Stern suffers brain hemorrhage

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Why bring Trump into this? But if you want to go there, Trump at least puts Americans first. And i don't think ruining the game of basketball with biased, if not corrupt, officiating and alienating the citizens of a good-sized market were good long-term business moves. Heck, if Stern were President i don't doubt he would be selling out our future interests to grease the rails of business with China.

[Donn Beach]

I was talking about Trump as a businessman, how he approached business, if you want to believe Stern ruined the NBA that is fine, if you want to complain about screwing Seattle that is fine too, but don't expect a lot of general agreement. Stern made a lot of people a lot of money, and he made the NBA very popular, that is what they find important

[Michael K.]

The NBA was actually less popular toward the end of his reign of terror. And I don't just mean in this State.

And if that is true about him bitching about the wrong team's winning the Lottery than he was a bigger shitbag than even I thought he was.

[Donn Beach]

i don't know about the end of his tenure, but that is what he did for owners over his tenure

He boosted NBA revenue from $118 million in the season before he took over to $5.5 billion in 2014, the year he retired after 30 years at the helm.

[D-train]

Man a lot of self-righteous people out there on twitter shaming people who don't want to kiss his ass.

Like I said I agree it's not cool to tell him to rot in hell or something like that but just to let people act like he's Mother Teresa when he was not a good person is lame. They say today or yesterday was not the day but when are you supposed to do it in six months or nobody's even talking about him. Now actually is the time.

Couple of examples that really sum up how was a pompous ass. They asked him if he'd ever heard of Chris Hansen and he said he is not unaware of him. Who the fuck talks like that other than somebody just making it a point to diminish another person.

Also we can't forget that famous jab when he had the Sacramento press conference saying he had to make it short because you had a plane to catch to watch a game in OKC.

I can understand the feud he had with Seattle and King County and Washington government but just to stick it to the fans as collateral damage with no remorse was messed up. He needed to find a way to punish the government without screwing the fans over and he didn't even try.

[DanielVogelbach]

Basketball was going to be a popular professional sport with or without Stern. People are making it sound like before Stern it was peach baskets and nobody watched. Stern also was able to ride the MJ wave. Something tells me MJ would've been plenty popular regardless of who was the commissioner. It's like giving Roger Goodell credit for Russel Wilson's ability to electrify Seahawks fans.

[D-train]

Basketball was going to be a popular professional sport with or without Stern. People are making it sound like before Stern it was peach baskets and nobody watched. Stern also was able to ride the MJ wave. Something tells me MJ would've been plenty popular regardless of who was the commissioner. It's like giving Roger Goodell credit for Russel Wilson's ability to electrify Seahawks fans.

Exactly. Besides, he was great at getting the owners rich. How does that earn him God like status among fans. I literally saw some freaky dudes posting video of themselves crying. I AM NOT JOKING.

Stone:

The death of David Stern on Wednesday elicited the expected tributes to his far-reaching legacy as the 30-year commissioner of the NBA. No less an eminence than Michael Jordan extolled Stern for growing the league into an “international phenomenon.”

But here in Seattle, where Stern has long been regarded as an enemy of the people for his role in both the departure of the Sonics in 2008 and the thwarting of a replacement team in 2013, the reaction is much more complicated.

Only the most coldhearted would express anything but deep sympathy to the family of Stern, who died at age 77, three weeks after suffering a brain hemorrhage. His imprint on basketball encompasses a vast array of positive achievements. Stern inherited a league that was an afterthought in the pro sports pantheon, embroiled in drug scandals, and transformed it into a vastly more popular – and profitable – enterprise with a worldwide brand. He created the WNBA, and was a champion of diversity.

But I believe it’s possible to be duly respectful after the passing of such a towering figure and yet also point out that like most people of such surpassing power, their legacy is complex.

That was never so evident than in Stern’s handling of the Sonics’ departure to Oklahoma City – a psychological blow that still hasn’t healed, and one that had his fingerprints all over it.

Writing of Stern on Wednesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski called the former commissioner “a visionary and a deal-maker and a tyrant and a revolutionist. … Stern screamed and cursed and pounded boardroom tables, treating the commissioner’s seat like an emperor’s throne.”

We got to witness that side of Stern, in all its inglorious nature. There are those who still swear that the departure of the Sonics was ensured on Feb. 23, 2006, when Stern accompanied then-owner Howard Schultz to Olympia to lobby for the funds the team was seeking to renovate KeyArena. (That was barely a decade after a previous KeyArena renovation that Stern, at its unveiling on Nov. 4, 1995, called “beautiful … I think Seattle should be very proud of what’s going on here tonight.”)

