Still 'awestruck' by stars, David Stern doesn't miss being NBA commissioner
David Stern, same as he ever was, wouldn’t let the premise of the question go unchecked.
“What part of you misses being commissioner of the NBA?” he was asked in a phone interview with USA TODAY Sports on Monday.
The 74-year-old man who spent three decades building the league into a $5 billion global business, who was always known for his hard-driving and heady ways, and who so happily handed the reins to his protégé, Adam Silver, more than three years ago, hesitated before setting the record straight.
“I don't miss any of it,” said Stern, who was promoting the recently-launched video platform that allows users to be color commentators, SportsCastr.Live, of which he is an investor. “I think that I have enjoyed things that I no longer get a chance to do, like to interface live with the owners and live with my colleagues at the NBA, and live with the fans when I traveled around getting to games. But I have replaced that with companies with which I'm involved, whether it's an investment bank, a venture capital partnership, or a strategy and advisory group. I'm getting my jollies from other manifestations.”
Especially this time of year.
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The NBA playoffs were always a whirlwind time for Stern, who would spend mid-April to mid-June jet-setting from city to city and heading for his next courtside seat. But nowadays, he's not all that different from all those fans he spent half a lifetime fostering.
With Stern so proud to see Silver doing his old job justice - "I think the way Adam is handling virtually everything is spectacular," he says - there's no need to get on a plane anymore. And how fitting.
Stern, who played a pivotal part in landing the television rights deal that sparked unprecedented economic growth, now gets to enjoy that very programming from the comfort of his own couch.
“I have a favorite spot (in his Westchester County, N.Y. home); it's in my library,” said Stern, who stepped aside nine months before the NBA announced its nine-year, $24 billion television deal with ESPN and Turner. “I have a pile of work papers, so I don't lose any time during commercials. I put it on mute during commercials. Don't tell anyone please – I know this is private (laughs) – and so it's a great evening to finish the day's papers and do some work, and in the meantime sometimes watch the equivalent of a doubleheader, and with NBA TV a two-and-a-half-header.
“My life has been purified. I'm working as hard as could be during the day, and at night I get to go home and enjoy the best week of basketball that there is.”
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Any way he looks at it, this postseason has been a success so far.
The ratings are strong, with TNT’s live NBA Playoffs coverage averaging 3.6 million viewers (up 13% from 2016), its TV Everywhere platforms generating an increase of 20%, and last weekend’s ESPN/ABC games averaging a live audience total of 3.7 million (also up 13% from 2016 for streaming and television). The games are good too, with NBA stars both old and new delivering when it matters most.
“The highlights are that LeBron (James) is still LeBron; to me, that's a great, great highlight,” Stern said of the 32-year-old Cleveland Cavaliers star whose team swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round and will face the winner of the Toronto Raptors-Milwaukee Bucks series in the second round. “The highlight is to get to know Milwaukee, and Mr. (Giannis) An-te-tok-ounmpo…”
Like most others, Stern had to sound out the name of the 22-year-old Bucks star from Greece whose team trails the Raptors 3-2 with Game 6 on Thursday.
“Well I'm trying,” he said with a laugh. “Every time (Antetokounmpo) dribbles the ball and then dunks it, I try to see the back of his uniform to practice my pronunciation.”
To hear Stern reflect on the early playoff action, it’s quite clear his passion for the game remains.
“I'm struck by the shooting prowess of the players, and their speed,” he said. “And the ability of individual players to weave their way through, when they're not shooting threes, and some of the guards getting to the basket. I have no idea how they do it. It's fascinating to me. And then they do a reverse layup that's not possible, but then suddenly it goes in. So I remain awestruck by the talent level of the NBA, and the internationalization of the rosters is enormously cheering to me. I love it.”
If there’s one thing Stern doesn’t love – never has, and never will – it’s the chronic complaints from coaches about officiating this time of year. Here’s looking at you David Fizdale and Fred Hoiberg.
“(It’s) really just a modern version of what a coach tries to do to inspire his players and attempt to influence the officiating,” Stern said. “That's as old as Pat Riley and Phil Jackson (doing it) back in the day. If the moon is up during the playoffs – (if it's not) on a Sunday or a Saturday afternoon – the coaches will be baying at the moon and at the officiating. And that's just the way it is, because if they're not crazy when they begin the playoffs it makes them crazy because they want so much to win. And that's just what happens. That's all.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick.
