In the early 1980s, the National Basketball Association (NBA) was in financial trouble and had a serious drug problem amongst its players. Then along came this basketball-loving attorney who helped to transform the league into the wealthy, global powerhouse that it is today. As all across the nation and the globe were celebrating a new year, the NBA was saying goodbye to a man that was at the forefront of its transformation for three decades.
On Wednesday, NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern, who headed the league from 1984-2014 passed away. He was 77 years old and is survived by his wife of 56 years, Dianne and sons Eric, a political operative and Andrew, real estate developer.
“The entire basketball community is heartbroken,” the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) said in a statement on Thursday. “David Stern earned and deserved inclusion in our land of giants.”
The Teaneck, NJ native, who attended first Rutgers University and then University of Columbia Law School was in serious condition following surgery for a brain hemorrhage he suffered on Dec. 12, 2019. Mr. Stern remained hospitalized since Dec. 17, 2019.
To honor Commissioner Stern, the players and referees will wear commemorative black bands on their uniforms for the remainder of the season.
Of the four arenas that had NBA games on Wednesday night, from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.; Madison Square Garden in New York, NY; Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Wisconsin; and Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA a moment of silence was held before tip-off in memory of NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern. After the games, many of the star players of those squads expressed their thoughts on what Mr. Stern did for the league and their lives. They especially the moment when they shook his hand when for the first time on their respective draft night.
“Growing up as a basketball player, your biggest dream is shaking the Commissioner’s hand, and you know he’s somebody who not only helped change our game and evolve it, you know, not just in the states but, you know, around the world globally. He’s incorporated the G-League, the WNBA. He’s been a true pioneer to basketball,” Washington Wizards (10-24) All-Star Bradley Beal said after the team’s 122-101 loss versus the Orlando Magic (16-19) on Wednesday.
Phoenix Suns’ (13-21) head coach Monty Williams said of Stern after the team’s 117-107 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers that he “built the NBA. I mean, what else can you say? I mean, he literally built the NBA.”
Four-time Kia MVP of Lakers LeBron James said after the Lakers (27-7) win that Stern and Dr. James Naismith “are the two most important people in basketball.”
“Obviously, Dr. Naismith because he created the game and David-his vision to make this game global. Don’t now how many people believe that with him or thought it was something that couldn’t be done. But he made this game global.”
Mr. Stern began working for the NBA in 1966 working for its general counsel until 1978, with the idea that he could always return to his prior profession as an attorney if things did not work out with the NBA in a couple of years. He never went back to his former career as an attorney as he would become the NBA’s Commissioner six years later, replacing the man who the NBA championship trophy is named after Larry O’Brien.
“For 22 years, I had a courtside seat to watch David in action,” current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who served as the Deputy Commissioner and replaced Stern in 2014 said in a statement on Wednesday.
“He was a mentor and one of my dearest friends. We spent countless hours in the office, at arenas and on the planes wherever the game would take us. Like every NBA legend, David had extraordinary talents, but with him it was always about the fundamentals-preparation, attention to detail, and hard work.”
Those fundamentals and attention to details are what made him both a powerful and at times controversial figure. But it is also what made him have longevity as the longest tenured head man of the NBA for three decades and under his leadership the league as a whole grew not just on the revenue side for both the players and owners, but also in popularity and when it came to social and justice issues.
Those aspiration is how the league went from being a 23-team league to a 30-team league with the additions in the late 1980s, 1990s and late 2000s of the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, who started in Vancouver, Canada, Charlotte Hornets, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The average salary of the players, according to the league increased from $280,000 to more than $5 million, while also increasing the annual television deal from $28.5 million to $937 million, and the league revenue from $165 million to $5.5 billion.
An average attendance that went from 11,141 to 17,748. The number of international players in “The Association” growing from 10 in 1984 to 92 in 2014. To put all of this in context, in 1980, the year Stern was appointed to the role of executive vice president 16 of the 23 teams lost money and the capacity of the arenas were only 58 percent filled on average, according to Sports Illustrated.
Mr. Stern became a mini celebrity with the invention of the draft lottery, which he decided to have televised and appointed himself the master of ceremonies in the glorified drawing of straws for the first 15 picks for that June, beginning in 1985.
