Apologies if this article was previously discussed. I'll add an aside that Yahoo! Sports is actually the only sports media outlet with complete journalistic integrity. They basically break all of the stories. What you're about to read is shockingly direct, IMO: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--d...promote-the-myth-of-david-stern-25321709.html (nb: not behind a paywall, so freely quoting per Fair Use) David Stern's final act as NBA commissioner: Promote the myth of David Stern The biggest ego in the history of the sport, the emperor of the NBA gets everything he ever wanted now: 15 months of farewells and bows; a tidy 30 years to fit onto his Hall of Fame plaque; and a chance to repair and repackage a legacy that NBA commissioner David Stern had slowly, surely lost the power to manipulate. For all the public proclamations, here's been the overwhelming league response to Stern's decision to leave the job on Feb. 1, 2014: a long, exasperated sigh, and a wish that his successor, Adam Silver, would be taking over sooner. Stern still has work to do; promoting the work of David Stern. Here comes his victory tour, the tender one-on-one sitdowns, the testimonials, basketball's favorite fable and bedtime story about how Stern made Magic and Bird in the 1980s, Jordan in the '90s, about how no one else ever would've landed big, fat television deals for people to watch them play basketball. Stern has been an excellent, opportunistic businessman. He did not inspire those under him, but ruled them with fear. He's shown a good heart, too, advocated social change for greater goods. Through it all, Stern reveled in the intimidation of league office employees, referees, general managers, coaches and players. Most thought that's why Stern would stay on the job forever, because he seemed to get such pleasure out of it. These 15 months aren't about Silver's transition into the commissioner's job, but Stern's elevation into the sport's almighty. Why now? After the world found out how Stern controls whose voice will be heard on his state-run television, he changed the conversation from people ridiculing his petty, self-centered management style to people exulting his vision. .... (much, much more)
Thank god. This fairwell tour is going to be disgusting. Stern is a smug snake. Hopefully the pr propaganda machine won't brainwash ppl into thinking otherwise.
Stern did more to advance black people in this society than any white man had done since Lincoln. That said, he can take his basketball reasons and shove them up his asterisk.
Yep, and the icing on the cake is his Black replacement. Oh wait, my bad, his replacement is the same ethnicity as he is.
Do you guys really think that David Stern is sitting there in his office saying, "Let's see how we can screw the Rockets over today..."? Get over it. I, for one, am glad we don't have Pau Gasol. I'd much rather build around a much younger James Harden than try to squeeze a couple more productive years out of Gasol...a player that had no interest in being a Rocket.
I never wanted Gasol and I think he's soft as Charmin, but the prospect of us having got Nene with it for the frontcourt was what was pretty alluring.
I have never been one to proclaim "Stern is intentionally screwing over the Rockets". I DO, however, believe that he has taken credit for things that he had nothing to do with and has choreographed the NBA into looking like his own little country that he oversees. I felt as if Woj was writing a political article on a dictator. Very very well done
Woj is GREAT. His articles are spot on, but the rest of Yahoo journalism is just a flat out joke. Their articles are the most gimme attention because I'm begging for it type of crap. Is Adam Silver really jewish?
Beaner, mate, you're way off base here. Charles Robinson, to name one, has broken more stories than all of ESPN combined. In fact, ESPN waits for Yahoo! to break the story then plagiarizes them by claiming "their sources tell them" the same thing. Across the board the Yahoo! guys can only draw attention to themselves by breaking stories. The ESPN guys are paid shills for the leagues they cover and they actually work to cover up the stories.