What happened in Olympia seemed to sear its way into Stern’s psyche and never left. According to reports from those who were there, Stern was highly insulted by the way he was treated by Frank Chopp, then the Speaker of the Washington state House of Representatives. The commissioner would often cite with disdain this quote by Chopp in shooting down the Sonics’ proposal for funds:

“They ought to get their own financial house in order when their payroll is over $50 million for, what is it, 10 players? I think that’s a little ridiculous. They need to get their own financial house in order and if they did, they wouldn’t have to ask for public help.”

From that point on, it seemed that Stern treated Seattle’s efforts to retain the Sonics, and subsequently to lure the Sacramento Kings, in a far more hostile manner, bordering on vindictiveness. Certainly, city and state politicians didn’t help matters along with their handling of the matter, and Schultz deserves much scorn for selling to Oklahoma businessmen who were secretly scheming to move the team. But Stern, as the league’s omnipotent overseer, should never have allowed Clay Bennett and his partners to orchestrate the move to Oklahoma City in such a duplicitous manner.

Then, when Chris Hansen and his group was on the verge of righting that wrong in 2013, reaching an agreement in January to purchase the Kings from the Maloof family, Stern suddenly became a staunch advocate of franchise stability. After the league voted 22-8 to deny the Kings’ relocation to Seattle – an outcome achieved through much lobbying by Stern – he told reporters that the edge goes to the incumbent. The Sonics, a 41-year incumbent in Seattle, had received no such nod.

Maybe the unkindest cut came after the relocation vote at the Board of Governors meeting in Dallas. At his brief news conference, Stern began, “This is going to be short for me. I have a game to get to in Oklahoma City.”

That was widely viewed as Stern’s last twist of the knife toward Seattle. As my former colleague Jerry Brewer wrote in the Seattle Times:

“At the end of the fight, the old, vindictive NBA commissioner couldn’t announce the winner without first needling the city he was about to make a loser again.

“At the end of a polarizing relocation issue that he once described as “wrenching,” the man who always measures his words couldn’t resist one smug remark directed at Seattle.

At the end of another heartbreaking NBA result, David Stern taunted us.”

Far be it from me to disagree with Chilon of Sparta, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, who is believed to have been the first to say, “Of the dead, nothing but good is to be said.”

With Stern, there is an overwhelming amount of good that’s reflected in the robust nature of NBA basketball, nearly five years after his resignation. But any honest assessment of Stern’s tenure as NBA commissioner must include his unsparing treatment of the Sonics, and the devastating impact that will outlive him.

[Donn Beach]

sure, MJ would still have been popular, but Stern rode it for all it was worth, he monetized it, exploited it, built the league around it, and you can't just assume anybody in that chair would have pulled it off the way he did.

The thing is its pretty hard to succeed at something like that and not be a pompass ass hole with an ego that won't quit, or at least not have a lot of skeletons hanging in the closet. But you have to wait a proper amount of time for the revisionism, the tell all bios or whatever.

sorry, but that just reminds me of somebody

“a visionary and a deal-maker and a tyrant and a revolutionist. … Stern screamed and cursed and pounded boardroom tables, treating the commissioner’s seat like an emperor’s throne.”

That is interesting about Chopp, I guess that had come up before, Chopp is another character, the clash of egos.

[Donn Beach]

decided to poke around for something about MJ and Stern. found this, that weird retirement in the middle of his career was actually a suspension over his gambling. I don't remember considering that at the time. The league had begun an investigation that was dropped once he retired.

there is this quote from MJ at the time, sort of an odd thing to say

At the press conference when he was asked if he would ever return he said, " Five years down the road, if the urge comes back, if the Bulls will have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back."

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/131 ... suspension


Anyway, I don't know if MJ and Stern had the rosiest of relationships, more ego clashing. But you read MJ's statement on is death. I feel like he made it sincerely.

“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. His vision and leadership provided me with the global stage that allowed me to succeed. David had a deep love for the game of basketball and demanded excellence from those around him – and I admired him for that. I wouldn’t be where I am without him. I offer my deepest sympathies to Dianne and his family.”

[JAWA]

Basketball was going to be a popular professional sport with or without Stern. People are making it sound like before Stern it was peach baskets and nobody watched. Stern also was able to ride the MJ wave. Something tells me MJ would've been plenty popular regardless of who was the commissioner. It's like giving Roger Goodell credit for Russel Wilson's ability to electrify Seahawks fans.

Exactly. Besides, he was great at getting the owners rich. How does that earn him God like status among fans. I literally saw some freaky dudes posting video of themselves crying. I AM NOT JOKING.

Stone:

The death of David Stern on Wednesday elicited the expected tributes to his far-reaching legacy as the 30-year commissioner of the NBA. No less an eminence than Michael Jordan extolled Stern for growing the league into an “international phenomenon.”

