Great ESPN article on David Stern's failure to help the NBA reach full potential

[no pun intended]

No other powerful public figure in the history of American media has controlled his narrative as effectively as David Stern. That's why, on Saturday, on the 30-year anniversary of his reign as commissioner of the NBA, Stern will step aside to a chorus of media cheers hailing him as the equal of Pete Rozelle.

This orchestrated, vanity-driven, midseason exit speaks to Stern's writing of his own narrative. Who plans to retire midseason? Yes, I'm sure Stern's exit is ceremonial and his successor, Adam Silver, has been running the league this season. But who plans a ceremonial departure? A self-important dictator.

Stern was a bully. He convinced everyone, employees and reporters who covered his league, that he was the smartest, most dangerous man in the room. His profanity-laced tantrums were legendary and effective. His ability to make his enemies uncomfortable was real.

Rozelle's equal? No. Rozelle launched the NFL past Major League Baseball. Rozelle swallowed and/or buried the leagues created to challenge the NFL. Rozelle made a game the overwhelming majority of people never play and don't understand part of Americana.

Stern gets credit for babysitting black kids and making them somewhat palatable to a small percentage of white corporate America.

That's not controversial hyperbole. The Stern narrative begins with his biographers explaining that Stern took over a league filled with black players of unsavory reputation. The NBA allegedly had a cocaine problem that other sports leagues did not have. The players were high and lazy. TV networks wouldn't even televise the NBA Finals live. Stern allegedly cleaned all this up.

Actually, I've always felt that white sports writers just didn't like how black the NBA became in the 1970s, so they sold the myth that pro basketball players used more cocaine than baseball and football players.

Without enacting any transformative drug policy, Stern magically got NBA players to kick their coke habits and play a more family-friendly brand of ball? Or maybe David Stern became commissioner roughly four years into the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird era and the infusion of a transcendent white superstar and an exciting black foil made white sports writers quit pretending the NBA used more illicit drugs than the NFL.

My money is on the latter. Bird made coverage of the NBA less racist. Bird made the league more televisable. Unless Stern coached Bird at Indiana State, Stern was simply at the right place at the right time.

He took over the NBA just before Michael Jordan arrived and just when ESPN and the "SportsCenter" highlight package were gaining massive momentum across America. Did Stern launch ESPN? I'm unaware of his role. Did he develop Chris Berman and Dan Patrick?

I'm not calling Stern a failure or a fraud. I'm saying he was fortunate. I'm saying his reputation outweighs his real accomplishments.

The NBA has underachieved. In the past 30 years, the league has been home to the most transcendent, recognizable and interesting athletes since Muhammad Ali -- Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Tiger Woods and Mike Tyson are the only athletes who can compete with the quartet Stern was handed.

With the pervasive popularity of rap music and a black man sitting in the White House, there's no reason to pretend the NBA has been handicapped by the blackness of basketball. There's no reason to judge Stern on some sort of curve. He doesn't get extra credit points for running a league dominated by black players.

Basketball is America's sport. Every man, woman and child plays basketball at some point. People in wheelchairs play basketball. The game isn't expensive to play. You can play by yourself. It's accessible.

Basketball should be more popular. In my opinion, the NBA should rival the NFL. At the very least, no way should the NFL be five times more popular than the NBA. No way. Stern rode Bird, Magic and Jordan to an unprecedented level of relevance and success. The league has lost relevance since the end of that era. That's inexcusable for a league with LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and teams as likable as the Spurs, Pacers, Warriors, Thunder, etc.

Stern focused too much of the league's relevance on individual superstars at the expense of promoting teams, rivalries and championships. He has never understood the importance of the health of college basketball. College football fuels the popularity of pro football. It's just the opposite in basketball. College and NBA fans hate each other.

A great NBA commissioner during Stern's reign would've forced a conversation about ways to keep elite basketball players in college for three or four years. Stern should've been the outspoken champion of ending shamateur athletics. He should've worked tirelessly to figure out how to financially reward Kobe for attending Duke for four years.

The more popular and entertaining college basketball is, the more popular the NBA would be. If Stern was/is aware of this, I've never heard him say it publicly. What I've heard is his defenders blame the NBA players' association and its former executive director Billy Hunter for the league's inability to construct an agenda that moves all basketball forward.