Commissioner Stern when he came into the league ago came up with a big money-making made-for-television idea turning the NBA All-Star game which was a major flop with the fans and the players transformed it into a weekend event by adding the slam dunk, which was created by Stern’s lieutenant Rick Welts and three-point contests, which occurred on Saturday night, with the game to follow on Sunday.
It was those two great moves that gave us matchups of two of the best athletes back in the 1980s between two of the great athletes of the sports in Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins.
“Today I lost a friend and mentor,” Wilkins, who is a television color analyst for the Hawks on FOX Sports South tweeted on Thursday. “They say it takes 3 generations for you to create a true legacy, David Stern did it in one.”
In the middle of the 1990s, a showcase between the exceptional rookies of that season and the second-year players where they played against one another. Today the contest which for the past few years has kicked off All-Star weekend in displaying the international flavor in the league has the rookies and players from the U.S.A. against rookies and sophomores in the league from across the globe.
Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who led the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 talked about on NBATV’s “Gametime” back in the middle of December that Sports Illustrated had on a cover of one of its issues back in 1981 or 1982 that asked the question, “Will White America Accept or Come to An Arena To Watch African Americans Play Basketball And Will Corporate America Support It?”
David Stern made that bet and Corporate America, which consists of most of Caucasian America at the top positions and they came in droves thanks to Mr. Stern’s marketing genius and his understanding how to present it and they accepted it after a long time of saying no. Television soon followed, which is how the NBA on TNT came into being, followed by NBA on NBC from 1991-2002 and now the NBA on ESPN/ABC alongside the NBA on TNT.
“David took over the NBA in 1984 with the league at a crossroads. But over the course of 30 years as Commissioner, he ushered in the modern global NBA,” Commissioner Silver also stated on Wednesday. “He launched groundbreaking media and marketing partnerships, digital assets and social responsibility programs that have brought the game to billions of people around the world. Because of David, the NBA is a truly global brand—marketing him not only one of the greatest sports commissioners of all-time but also one of the most influential business leaders of his generation. Every member of the NBA family is the beneficiary of David’s vision, generosity and inspiration."
Thomas echoed those same sentiments saying Commissioner Stern was the “pioneer” of the movement to get the NBA to where it is today and if not for him and his vision and the commitment he made to make that vision a reality neither he or the likes of Steve Smith, Greg Anthony, Caron Butler, or any of the other analysts that played and coached in the NBA would be talking and analyzing the game for NBATV and NBA on TNT today.
The All-Star weekend was also a time to celebrate the past greats like Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson to name a few that put the players like Jordan, “Magic” Johnson and Bird and those that came after them in position to reap the rewards of the vision of Mr. Stern that has continued under Commissioner Silver.
“I can not put into words what the friendship of David Stern has mean to me but many others,” Mr. Russell tweeted @RealBillRussell. “He changed so many lives. David was a great innovator and made the game we love what it is today. This is a horrible loss. Our hearts are with Dianne and their family. RIP my friend.”
A big part of the growth of players from other countries that are represented in the NBA, including Canada is because of the 1992 Gold Medal Dream Team, where the team itself led by the late great two-time head coach of the Detroit Pistons Chuck Daly and his assistant coaches in fellow Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkens and Duke University Blue Devils Men’s Basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and former NBA head coach with the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooklyn Nets P.J. Carlesimo and Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley and Christian Laettner.
Initially, Stern wanted no part of the Olympics, but after seeing the direction the U.S. national team was headed after a Third-Place finish in the 1988 Olympics, he jumped in head-on, with the team that was put together as previously mentioned and they won Gold in Barcelona, Italy and global interests soared and gave those in other countries the dream of one day playing in the NBA and many of them achieved, are achieving, or hoping to make that dream a reality.
In 1984, there were only 10 international players, representing nine different countries in the NBA. That number in 2014 rose to 92 different players in 39 different countries. Today, there are 108 international players in the NBA from 38 different countries.
One of the major international players that came into the league occurred a decade after the original “Dream Team” won gold in Barcelona, the Houston Rockets selected eventual Hall of Famer Yao Ming with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft, which many consider a milestone that had the kind of magnitude as the rivalry between “Magic” Johnson and Bird back in the 1980s when the Lakers and Boston Celtics were competing for the NBA title three times as well as the rise of Jordan.
