[Yahoo Sports] David Stern elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame

I agree with Bomani Jones' article from a few weeks ago. Stern didn't revolutionize anything, he simply took control at a time when he had a dominant rivalry that sucked the entire nation in (Magic-Bird), followed by one of the most transcendent athletes (MJ), then was there for the internet and the fall of communism (as heyp mentioned).

What Stern did do was make basketball palatable to white suburbanites. He whitewashed the league to make it acceptable to a wider demographic, and more importantly, investors.

 

To an extent - this is true.

I mean give Stern some credit for connecting to internet savvy fans with content wayyyy before any of the other major sports did. Certainly he did more to advance the sport quickly in the internet age than the NFL & MLB combined. That being said, I wouldn't say he really did anything to help the sport of basketball even though basketball players benefited financially from Stern's mission to put the NBA brand on the map for sponsors & execs. To me Stern was a very savvy business man who turned a sport into a marketable brand and made a lot of people a lot of money in the process. There were just very few good "basketball decisions" he made during his time and his leadership became more and more questionable over the years. I can't stand the guy, but I also can't deny his huge role in the sport of basketball being what it is today compared to when he took over. He deserves to be elected...but he's still an a-hole.

 

David Stern did a lot for the NBA to get it to where it is now, big money,

 

Stern came at a time when the league was plagued by a poor reputation that arose from drug issues (Rockets fans should know that painfully) that was capped with Len Bias's death.

Granted Jordan helped a lot, but he deserves credit for several moves outside the explosive growth of American sports in general, such as making the league a global brand, spearheading the creation of the WNBA (BB HOF worthy), and changing the image of basketball to where it is today (love it or hate it).

Whether you despise the guy or not. Give credit where it's due as one of the longest lasting commissioners of American pro sports.

 

I'm not against Stern being inducted. But this statement is not correct.

Stern came into an era of NBA revitalization in fan interest due to Magic and Bird renewing the Celtic/Laker rivalry, and Dr J and Moses in Philadelphia.

 

Can't stand the guy, but I guess he deserves it.

 

This is a very good point, and I'm willing to give him credit for bringing the league far beyond that particular point in time. This, combined with monetary success during the length of his tenure, makes him HOF eligible, in my opinion.

Again a good point; although international superstars helped with this, and another example is the NHL, which doesn't equal the NBA in American popularity, but is a global brand thanks to the nature of the sport and proliferation of technology alone.

I don't see how this is HOF worthy, unless it's for some sort of socio-political empowerment reasons.

This is very vague. In my opinion, the image of basketball today is one where people follow a few superpowers, and the rest of the athletes / teams are left to pick up the scraps. It's an eternal debate about whether this is just good for marketing, or is good for the integrity of the game.

 

Records and 'chips, if u aren't in the top 10 of the former or have one of the latter, the HoF should not be in your future.