Video: Victor Oladipo Wears Google Glass to NBA Draft
For Victor Oladipo, the future’s not so bright that he’s got to wear shades. Nope. Too lowbrow.
The former Indiana University basketball star is not just a freshly anointed Orlando Magic draftee and the NBA’s No. 2 pick overall this year. He’s also a trend-setter. Oladipo wore Google Glass for three days, including NBA Draft day, to document his experience visually for The Verge. For us commoners, the viewing experience makes for an intriguing look into all the glad-handing and polish that goes into an event such as that big-money draft. See it here in full.
Oladipo’s experience was not without its hiccups. An NBA handler approached him in the Draft’s green room to inform that he had to take off the eye-gear before the main televised event. Elsewhere, Oladipo accosted fellow IU standout Cody Zeller on the bus en route to the draft, to which Zeller said, “What is that?”
This can be seen either as a gimmick or as the inventive breakthrough that it truly is. It’s worth noting that American tennis player Bethanie Mattek-Sands also wore Glass this week as she mounted her Wimbledon campaign.
AWK-WORDS
This was either the best or worst exchange among all the press conferences.
REPORTER: Why didn’t you draft [Kansas guard] Ben McLemore?
ROB HENNIGAN, Magic general manager: Because we took Victor Oladipo. (pause) We liked Victor better.
(Video of that here.)
STYLE POINTS
Here are Draft-night looks at Oladipo’s IU teammate Cody Zeller and Mason Plumlee, the evening’s No. 22 pick out of Duke who went to the New Jersey Nets. (Plumlee originally hailed from Warsaw, Indiana, two hours north of Indianapolis, before his father pulled him and brother Miles, now with the Indiana Pacers, out of Warsaw’s system and inserted them in a North Carolina prep school.)
The verdict? The victor? Well, just that: Victor. Oladipo again wins the night with his purple shirt and gray-checked suit, replete with matching vest. And, of course, Google glass to accessorize. Because, when you’re about to make scads and oodles of dollars, why not?