But here in Seattle, where Stern has long been regarded as an enemy of the people for his role in both the departure of the Sonics in 2008 and the thwarting of a replacement team in 2013, the reaction is much more complicated.

Only the most coldhearted would express anything but deep sympathy to the family of Stern, who died at age 77, three weeks after suffering a brain hemorrhage. His imprint on basketball encompasses a vast array of positive achievements. Stern inherited a league that was an afterthought in the pro sports pantheon, embroiled in drug scandals, and transformed it into a vastly more popular – and profitable – enterprise with a worldwide brand. He created the WNBA, and was a champion of diversity.

But I believe it’s possible to be duly respectful after the passing of such a towering figure and yet also point out that like most people of such surpassing power, their legacy is complex.

That was never so evident than in Stern’s handling of the Sonics’ departure to Oklahoma City – a psychological blow that still hasn’t healed, and one that had his fingerprints all over it.

Writing of Stern on Wednesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski called the former commissioner “a visionary and a deal-maker and a tyrant and a revolutionist. … Stern screamed and cursed and pounded boardroom tables, treating the commissioner’s seat like an emperor’s throne.”

We got to witness that side of Stern, in all its inglorious nature. There are those who still swear that the departure of the Sonics was ensured on Feb. 23, 2006, when Stern accompanied then-owner Howard Schultz to Olympia to lobby for the funds the team was seeking to renovate KeyArena. (That was barely a decade after a previous KeyArena renovation that Stern, at its unveiling on Nov. 4, 1995, called “beautiful … I think Seattle should be very proud of what’s going on here tonight.”)

What happened in Olympia seemed to sear its way into Stern’s psyche and never left. According to reports from those who were there, Stern was highly insulted by the way he was treated by Frank Chopp, then the Speaker of the Washington state House of Representatives. The commissioner would often cite with disdain this quote by Chopp in shooting down the Sonics’ proposal for funds:

“They ought to get their own financial house in order when their payroll is over $50 million for, what is it, 10 players? I think that’s a little ridiculous. They need to get their own financial house in order and if they did, they wouldn’t have to ask for public help.”

From that point on, it seemed that Stern treated Seattle’s efforts to retain the Sonics, and subsequently to lure the Sacramento Kings, in a far more hostile manner, bordering on vindictiveness. Certainly, city and state politicians didn’t help matters along with their handling of the matter, and Schultz deserves much scorn for selling to Oklahoma businessmen who were secretly scheming to move the team. But Stern, as the league’s omnipotent overseer, should never have allowed Clay Bennett and his partners to orchestrate the move to Oklahoma City in such a duplicitous manner.

Then, when Chris Hansen and his group was on the verge of righting that wrong in 2013, reaching an agreement in January to purchase the Kings from the Maloof family, Stern suddenly became a staunch advocate of franchise stability. After the league voted 22-8 to deny the Kings’ relocation to Seattle – an outcome achieved through much lobbying by Stern – he told reporters that the edge goes to the incumbent. The Sonics, a 41-year incumbent in Seattle, had received no such nod.

Maybe the unkindest cut came after the relocation vote at the Board of Governors meeting in Dallas. At his brief news conference, Stern began, “This is going to be short for me. I have a game to get to in Oklahoma City.”

That was widely viewed as Stern’s last twist of the knife toward Seattle. As my former colleague Jerry Brewer wrote in the Seattle Times:

“At the end of the fight, the old, vindictive NBA commissioner couldn’t announce the winner without first needling the city he was about to make a loser again.

“At the end of a polarizing relocation issue that he once described as “wrenching,” the man who always measures his words couldn’t resist one smug remark directed at Seattle.

At the end of another heartbreaking NBA result, David Stern taunted us.”

Far be it from me to disagree with Chilon of Sparta, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, who is believed to have been the first to say, “Of the dead, nothing but good is to be said.”

With Stern, there is an overwhelming amount of good that’s reflected in the robust nature of NBA basketball, nearly five years after his resignation. But any honest assessment of Stern’s tenure as NBA commissioner must include his unsparing treatment of the Sonics, and the devastating impact that will outlive him.

I also read that article today as well. Reading what he did during both the Sonics' relocation and Kings' fiasco just reminds me why I don't feel sorry that he's gone. Motherfucker can kick it with Aubrey while they both keep the place warm for their Okie BFF. Speaking of which, I found out what's been ailing Clay Clay: https://twitter.com/Seattlelife/status/ ... 9878574080

What are the odds that both him and Sterno have brain-related health issues. Welp, looks like he won't be around that much longer, meaning a reunion with his fallen pals is coming soon