That led to the likes of Toni Kukoc, who won three championships with the Chicago Bulls in the middle of the 1990s; Arvydas Sabonis, all be it at the tail end of his career, reigning Kia Most Improved Player for the Toronto Raptors Pascal Siakam, reigning Kia Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and reigning Kia MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo the dream of playing in the NBA and they came and made or are making their mark.
“When he said my name, I didn’t know much. But once he said my name, you know, my life changed,” Antetokounmpo said when he got drafted five years ago after the Bucks (31-5) 106-104 win versus the Minnesota Timberwolves (13-21). “My family’s life changed and he made a lot of people a lot of money and changed a lot of people’s lives.”
He added, “He gave to guys like me, Luka, Toni Kukoc, Pau Gasol and other international players. Gave us a chance and the game is going to miss him. You cannot talk about the NBA without talking about David Stern.”
The other thing that Mr. Stern also did more than anything in revolutionizing the sport he oversaw was putting an emphasis on star players and bringing their personalities, some that were very colorful to the forefront.
While the legendary play of the likes of “Magic” Johnson, Bird, Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James were very important in the rise of the league in its popularity, Stern wanted their faces and stories on how they got to the NBA to be front and center as well.
When “Magic” Johnson retired for the first time in 1991 after being diagnosed with HIV, right there at his press conference was Stern to lend his support. When he played in the 1992 All-Star Game and won MVP honors with 25 points and nine assists, it was Stern who welcomed him back into the league with open arms, literally as he hugged him to put the breaks on the stigma that you can catch the disease by touching the person with it.
“David Stern was such a history maker. When I announced in 1991, I had HIV, people thought they could get the virus from shaking my hand. When David allowed me to play in the 1992 All-Star Game in Orlando and then play for the Olympic Dream Team, we were able to change the world,” Johnson tweeted @MagicJohnson.
He added, “Cookie and I are devastated to hear about the passing of my longtime friend and former NBA Commissioner David Stern. A great man, husband, father, friend, businessman, and visionary.”
Jordan, the owner of the Hornets said to “The Athletic” about Stern, “Without David Stern, the NBA would not be what it is today. He guided the league through turbulent times and grew the league into an international phenomenon, creating opportunities that few could have imagined before.”
Bird concurred by saying, “There are no words that can really describe the far-reaching impact of Commissioner Stern’s brilliance, vision, fairness and hard work over so many years…”
“There was no doubt Commissioner Stern lifted the NBA to new heights and he will be greatly missed by all of us.”
Barkley, the 1993 Kia MVP, who has said on many occasions how he had to face the music from Stern in his New York office when he screwed up from time-to-time during his playing career from 1984-2000 said, “When you screw up, he let you know about it. But always at the end after he kicked you out of his office, he gave you a hug and said, ‘Son you made a mistake. We’re gonna get passed it.’ And I’ll never forget that.”
“The last time I saw him was at the Hall of Fame, and every time I saw him once since he retired I told him, ‘I can’t thank him enough for being a father figure to these guys because you talk to all the people at TNT and ESPN when it came to screwing up, whether you we’re a player or an executive he let you know about it. And we all are fortunate. We all have had great lives because of David Stern…The world lost a legend today.”
The other important thing that Commissioner Stern wanted to make sure his league had front and center was diversity both on the court and off of it in the front offices of the league and the organizations that were a part of it.
The NBA was the first of the four major pro sports (NHL, MLB, and NFL) to have African Americans in front office positions of owners, general managers, coaches-especially head coach, while also being very adamant about his league taking the lead in dealing with issues of diversity and social justice.
The NBA put its money where it’s mouth and ambition is when it came to diversity by hiring full-time women officials and played a major role in helping the launch the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 1996 and put its marketing muscle behind it.
Before, women who wanted to continue playing the game had to go overseas overseas following their collegiate careers, without an opportunity to play in the U.S. in front of their family and friends and to grow a league.
That opportunity came in 1997 and Hall of Famers like Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, and Sheryl Swoopes took that chance and ran with it, which allowed the likes of some of the greats of today and future Hall of Famers and fellow WNBA champions in Seattle Storm perennial All-Star guard Sue Bird and Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks to have that dream and they ran with it as well, even though they still have to play overseas in the offseason.