That's a copout taken from the same script that credits Stern for cleaning up a drugged-out black league. Translation: "He's working with black guys, what do you expect? He's handicapped."

Stern did not have an easy job. He ruled a league filled with superfamous young people. That's extremely difficult. The average NBA player is far more famous (and delusional) than the average football or baseball player. The fame is a curse and a blessing.

The racial politics of the NBA also presented problems. When Stern appropriately told his Allen Iverson-influenced players to take off their white T's, pull up their sagging pants and dress like grown men coming to work, media idiots screamed racism.

Commissioner is a tough job. Stern earned an estimated $20 million a year. I expected more from him and his league. He bullied the wrong people for the wrong reason. Given the dysfunction and immorality in NCAA athletics, the NBA commissioner is the de facto leader of all of basketball.

I don't believe Stern healed the game of American basketball. I think he contributed to its division. You can go a million other places and read about all the great things Stern accomplished during his reign. He's been writing that narrative for 30 years. Enjoy.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10...ully-got-lucky

[Mr. Jabbar]

this has skip shock value all over it

one thing i agree for sure is he is an ego maniac

interesting approach on how focusing on hyping superstars rather than teams and rivalries ultimately cost the nba audience in the USA favoring the NFL, but this dude doesn't talk about the league internationally, it could be the opposite, far easier for ppl not from a city to start rooting for a hyped player rather than a team

ne1 got the gross numbers of both NFL and NBA in terms of billions worth?

[buddha]

I agreed with every point in the article.

[Mr. Jabbar]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogergro...-than-the-nfl/

this article basically says the future of both leagues (NBA, NFL) is expanding internationally, and NBA has the brighter future in doing so for 2 main reasons:

- cheaper costs: NFL strategy is to play games overseas (high costs) while NBA will just play in the US while using their stronger social media platforms (ppl follows NBA much more than NFL on online sites)

- showcasing international players: NFL is almost purely american players while NBA has been increasing foreigners steadily, hence it generates more interest from the countries these guys come from


its a good read

[houston]

this article is weak

[sundizz]

Either written for shock value, or the author has never held a true management position. Stern's direction (and/or whoever actually tells him what to do ) has made the NBA into a global game. Football may be the most popular sport in America, but no one outside America cares about it.

Basketball is a major sport in many many many countries. There is at least some % of the population of every country that truly LOVES the NBA. That's pretty amazing. Even ISH is representative of that. The NBA is an individual's game. One player has more impact in the NBA than in any other team sport. Of course the important should be placed on the individual.

Probably his biggest flaw actually been his ability to correlate the NBA, NBDL, WNBA and collegiate hoops. NBA continues to increase in popularity. Outside of the US not many people care about collegiate, WNBA etc though. Which is fine. He concentrated on the big boys and seems the trickle down effect is enough for the rest.

Globally I'd say it goes:
1. Football (soccer)
2. Baseball
3. Cricket
4. Tennis
5. Basketball
*Table tennis is not a sport, but could be top 5 if you consider it one I guess.

[Derka]

I don't even have to read that article. I see Jason Whitlock and I already know he pulled the race card a few times because that's what he does to generate traffic and interest in his main pursuit: Jason Whitlock.

Stern was absolutely an egomaniac but he saw the writing on the wall with guys like Bird, Magic and Jordan in his league...and he capitalized brilliantly on them and made the NBA the dominant global basketball attraction that it is.

[K Xerxes]

Either written for shock value, or the author has never held a true management position. Stern's direction (and/or whoever actually tells him what to do ) has made the NBA into a global game. Football may be the most popular sport in America, but no one outside America cares about it.

Basketball is a major sport in many many many countries. There is at least some % of the population of every country that truly LOVES the NBA. That's pretty amazing. Even ISH is representative of that. The NBA is an individual's game. One player has more impact in the NBA than in any other team sport. Of course the important should be placed on the individual.

Probably his biggest flaw actually been his ability to correlate the NBA, NBDL, WNBA and collegiate hoops. NBA continues to increase in popularity. Outside of the US not many people care about collegiate, WNBA etc though. Which is fine. He concentrated on the big boys and seems the trickle down effect is enough for the rest.

