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David Stern

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For other people named David Stern, see David Stern (disambiguation).
David Stern
Born
David Joel Stern

(1942-09-22) September 22, 1942 (age 82)
New York City, New York U.S.
OccupationNBA Commissioner Official website

David Joel Stern[1] (born September 22, 1942) was the last commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien. He is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s. Stern has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[2]

Early life

David Stern was born on September 22, 1942 in New York City, New York. He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey in a Jewish family, and is a graduate of Teaneck High School. Stern attended Rutgers University, where in 1960 he pledged to the Sigma Delta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity. He graduated as B- dean's-list history student in 1963 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966, and was admitted to the bar in New York later that year after passing the state's bar examination.[1]

National Basketball Association

His first association with the NBA in 1966 was as an outside counsel at Proskauer Rose. In 1978, Stern became the NBA's General Counsel under Larry O'Brien. By 1980, he was Executive Vice President of the NBA. During this time, two landmark decisions were reached with the NBA Players' Association: drug testing and team salary cap.[3] The drug testing dealt with the perception that most basketball players used drugs, that the NBA admitted it had a problem, and it was cleaning it up. The salary cap created a revenue-sharing system where owner and player were effectively partners. Both of these agreements solidified Stern's standing inside NBA circles.

On February 1, 1984, Stern became the Commissioner of the NBA, succeeding Larry O'Brien. It was during that same year (1984-85) that four of the NBA's biggest superstars — Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton — entered the league.

The arrival of Michael Jordan, in particular, ushered in a new era of commercial bounty for the NBA. With him came his flair and talent for the game, and that brought in shoe contracts from Nike which helped to give the league even more national attention.[4] Jordan and the two other premier basketball legends of the 1980s, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, took the game to new heights of popularity and profit. By 2004, Stern oversaw the NBA expand from 10 to 30 franchises (since 1966), expand into Canada, and televise games in countries around the world.

Stern also oversaw the creation of the WNBA, a professional women's basketball league. Stern has been credited for developing and broadening the NBA's audience, by setting up training camps, playing exhibition games around the world, and recruiting more international players.[5]

At it's height, the NBA had 11 offices in cities outside the United States, was televised in 215 countries around the world in 43 languages, and operated the Women's National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Development League under Stern's watch.[6][7]

Notable events during Stern's tenure

Controversies

Stern has been at the center of multiple controversies during his time as commissioner.

During the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery, the NBA used a system where seven envelopes representing the seven teams with the worst records were mixed in a tumbler, and then drawn by Stern one at a time to determine which of these clubs would get the 1st pick onwards up to the 7th pick. When these envelopes were added to the tumbler, two envelopes were put in forcibly, and banged against the edge, while all the rest were set in gently. When drawing the envelope for the 1st pick, Stern went for the one with a bent corner, which upon opening the envelope, it was revealed that the New York Knicks logo was inside. This fueled speculation of a draft fix, with the theory being that the NBA wanted to send the best player in the draft to New York to increase ratings in a large television market.[8][9][10]

In the 1997 NBA playoffs, the NBA suspended five players following a brawl between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat, which affected the outcome of that series. Some of the suspensions were required by a league rule, implemented under Stern, that provides an automatic one-game suspension to any player who leaves his team's bench during a fight. In the 2007 Playoffs from the Suns-Spurs Game, several players who left the bench and were not involved in the altercation were also suspended, prompting complaints from officials on both teams.[11]

In 2000, it was revealed that the Minnesota Timberwolves had tampered with Joe Smith two years earlier by promising him a more lucrative contract in future years in exchange for signing him below market value so they could sign more players in the short-term. The NBA voided the last year of Smith's contract, fined the franchise $3.5 million and took away the Timberwolves' next three 1st-round NBA Draft picks.[12] Although many believed that tampering is a common practice, Stern abided by arbitrator Kenneth Dam's ruling that the Timberwolves had signed the secret agreement, and denied that the league was making an example of the Timberwolves.[13]

Before the 2005-06 season, the NBA announced a new dress code, which banned players from wearing headphones, chains, shorts, sleeveless shirts, indoor sunglasses, T-shirts, jerseys and headgear such as baseball caps during NBA-related public appearances. Allen Iverson criticized the policy: "They're targeting guys who dress like me, guys who dress hip-hop ... I think they went way overboard."[14]

