Spencer Dinwiddie ... all the news that fits ... on two sneakers

Spencer Dinwiddie has gotten creative in using his platform as a means to spread a positive message. His latest includes a custom design on his shoes, thanking media publications for their hard work.

In Brooklyn’s home opener against the Knicks, Dinwiddie wore a pair of shoes that had labels of logos of a handful of media platforms with “Thank” written one shoe and “You” on the other, with faded lettering that says “Extra Extra” and “Always here to help.”

The logos includes ESPN, NBA TV, Bleacher Report, The Associated Press, Sports Business Journal, Yahoo, New York Times, New York Post and more.

He posted this photo before the game explaining the philosophy behind his shoe design.

I didn’t see this photo before I recognized the unique set of shoes after the game. So, I asked him to explain the meaning behind it all — and basically re-affirmed what he said in the Instagram post.

Spencer Dinwiddie isn’t somebody who beats around the bush. If he feels a certain way, he’s going to say it and/or show it. He did just that by thanking the media, despite some quotes of his being taken out of context of late.

He recalls two that stick out the most from the past month.

The first one is the quote from Dinwiddie that says, “I don’t believe anybody can guard me,” courtesy of James Herbert of CBS. Later Dinwiddie felt like he should let people know that wasn’t what he was trying to say.

This was the biggest story of the day. How could Spencer Dinwiddie say nobody can guard him? That sounds crazy to the average fan.

However, covering Dinwiddie since the first day he signed with the Nets up until now — I didn’t think much of what he said. I actually didn’t think it was outlandish at all. It made me think of these guys as human beings, as competitors. They’re professional athletes.

They aren’t going to back down to another man just because. The thing is, most won’t vocalize it the way Dinwiddie does. Yes, he’s confident. An ego? Sure. But he’s smart and loves to compete. It’s what got him out of the G League and with the Brooklyn Nets playing a vital role in their present and future.

When I heard the hosts on “The Jump” discussing the infamous quote, I thought of a story I wrote about Dinwiddie on NetsDaily the year before. It was the ninth game of the season and Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell were both out. The Nets were playing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dinwiddie was starting at point that night — less than one year after playing in the D-League.

I asked how it felt to go up against the best player in the league in his first big chance of the year.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m blessed for the role I have here in Brooklyn,” Dinwiddie said last November. “But I don’t wake up when we play LeBron or anybody and say, ‘oh wow this is crazier than my wildest dreams.’ It’s another NBA game.”

This isn’t cocky, this isn’t outlandish. It’s confidence. It’s a competitor’s mentality. And that’s exactly what he was trying to get at with the “I don’t think anybody can guard me” quote. It would be a problem if he said the opposite.

The other example was just a week back. He did an interview with Michael Grady of YES and made his case for Most Improved Player, telling Grady he deserved the award.

“In terms of Most Improved Player race ... and I love Vic, I love Clint Capela ... there’s no way I shouldn’t have won that,” he said. “Vic had great years for four years, had one down year, then an even better year and they were like, ‘Aw man, look, he played bad for one year and then he played well. He didn’t just suddenly suck at OKC. The fit and everything didn’t work out for him.

“Clint Capela played very well but at the same time due to the dynamics of the team, he got a chance to come in and do his job. And he excelled at it. BUT he got to do his job.”

“Whereas if you look at the story like I was cast aside,” he said with a smile. “You know I was in the D-League. I came in, on Brooklyn, I wasn’t supposed to play last year either. They had JLin and DLo. They both got hurt and obviously after that I had a nice run. The numbers were off the charts. You talk about advanced analytics and I was getting to the rim and creating points at an efficiency on par with James Harden.”

He isn’t being outlandish and he certainly isn’t necessarily wrong by the definition of “Most IMPROVED.” Regardless, people took it as a means of him jabbing Oladipo and Capela.

He felt the need to clarify his statement, though he probably didn’t have to.

Spencer Dinwiddie knows he’s a smart dude. He enjoys engaging in conversation whether it be about basketball or outside topics. His words are powerful and his actions even more so. Clearly he disagrees with how he’s portrayed in the media at times — especially in these two cases.

The shoes represented a whole lot and how he feels about the tensions that continue between the media and players. Quotes can be taken out of context. If the player says them, people are going to have their own opinion on it. Makes sense, no?

But when communicating with individuals, there are certain things you pick up when you hear a person speak and understand their personality versus just reading a quote on the internet.

And this isn’t only basketball.

We live in a society where people have grown to dislike the media if it doesn’t fit the narrative they want to hear. Those same people believe there’s dishonesty in reporting... which sometimes there is. However, to generalize the small sample size of dishonest media outlets and bunch them in a group is just plain wrong.

Dinwiddie’s, “We need you and you need us” line resembles Joseph Pulitzer’s famous line, “Our republic and it’s press will rise or fall together.”

Hard to take that out of context.