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JonLP24

(29,322 posts)
Thu Jan 2, 2020, 09:12 AM Jan 2020

Remembering David Stern's power moves

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Stern passed away on Wednesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage on Dec. 12 while at a restaurant in New York City. In remembrance of Stern, The Undefeated highlights some of the power moves that helped define his legacy using parts of our conversation from August.

(Snip)

INTRODUCING THE DREAM TEAM
Stern encouraged NBA stars, such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird to play on what would be called “The Dream Team” during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It was USA Basketball’s first team made up of professional players.

“The Dream Team ignited interest in basketball around the world,” Stern said in August. “I would say that prior to the ’92 Barcelona Olympics we had about 80 countries that were showing NBA basketball. Today, there are 215 countries showing NBA basketball. And you can see the chart and the graph that follows the Dream Team. You could say you saw Charles Barkley elbow the Angolan player, and then you can watch Charles play for Phoenix, or Houston, or wherever he was playing.

“And we began marketing the NBA to countries that were getting it from the Olympics. And actually, China had the Olympics in 2008, and when Yao Ming led the Chinese team against the US, I think it still is the most watched basketball game in the history of the world.”

The Dream Team made the world fall in love with the game. Several former international NBA stars, including Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, France’s Tony Parker and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili were influenced by watching The Dream Team on television as children.

The Undefeated
https://www.google.com/amp/s/theundefeated.com/features/remembering-david-stern-power-moves/amp/

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