pretty much. I think at best Stern is 50/50, but there's a lot of shady there. People always say "but but but the game was on tape delay before Stern took over". Yes, I'm sure Magic, Bird, MJ and the rise of cable, satellite and internet had nothing to do with the explosion of the game. Of course the game was on tape delay, channels and time were limited so naturally basketball would get the Soul Train treatment.
Under Stern you saw the sport blow up, but you also saw MJ protected from his gamblings, PEDs laughed at, numerous bailouts for the Lakers, plus officiating so bad that Tim Donaghy was making good money from the mob yet he still got a B+ with the league.
It's a very mixed grade personally. I think only Roger Goodell has made me appreciate Stern in hindsight.
btw, I actually thought the dress code was a great idea and necessary. You can't appeal to a white audience when blacks in the game were dressing like they walked out of Attica.
Completely stupid. Do people stop going to the zoo because the animals are not dressed properly? No. You know what kind of entertainment you're watching. The truth is he did that to clamp down on the bling, which, granted, was getting out of control (and he could've just banned that). But no, you gotta dress everybody like lawyers. Ridiculous. Nobody is buying that because Abaka wears a suit he didn't come from the jungles of Congo.
I would respect Abaka more if he had a set of spears in his locker during the postgame interviews.
We'll just have to agree to disagree, sort of like you thinking Manu's Finals performance was average. I think it was a smart move to class up the game. Now if Stern accidentally created the blipster movement, then yeah I guess it was a terrible idea in retrospect.
That's fine. Ultimately, Twitter and co made it largely irrelevant, because now you get pictures of the players wearing whatever and he can't stop that, since there's money to be made there ($$$)
yup, he really took the NBA to a new level when it came to making money. he was mad ******ish though, ran the league like a mafia though.
Sacramento Kings say hi.
What a in abortion for one of Stern's last offerings.
I'm going to miss Stern bullying NBA players. Silver has big shoes to fill.
The Fisher shot mostly.like irishock said, have you guys taken a look at the other commissioners in pro sports?..
Gary Bettman and Selig are cowards, and Goodell's flaws are well-known..
What exactly do fans hate about Stern, btw?..
What was wrong with it?
It wasn't waved off
His last decree before stepping down and setting up for retirement is to #boldwm imo tbh fwiw.
I wouldn't say Bettman is a coward, he is just completely incompetent at his job.... three lockouts under his watch says it all....
Gary Bettman and Selig are cowards, and Goodell's flaws are well-known..
What exactly do fans hate about Stern, btw?..
Selig is a piece of for how he screwed over the Expos....
Stern was amazing for the sport tbh. Not for certain teams, but for the sport as a whole--definitely.
1. Jordan's gambling suspension. Saved the league with this, created a legend with the folks who say "lol Jordan coulda 8peated!!"
2. Rigged series. Rigged lottos. Only made the game bigger tbh.
3. Not going after steroid users. I don't know how the Stern has managed to make the media think that people in the NBA aren't roiding/HGHing out. They're pro athletes
Spurs fans are stupid for not loving Stern. Without Stern being a hardass in the 99 lockout Duncan would have been pulling the same kind of contract that absolutely crippled Minnesota with Garnett. Without the luxury tax the Spurs would have surely gotten priced out of their own free agents and never been able to keep Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili together. He has presided over a league where small markets like San Antonio, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, and Indiana had or have real shots at les (though 2002 Game 6 was obviously a sham, but I blame that one Bavetta). With the way salaries were blowing up in the 90s (Ewing pulling $18 million per in late 90s dollars?
^
Lol bird, aids and dad killer saved Stern 's ass
Comrade baselinebum speaks the golden truth imho. Stern offers equal chances to all teams of the league despite being big or small. There're just a few teams (like cavs) who will never find their way to the winning mode which, imho, is hardly the fault of Mr. Stern.
#StayStern
As others have stated, the Spurs exist and prosper only through the grace of the David Stern era.
Like I said, on the business side, there's no reproach.Spurs fans are stupid for not loving Stern. Without Stern being a hardass in the 99 lockout Duncan would have been pulling the same kind of contract that absolutely crippled Minnesota with Garnett. Without the luxury tax the Spurs would have surely gotten priced out of their own free agents and never been able to keep Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili together. He has presided over a league where small markets like San Antonio, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, and Indiana had or have real shots at les (though 2002 Game 6 was obviously a sham, but I blame that one Bavetta). With the way salaries were blowing up in the 90s (Ewing pulling $18 million per in late 90s dollars?
It's the "I know where the bodies are buried" stuff that's just disgusting, IMO.
My Mavs winning in 2011 was probably the biggest you by an NBA team to Stern in his entire reign. I love that. But he can still off in my opinion.
He's earned the right to take the 5th on that last part. The sport is thriving because of him. At the end of the day if your good deeds outweigh the bad ones you win. Besides, we've all done ty things in our lives that we're not proud of.
or the "I prefer a Lakers-Lakers final". I agree with Bill Simmons that it's a very complicated picture, lots of good and bad during his reign. Stern could almost get the Robert Caro treatment, well maybe not that detailed but more than just a simple "he's been great" analysis.
At the end of the day, you can't escape he was running primarily an entertainment business, so I have no problem stating he was great at his job. Nobody can take that away from him.
We'll see what Silver looks like, but I'm sure he'll have Stern on speed dial if the need arises.
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