“I think what David Stern has done for a lot of women has given them the opportunity and brought women’s sports to the fore front,” Parker, who is a studio analyst for NBATV/NBA on TNT and co-host of the “Ledlow and Parker” podcast with sideline reporter for TNT Kristen Ledlow said on Thursday. “And a lot of things that leveling the playing field. Becoming partners, having a partnership, brotherhood between the NBA and WNBA. Just like David Stern made it a partnership between the owners and the players, he does the same with the WNBA and the NBA, and his impact is still being felt today, and its continuing.”
“I mean, what he’s done for basketball as an entirety is so special and we definitely have to remember him and thank him for all that he’s done.”
That diversity and respect for it has not just be present on the court in terms of women’s pro basketball and in terms of having female refs, like Violet Palmer and Dee Kanter, who were hired as full-time officials 23 years ago.
Back in 1992 when Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning was a rookie with the Hornets tried to intimidate longtime league columnist Ailene Voisin into leaving the locker room and cursed at her when she did not, Stern tracked her down on the phone the next day-which was not easy as this was in the era before cell phones-and apologized to her on the NBA’s behalf. That was then followed by an apology by phone from both Mourning and then Hornets GM Dave Twardzik.
Commissioner Stern, who was famous for ripping reporters front and center during a news conference, if you were a woman, he always had your back.
A perfect example of this was back in 1992 when now Newsday reporter Barbara Barker was nervous to ask Stern a question, she ran into him in the hallway outside the media room of the Orlando Arena and ask her how the Knicks were treating her and she said there were no issues.
Mr. Stern said to Barker, “If that ever changes, give me a call,” he said to her. “He will be missed,” Barker added.
While the NBA thrived under Commissioner Stern’s leadership, there were some tough moments the league had to get through under his watch.
Stern introduced the league’s first anti-drug testing policy and salary cap and back in 2004 introduced a dress code in a move to distance the NBA from the hip-hop culture, even though GQ magazine recently gave credit to “The Association” for making their players the leaders of fashion and style they are today.
There were four league lockouts of the players under Stern, which shortened the 1998-99 and 2011-12 seasons.
Then there was the infamous brawl between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons on Nov. 19, 2004 where nine players, including then Pacers in Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O’Neal and Ron Artest, and Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace of the Pistons were suspended a total of 146 games after the brawl broke out and the likes of Jackson and Artest went into the stands.
That awful moment put into clear focus the known disconnect between the players and fans.
Then there was the imprisonment of veteran referee Tim Donaghy for 15 months by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on charges of gambling.
That resulted though in the revisioning of the guidelines on the behavior of NBA officials during the 2007 NBA Board of Governors meeting, where there was a revision of the gambling rules that allowed NBA refs to engage in several forms of gambling, though they cannot make any sports bets.
While those moments were tough, Stern understood that in order for the league to get to the point it eventually got to, the product on the floor had to be one of true exceptionalism where the players can be looked at by both fans, like young kids and their caretakers (parents) as something they can aspire to be and even better both as an athlete and as a role model.
That was not just for the players, the representatives of the teams, but even the press to where the likes of Stephen A. Smith, commentator on ESPN’s “First Take” was even called into his office and undressed him that he said could not even be repeated over Federal Communication’s Commission airwaves.
Smith said to Scott Van Pelt on the Thursday edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter” that at first he was going to let you know that he respected your knowledge but that he was very knowledgeable himself and above all “compassionate” and hell bent on elevating “The Association” more than any player or executive.
“Sometimes it comes down to your sole being in the right place,” Stephen A. Smith, commentator on ESPN’s “First Take” said of Stern. “He was a disciplinarian. He was strict. He was in your face. He was unapologetic about it. But you knew what he knew was talking about and more importantly, you always knew he had the league’s best interest at heart.”
“He always seemed to understand and made sure to disseminate the message to the players, ‘This is our league. This is not my league. This is not the owner’s league. This is our league and we’re all invested in it.’”
It also showed that Mr. Stern was one person you did not cross or disrespect. He was someone who could be intimidating, demanding and imperious, but he was also charming, and refreshingly blunt and honest.
