David Stern shoots around with the NBA's bad boys

JULIA TIERNAN/YH During his visit at Yale, NBA Commissioner David Stern talked about his love of the NBA, great coaches, and, of course, Dennis Rodman.

The NBA is entering a new era, and nobody knows that better than its commissioner, David Stern.

"Sports changes just as society does," Stern, the league's commissioner since 1984, said at a Silliman Master's Tea on Wed., Apr. 7. "We can see all the trends of society through our players." With Michael Jordan now retired and aging superstars like Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Charles Barkley on the decline, a new breed of franchise players has emerged. Stern called the new generation, led by Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Stephon Marbury, "bad boys"--which, he says, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Let's face it," he said. "The bad-boy images sell. Fashion and music are initiated by the street urban style. The poster child now may be Allen Iverson instead of Grant Hill, just like Master P will sell more albums than Marie and Donny Osmond."

Stern added that these days, coaches are dealing with different types of players. "It's now about allowing people their own space for personal creativity. Fifty years ago it was different in corporate America, just like it is in the NBA. Teams are like a jazz ensemble-- lots of individual creativity in a team environment." Stern said that the coaches who have been able to adjust to the personalities of their players--coaches like Pat Riley, Chuck Daly, and Mike Fratello--have been the most successful.

Besides the retirement of Jordan, the NBA took another hit with the recent lockout, which lasted for 191 days and wiped out hundreds of games. "It was a necessary correction to the system," Stern insisted. "Now, I think the fans have a feel for why [the lockout] happened."

Stern truly believes that the lockout corrected many necessary wrongs. With an adjusted salary cap and tighter rookie restrictions, Stern hopes to bring a better sense of "continuity" to the league. "It used to be that even if your team wasn't that good, it was still your team."

Stern touched on many different issues during the tea. A popular topic of discussion, of course, was flamboyant Laker forward Dennis Rodman. When asked what he thought about the Laker making millions of dollars off doing "what he does," Stern responded, "Does it piss me off? Yes. But I say, lighten up."

More than anything, it was apparent that, at heart, Stern, who displayed surprising candor and a quick sense of humor, is simply a man working for a game that he loves. He is, after all, just a basketball fan. "I literally look forward to going to work each morning," he said.

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