Globally I'd say it goes:
1. Football (soccer)
2. Baseball
3. Cricket
4. Tennis
5. Basketball
*Table tennis is not a sport, but could be top 5 if you consider it one I guess.

I know it's not relevant to the article, but in what world is baseball more popular than cricket?

And table tennis isn't a sport?!

[Dr.J4ever]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10...ully-got-lucky

Promoting players, instead of teams is a deliberate marketing decision on the part of the NBA.. When you promote teams that can fail and be out of the Playoff hunt by Christmas, how can it's fan base continue to root for their teams? On the other hand, promoting good players can be is not directly tied to winning basketball.

So the NBA's deliberate decision to promote individuals over teams has contributed to dumbing down the masses.. Look at us here in ISH--- we talk stats at the expense of team success. The ultimate stat should be wins and losses, but many fans, mostly the younger and more ignorant, value ppg, apg,rpg etc over team success.

[Lakers Legend#32]

And the shameful way he took the Sonics from the 12th largest market to a truck stop in Oklahoma in no way enhanced the league from any perspective.

[Euroleague]

Everything there is true. But they left out fixing games, deciding what teams win the championship, allowing PEDs, having Team USA always favored in the international tournaments, the superstar ref treatment, making the game a game for pansies and sissys with the rules changes, etc.

[reppy]

I like that this article is from ESPN and they completely absolve themselves for promoting player first instead of team first.

Overall though, I agree with its assessment. David Stern is a monumental dick that walked into the perfect situation.

[oarabbus]

Either written for shock value, or the author has never held a true management position. Stern's direction (and/or whoever actually tells him what to do ) has made the NBA into a global game. Football may be the most popular sport in America, but no one outside America cares about it.

Basketball is a major sport in many many many countries. There is at least some % of the population of every country that truly LOVES the NBA. That's pretty amazing. Even ISH is representative of that. The NBA is an individual's game. One player has more impact in the NBA than in any other team sport. Of course the important should be placed on the individual.

Probably his biggest flaw actually been his ability to correlate the NBA, NBDL, WNBA and collegiate hoops. NBA continues to increase in popularity. Outside of the US not many people care about collegiate, WNBA etc though. Which is fine. He concentrated on the big boys and seems the trickle down effect is enough for the rest.

Globally I'd say it goes:
1. Football (soccer)
2. Baseball
3. Cricket
4. Tennis
5. Basketball
*Table tennis is not a sport, but could be top 5 if you consider it one I guess.

Sorry bro, you had a good post but lost me at the bold.
Also where is track and field? Usain Bolt is just as famous as Rafael Nadal if not more. In fact I think Bolt is one of the most famous athletes worldwide right now. Track is popular worldwide in countries from Cameroon to China, while Tennis is more of an affluent Euro/American sport.

[MavsSuperFan]

The NBA finals were on tape delay when stern got here.

Average salary was under 250k per year.

Nowadays the average salary is like 4.5 million a year.

Stern >>>> Rozelle. When Rozelle took over the NFL, it was already clear the NFL was surpassing baseball. The NBA was in a lot of trouble when Stern took over.

Stern gave the NBA a corporate professional image.

Basketball does not have advantages over football in terms of appeal to casual fans. I think Whitlock is totally wrong on that point.

1. Football is extremely violent. you can see tremendous hits every single game.

2. Casual fans don't appreciate defense in basketball. Paraphrasing my cousin "I think defense in basketball comes down to the other team missing shots and getting the rebound". Casual fans think that offense is of the only importance.

3. Some fans think that they can get the gist of an NBA game by watching the last few minutes and watching the highlight reel dunks and blocks.

4. football is easier to follow. I havent been able to watch every single mavs game since... well basically ever. I cant even see every single game that matters. I have watched every single cowboy game for almost 2 decades now, and every NFL game that matters. Football also has natural breaks in the action for replays and conversations.

[Trentknicks]

Writer obviously has an agenda but I do agree with some points. Really wish Stern promoted team rivalries a lot more than just superstars and got a strict drug policy in place, seems like way too much flexibility and loop holes.