shots fired.

Wrappin' with the Red Mamba

Wrappin’ with the Red Mamba was way ahead of its time. This was the only project where Matt was able to have a real production team behind it -- shout out Big Brick . We made a pilot episode for ESPN digital. The idea was for Matt to have wraps with famous rappers. It was honestly gold. Of course, Riff Raff stood us up for the shoot, but by the grace of god we ended up able to get Bushwick Bill (RIP) from the Geto Boys to come through last minute. This ended up exceeding performance expectations. ESPN decided to run it multiple times on ABC and on SportsCenter around their NBA coverage.

Spuran Spuran

"Spurs!" by Spuran Spuran was an all-time banger. Matt told me he had this ridiculous idea in his head to remake the "Sports!" video from Tim and Eric. He even got Tim and Eric's blessing on the video before releasing it.

My big claim to fame here is that I came up with the Spuran Spuran name.

The Spurs! video ended up garnering over a million views on the Spurs official YouTube channel. This is astronomical compared to what their typical view count on YouTube was at the time (typically <10K per video). Further, the video became an in arena anthem. It was a pre-game hit at the AT&T Center.

Andy Kaufman?

The Spurs have season ticket holder events throughout the year. This is an opportunity to deepen connections between the fans and the franchise. Typically, these events would also provide an opportunity for some light hearted skits.

One year, my brother decided to recreate the iconic Andy Kaufman Mighty Mouse skit. This was definitely a risk, but it was absolutely true to who my brother is. Again, this video ended up garnering hundreds of thousands of views and media coverage.

Sports Illustrated published an article on the video which starts: In case you were in the market for a new favorite NBA player, might I recommend a certain red-haired three-point specialist currently playing for the Spurs?

Retirement Video

Finally, the retirement video. This legitimately got me. Others have tried emulating it, but honestly, don’t think anyone’s matched it. The balance of self deprecating humor and sincere reflection. The New Hampshire scenery. And a perfect track by The Walkmen.

**chef’s kiss**

What athletes and franchises are doing the best job collaborating to produce impactful content today?