When the New York Knicks, the team that Stern rooted for growing up and won the rights to draft Ewing No. 1 overall in the first draft lottery 35 years ago lost a court battle about sexual harassment in their front office, Stern said, “It demonstrates that there not a model of intelligent management.”
One good thing that did happen for the Knicks (10-24), who have not had to many good moments over the last two decades, Madison Square Garden was packed and there major excitement for the game as former Knick Carmelo Anthony made his return to MSG as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers (14-21), who lost at the Knicks 117-93 on Wednesday night.
“People all over the world is watching NBA basketball and people all over the world are fans of mine and other NBA players is because of the foundation that David Stern laid, and the hard work he put into it, and the vision,” Anthony said after the game. “The vision. I think his vision don’t get enough credit.”
On Wednesday, the National Basketball Association (NBA) said goodbye to the leader who helped turn them from a league that was on the brink of bankruptcy and irrelevance, and serious drug problems by the players during the dark time of the 1970s and early 1980s. Was beset by drug problems and The Finals were on tape delay.
Today, the NBA is a lucrative, well-represented, exceptional, and diverse business where its stars are wealthy and well-known and that people see aspirational and wonderful.
As much as the likes of Larry Bird, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have a lot to do with that success, it was Commissioner David Stern and his marketing savvy and commitment to making things happen is what allowed the NBA to thrive and be in the position that it is today.
He did a lot for the league and all those that are a part of it and that is why many past greats of the game and present took their time to pay their respects to the man that played a big role in changing their lives both past and present.
“RIP Mr. David Stern. The best commissioner to ever do it,” Hall of Famer, four-time NBA champion and NBATV/NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal.
“The WNBA will be forever grateful to his exemplary leadership and vision that led to the founding of our league,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said of Commissioner Stern. “His steadfast commitment to women’s sports was ahead of its time and has provided countless opportunities for women and young girls who aspire to play basketball.”
“Very sad day for basketball,” Hall of Famer and six-time NBA champion with the Bulls in 1990s Scottie Pippen tweeted @ScottiePippen. “We saw David Stern a lot in the 90s and I found him to be kind, thoughtful and almost always the smartest person in the room. He was an innovator who helped grow our sport into a global game and his impact will never be forgotten. RIP, Commissioner.”
“RIP David Stern, a trail blazer in making the NBA truly a global sport,” 2017 Kia Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers tweeted @BenSimmons25. “We can’t thank you enough. Condolences to the Stern Family.”
Miami Heat President and Hall of Fame head coach Pat Riley said of Commissioner Stern, “David Stern was the best professional sports commissioner ever.”
“What David did for the game of basketball was unparalleled. Everyone involved in the game during his tenure benefited in a massive way…I personally was one of them. The Miami Heat mourn with great empathy for Dianne and the Stern family. Today is a very sad day in the NBA.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 12/18/19 2 a.m. NBATV’ “Gametime,” with Casey Stern, Isiah Thomas, Grant Hill, and Candace Parker; 1/1/2020 4 p.m. edition of WABC 7 “Eyewitness News First at 4,” with David Navarro, Liz Cho, Lee Goldberg with weather, report from sports anchor Sam Ryan; 1/1/2020 11 p.m. edition of “Chasing News” on WWOR-TV My 9 with Bill Spadea; 1/2/2020 12:30 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sports Center with Scott Van Pelt;” 1/2/2020 2 a.m. edition ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Linda Cohn and Stan Verrett; 1/2/2020 2 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia with Jared Greenberg, Dennis Scott and Sam Mitchell; 1/2/2020 Newsday stories “Stern Ahead of His Time And On Top of His Game” and “No Commissioner was Better,” by Barbara Barker; 1/2/2020 New York Daily News story, “Stern: Father of Today’s NBA,” by Dennis Young; 1/2/2020 New York Daily News Stories by “NBA’s Leader was True Visionary,” by George Willis and “Impactful Former Commissioner Dead at 77,” by Brian Mahoney of “The Associated Press;” https://www.nba.com/games/20200101/PHXLAL#/recap; 1/3/2020 5 p.m. ESPN news crawl; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_men%27s_Olympic_basketball_team; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacers-Pistons_brawl; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Donaghy#Sentencing; and https://www.espn.com/nba/standings.
No comments:
Post a Comment