Dammit I Have to Say Something Positive About Davey Stern

[Stephist]

David Stern
NBA Commissioner
$2,000 Republican
$721,030* Democrat
$19,250 special interest
total: $742,280


credit newsmeat.com

I got to give him credit for this :) I still think he is a terrible commissioner though.

[KitchenWitch]

1. Bud Selig is a worse commissioner

:eyes:

[Robeson]

2. I've always liked David Stern.....

...I think he's been an excellent commissioner. I realize my opinion may not be universal, but I remember what the NBA was before he became the commissioner.

[HuckleB]

3. He's had two different personalities.

His early one, which built league stature, and his current one, which has been a wrecking ball upon that which he helped build.

He's a bizarre character, IMHO.

[democracyindanger]

5. There's a Bill Bowerman quote

(former Oregon track coach, invented the waffle-soled running shoe, co-founded Nike, on and on)

He always hated the AAU, and he had a quote that applies to the NBA, and pretty much any organization. He said this, referring to the AAU, and it's not verbatim:

Every organization that seeks to grow will eventually, in order to continue growing, work precisely against the very values that the organization was founded on.

Kinda applies to Stern and the NBA, I think.

[DaveinMD]

4. of course he's a Dem

he's a non-neo con Jew.

[lazarus]

6. He has hurt the league, yes

But the problems with the new labour agreement are coming from the other side.

The players, apparently, weren't playing along with Billy Hunter, the union pres. So he got together with the top 12 agents, and got them each to pledge to influence his players to back Hunter against the owners.

Immediately after this happened, talks broke down, when they were actually very close. Stern was, apparently, willing to give up some stuff to get some stuff. He mostly wanted shorter guaranteed contracts and an age limit, and was willing to significantly raise the salary cap to get this.

The agents are unhappy right now because they've become virtually irrelevant. With the cap so hard and fast, very little negotiating is required. Either the team has the cap room, or it doesn't.

That's why players like Lebron James are dumping their agents and instead going with 'business managers'. The big money is in endorsements for players like him. He made over $200 million in endorsements the last 2 years. His salary is pocket change compared to that.

And he knows that he's going to get the max salary on his next contract, either with Cleveland or another team. Cleveland can pay him more, but it's still a fixed amount. So why should he or any other player give an agent 15% of his salary when they're not really doing anything?

The agents will influence the players as much as they can, so they can attempt to break open the salary cap. They want to go to a baseball-style, where players can make unlimited money, which means the agents can make unlimited money. And only 2 or 3 teams will be able to afford to be competitive, instead of the 7 or 8 we have now.