I'm glad Stern is almost gone. He has sucked as a commish for a couple of decades as far as I'm concerned. Strike his name from all the records and all the books and anything else associated with the NBA. Never again speak his name or acknowledge his existence. So let it be written, so let it be done!
you can't be an nba fan and hate on stern. he has done so much for the nba and has transcended the game.
Eh, yes and no. With all the money at stake, if the NBA didn't have Stern they'd probably get some other highly competent chief executive to lead them to the status they enjoy today. Maybe they'd be a little better off or a little worse off. But, the league still did grow phenomenally and Stern was the leader, so you have to give him the credit. If you put some hack in his place, they wouldn't be where they are today. There are some things he's done that I feel were unethical (basketball reasons and blackmailing cities for stadiums come to mind) but I don't have particularly high expectations for moral behavior from for-profit organizations -- high standards, but low expectations. So, he didn't distinguish himself on ethical behavior but did distinguish himself on financial success.
**** him I hope hell swallows him whole for all eternity for that travesty that he did to the Kings in 2002. The Hitler of sports.
Yeah, but he is an easy target for dumb asses that like to think about a playoff series that happened 12 years ago
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10379016/david-stern-years Good night, sweet prince <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FiOcVWQY2bc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>It’s official: Adam Silver succeeds David Stern as <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NBA&src=hash">#NBA</a> Commissioner <a href="http://t.co/B2tuuZVZv9">pic.twitter.com/B2tuuZVZv9</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/statuses/429630549935005696">February 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Luv u stern, I just have to say "basketball reasons" and every laker fan gets upset Goodbye Stern mafia
To me, if I was a basketball owner, that was one of his crowning achievements.As fans we don't really care, but from a business stand point, him making the NBA game an entertainment experience because at the end of the day, that's the competition.
Stern did a lot for the NBA despite acting like a Mafia leader guys. Suck it up. Btw, Adam Silver looks like a tall version of Dobby.
I always think of how Stern receives way too much credit for "advancing the game". I'm sry but wasn't the nfl in nearly the exact same situation?
What is he knows for is something different but what he will be remembered for is his global expansion of the NBA and it's brands. No matter how much you hate the guy he did well for the sport and the league. 5-10 Yrs from now no one will remember "basketball reasons" or anything else, IMO.
The NFL has always had more leverage over its players given the roster size, expansive upstream talent pool and frequency of injury, although Goodell has an easier job because the individual owners on average are more professionally and commercially competent than those in the MLB, where the infrastructure is old enough to not have to do anything; or the NBA, which was basically a carnival business model. Without Stern and the salary cap, the NBA would have become competitively inequitable and fiscally inefficient like MLB or paralyzed with labor shortages like the NHL, and the resulting inability to get consistent TV contracts and promote its stars would have made it as demographically and commercially narrow as the latter.
Bird and Magic are responsible for the resurgence in fan interest and Jordan carried that torch And if by Globalization of the NBA, you mean the falling of the Soviet Union which allowed players to come here was due to Stern, then I guess he's bigger than the President. Should we give Stern credit for the Dream Team too
The Bird exception was a key component of that and reflected the league's flexibility and insight with regards to long-term promotional interests rather than bargaining precedent. Whatever their missteps down the road they transcended the functional conflict between labor and management for the sake of long-term mutual benefit.
Are you saying Stern hatched and negotiated the Bird Exception? The Celtics and Bird's agent did that. Besides, the Bird Exception came before Stern was Commissioner.
