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| Birth Name(s) : David Stern |
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Full David Stern Biography
David Joel Stern (born on September 22, 1942 in New York City, New York) is a Jewish American lawyer, who has been commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 1984, when control transitioned from the previous commissioner, Larry O'Brien. David Stern grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and is a graduate of Teaneck High School. Stern attended Rutgers University on a full scholarship. He graduated as a dean's-list history student in 1963 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966. Stern began his association with the NBA in 1966 as outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry O'Brien. Stern has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Stern's first association with the NBA in 1966 as an outside counsel. In 1978, Stern became the NBA's General Counsel, and by 1980 was Executive Vice President of the NBA. On February 1, 1984, Stern became the fourth Commissioner of the NBA. It was during that same season (1984-85) that four of the NBA's biggest superstars — Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton — entered the league.
Stern also oversaw the creation of the WNBA, a professional women's basketball league. Under Stern's watch the NBA has undergone an unprecedented internationalization. Setting up NBA training camps and exhibition games around the globe as well as the influx of international players into the league which have played a role in developing the character of the NBA in the 21st century. The NBA now has 11 offices in cities outside the United States, is televised in 212 nations in 42 languages, and operates the Women's National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Development League under the guidance of Stern.
Under Stern's watch the NBA's charitable contributions have increased. Including the NBA's "Read to Achieve" and "NBA Cares" social programs, organized throughout various NBA communities.
Stern has demanded that all U.S. states with NBA franchises and the province of Ontario, Canada, are not to have casinos and lotteries that distribute NBA basketball betting.
In the 1997 NBA playoffs, the NBA suspended five players following a brawl between the and . Some of the suspensions were required by a league rule, implemented under Stern, that provides an automatic one-game suspension to any player who leaves his team's bench during a fight, such as the suspension in the 2007 Playoffs from the Suns-Spurs Game. Several players who had not gotten involved in the fight were also suspended, prompting complaints from officials on both teams.
In 2000, after it had been revealed that the Minnesota Timberwolves had tampered with Joe Smith two years earlier, the NBA league office punished Minnesota severely, voiding the last year of Smith's contract, fining the franchise $3.5 million and taking the Timberwolves' next 3 1st-round NBA Draft picks.. Although it was believed by many that tampering is a common practice, Stern abided by arbitrator Kenneth Dam's ruling that the Timberwolves had signed the secret agreement, and denied that the league was making an example of the Timberwolves.
Before the 2005-06 season, the NBA announced a new dress code, which banned players from wearing headphones, chains, shorts, sleeveless shirts, indoor sunglasses, T-shirts, jerseys and headgear such as baseball caps during public appearances. Allen Iverson criticized the policy: "They're targeting guys who dress like me, guys who dress hip-hop ... I think they went way overboard."
For the 2006-07 season the NBA introduced a new "microfiber" basketball for use in NBA games, replacing the previous style ball used since 1970. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agreed with the need for a new ball, claiming the old style ball was inconsistent. Many of the league's most prominent players openly expressed their dislike for the new ball, such as Shaquille O'Neal who said, "Feels like one of those cheap balls that you buy at the toy store." A study, financed by Cuban, claimed that the new ball "bounces 5 to 8% lower than typical leather balls when dropped from 4 feet... the new ball bounces 30% more erratically." However, Stern initially refused to go back to the original ball despite many complaints by players with the new ball. Two months into the season Stern stated that the new ball may have been a poor choice and poorly tested and "we could've done a better job". On December 11, 2006 the NBA announced that it would in fact switch back to the leather ball starting on January 1, 2007. |
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