Many around the NBA and sports world have had a generally positive view about commissioner David J. Stern. Those who have followed his journey know that he went from being a simple league attorney working to bring the NBA to golden era of the 1980's which featured the entertaining NBA finals battles between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. However Stern's future and his everlasting legacy as perhaps one of the best commissioners in sports history may be in serious jeopardy.
Although the improvements that Stern has contributed to the benefit of the league are without doubt, Stern has been through many points of turmoil with the league. The controversy began just one year after Stern took over in the year 1985. it was the NBA draft lottery and teams had their eye on the prize which was Patrick Ewing the young and talented center from Georgetown. The New York Knicks were coming off a disappointing season and were in need of hope to show that that the future was bright for their fans, that future was Ewing and new commissioner Stern, whose favorite team growing up was the Knicks, were able to "win" the lottery. The events of the lottery to this day are still unclear and remains controversial.
David Stern also had to deal with an NBA referee betting scandal in which Tim Donaghy who was convicted on betting on games as an NBA official, said in statements that the league office told the NBA officials to make sure the Sacremento Kings end up losing a game 6 clinch game of the 2002 western finals to have great ratings for Kings vs Lakers game 7. After the statements many fans and followers of the game became skeptical of not only NBA officiating but if the league had any control at all at the results of NBA games.
Although Stern has managed to get great marketing and popularity in for the NBA recently by making it one of the more popular leagues of today, many critics would say one of the worst moments of his career was the lockout of the 1998-1999 NBA season. The lockout came right after one of the most popular NBA finals series ever between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz which featured Michael Jordan winning his final championship before retiring. 50 games were missed the next season and the NBA's popularity, which was once so high a couple seasons before, lost immense interest and popularity which took years to get back. Many around at the time were critical of stern and thought that the popularity would be difficult regain, and that the work stoppage may define Stern's legacy as commissioner. However over time Stern was able to regain interest and popularity in the NBA and bring back great ratings most notably last year in the NBA Finals between the Heat and the Mavericks. It seemed that the NBA's popularity was at an all time high as so many had an interest in the events of the 2010-2011 season. However just like the 1998-1999 season in which games were missed following a great year in 1997-1998 the same is likely to occur if not worse due to this NBA lockout. After the work stoppage in 1999 Stern was able to reshape his legacy however this time he may not be able to that and the results could be devastating.
One thing is clear the NBA, David Stern, and his legacy are on the clock, a clock that is ticking very fast.
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