How long have you been watching the NBA? Stern's been commish for 25 years.
I think he deserves a lot of credit for making the NBA such a huge success.
Ed O.
You are right Stern does deserve a lot of credit for the improvements in the league. However, he also has the lion's share of responsibility for what seems to be a creeping corruption that in a way he fostered with the Superstar system.
To answer your question I have vague memories of the pre-Stern era and a lot of them I will be honest are not good. I remember drug scandals and quite a lot more violence on the court. Stern should be rightly credited with cleaning up the game especially in regards to drugs. I want to say I spoke too broadly when I said I hate the game under Stern. That really isn’t accurate or fair. Most of my favorite basketball has occurred during the Stern era.
One can debate the relative merit of removing the extreme physicality from the game that resulted in the occasional fisticuffs. Lord knows I would like to see Oden haul off an deck a couple of players in the league. That said I’m glad that we don’t have to worry as much about Roy getting a fight/cheap shot related injury as we might have during the late 70’s and early 80’s.
I have to agree with PapaG above that the reason the league blossomed was as much to do with Stern cleaning up some of the thug life mentality as it was with the emergence of a few incredible personalities/athletes. Magic and Bird along with Jordan (and Dr. J in an earlier era) revolutionized the game both in showing what could be done and with further shifting the focus onto individual play over team play. Stern hitched himself to the rising stars of those great players from the 80’s and 90’s. I also think PapaG is right in saying that the athletic shoe industry and advertisement did as much to alter the public image of the NBA as anything Stern did.
My criticism of Stern lies in the dissolution of the Independent NBA Referee Union and the Superstar system of reffing the game. While I appreciate the change to the game in that Stars are more protected on the court the coddling by the refs has had a deleterious effect on the game in my opinion. I also feel that there is strong evidence that - with or without Stern’s knowledge - the NBA has been corrupted by the mafia. Whether it’s shaving points or altering outcomes of games and series. I have to wonder about Stern’s response to the Donaghy scandal and the seeming lack of any substantive reform under the new Referee Czar. It’s possible there are vast changes going on behind the scenes, but I feel that is part of the problem. The lack of transparency in the NBA and the way in which criticism is dealt with by levying fines to players and coaches for even the slightest criticism has ultimately harmed the game. It has also caused me to question whether fairness is the ultimate goal of reffing or whether it is profitability.
Finally, I have long wondered since the Jake O’Donell days the degree of referee corruption.
The Donaghy scandal and in particular this article has led me to the conclusion that there is a systemic rot among the referee’s in the league. Given Stern’s response and continued lack of transparency one has to wonder if he is complicit or doesn’t want to know about any possible corruption as long as the league remains highly profitable. I tend to use hyperbole and run afoul of overstatement and lack of nuance. Usually, I have some fair amount of thought put into my opinions on things and when I don’t and someone proves me wrong I try and take ownership of my bullshit. My honest opinion is that the NBA has become pretty corrupt over the years and that saddens me.
