He was the best commissioner in modern day sports. His tenure ended with scandal and some people love to only discuss bad times. He started things- booting players out of the league for failed drug tests, lottery system, stars in Olympics, salary cap...there's so much that came from under him that would spread to other sports.
He stepped into the perfect time. Moses and Dr J retiring, Kareem and Magic versus Bird and McHale, young Jordan, Ewing in NY, Robinson in SA, twin towers in Houston, Clyde in Portland, Dantley, Aquirre, and Blackmon in Dal, Pistons, Cheryl Miller's brother. He should get credit for a ton but some think everything was so ripe then, that anyone could have been a success with so many stars coming into the league then. Well he (his staff) had to setup a system to manage the league and profit from these stars.
There's a story about Nike meeting with Stern and a few others for a lunch that ended the next morning. Between Air Jordan's and whatever else, that monster brain-storming session changed $ for athletes; as many stars would make tons on endorsements now. In contrast, Dr J as a rookie invested in Coke and Pepsi just because he couldn't make up his mind. He kept getting nervous about what to do with all this money and kept investing in those two. He'd become wealthy, of course, but far more from this than the game of hoops. Players wanted Dr J money and there wasn't such a laid out plan as to how to do it. Converse (believe it or not) was often the best brand for athletes to get their sneaker names on and ....it all took off with Michael.
The NBA spent millions on knee surgery research. 3 time NCAA player of the year, rookie of the year, all star game MVP, NBA Champion Ralph Sampson had a short career due to a knee. Bernard King was possibly the best scorer in NBA history and he'd wreck his knee and be one of the first to return and do well(even if a shadow of his awesome self). It was necessary, it was time, it was pressing. Year two involved a huge donation from Wellington Mara of the NYG and....I forget the rest, but enough medical progress was made in this research to get on the path where we are today with ACL's just being "see ya next season" rather than a career ender.
There's so so so much with him