For the 2006-07 season the NBA introduced a new "microfiber" basketball for use in NBA games, replacing the previous style ball used since 1970. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agreed with the need for a new ball, claiming the old style ball was inconsistent.[15][16] Many of the league's most prominent players openly expressed their dislike for the new ball, such as Shaquille O'Neal who said, "Feels like one of those cheap balls that you buy at the toy store."[17] A study, financed by Cuban, claimed that the new ball "bounces 5 to 8% lower than typical leather balls when dropped from 4 feet...[and] the new ball bounces 30% more erratically."[18] However, Stern initially refused to go back to the original ball despite many complaints by players about the new ball.[19] Two months into the season Stern stated that the new ball may have been a poor choice and poorly tested[20] and "we could've done a better job".[21] On December 11, 2006 the NBA announced that it would in fact switch back to the leather ball starting on January 1, 2007.[22]

In 2007, Stern injected himself in the controversy surrounding the purchase and subsequent relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics by Oklahoman Clayton Bennett and his ownership group. His support for the surprising move from the nation's 14th-largest market to the 45th was questioned by many both in the public and media.[23] Stern also led the NBA to intervene against a 2008 legal attempt by Howard Schultz to keep the team in Seattle.

On July 19, 2007, NBA veteran referee Tim Donaghy was investigated by the FBI over allegations that included Donaghy bet on basketball games he officiated and that he made calls affecting the point spread during games.[24] On August 15, 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two federal charges related to the investigation and served 15 months in prison and was released in November, 2009. During the sentencing phase, Donaghy claimed that certain refs made calls that influenced the outcome of playoff games in 2002 and 2005. In June, 2008 NBA Commissioner Stern flatly denied Donaghy's allegations and stated that Donaghy was a convicted felon and a "singing, cooperating witness".[25][26]

In 2011, the NBA finally collapsed amidst labor talk disagreements. As of November 2011 there are no plans to form a new American professional basketball league.

Personal

David Stern has contributed to many Democratic Party (US) candidates since becoming NBA commissioner.[27] In September 2010, he donated $1,000 to support a group opposing California's Prop 23, which would delay enactment of the state's landmark environmental law.[28]

He is married to Dianne Bock Stern, and they have two adult sons.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Attorney Directory, Attorney Detail: David Joel Stern" (Document). New York State Unified Court System.. To search the site, go to the following URL:
    https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/attorney/AttorneySearch
    The New York State Unified Court System prohibits direct links to its site from external websites.
  2. ^ David J. Stern, National Basketball Association. Retrieved September 3, 2007.
  3. ^ Halberstam, David (1999). Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World he Made. Random House. p. 120. ISBN 0-7679-0444-3.
  4. ^ Burns, Marty (2002-05-07). "In terms of dollars, Jordan was NBA's real MVP". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  5. ^ DuPree, David. "NBA Finals are whole new world", USA Today, June 14, 2005. Retrieved September 3, 2007.
  6. ^ City of Seattle
  7. ^ a b "David J. Stern". NBA.com. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
  8. ^ Mahoney, Brian (May 18, 2009). "Griffin the big gift at lottery's 25th anniversary". USA Today. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  9. ^ McManis, Sam (May 14, 1985). "NBA's New Showtime: It's Called the Lottery". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  10. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/story?id=1383452
  11. ^ NewStandard: 5/16/97
  12. ^ ESPN.com - GEN - Joe Smith was worth all this trouble?
  13. ^ "Stern: T'wolves put franchise at risk". CNN.
  14. ^ "NBA dress code upsets black stars". BBC News. October 31, 2005.
  15. ^ The New NBA Ball - Blog Maverick
  16. ^ The New NBA Ball P2 - Blog Maverick
  17. ^ ESPN - Shaq: 'Whoever [changed ball] needs to be fired' - NBA
  18. ^ Mahoney, Brian (October 31, 2006). "Study: New NBA ball performs differently". USA Today.
  19. ^ ESPN - Stern confident new NBA ball will win over players - NBA
  20. ^ Robbins, Liz (December 6, 2006). "A Whole New Game Ball? N.B.A. Admits Its Mistake". The New York Times.
  21. ^ Robbins, Liz (December 6, 2006). "A Whole New Game Ball? N.B.A. Admits Its Mistake". The New York Times.
  22. ^ Roscoe, nance. "NBA to ditch new ball, return to old", USA Today, December 11, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2007.
  23. ^ http://www.seattlepi.com/thiel/359886_thielbar21.html
  24. ^ Donaghy under investigation for betting on NBA games, ESPN. July 20, 2007.
  25. ^ "2002 Lakers-Kings Game 6 at heart of Donaghy allegations". June 11, 2008. Event occurs at 3:04 PM ET. Retrieved 12-16-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  26. ^ Virgin, Ryan (April 13, 2010). "David Stern and Tim Donaghy's Motives Are Not That Different". Retrieved 02-12-2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  27. ^ "David Stern - $133,920 in Political Contributions for 2008". Campaignmoney.com. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
  28. ^ "David Stern: Environmental Activist?". Neon Tommy. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
Sporting positions
Preceded by NBA Commissioner
1984 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent

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