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Most owners and executives support Silver's promotion and believe he has the ability to change the way the league office operates. As one high-ranking league office employee has told me, the owners want less centralized and more local power in the post-Stern era. Give Stern this: He was a force of nature, but his style – his belief that he could bully those inside the NBA, those in basketball federations around the world – is over. He knew it, and that makes it easier for him to go. The information age has made tyranny harder to manage across the globe, and that's true within Stern's NBA too. Yahoo! Sports

David Stern, Owners, Adam Silver 

Bill Oram: When talking about Adam Silver as new commish tonight Gordon Hayward said, "He's the guy with glasses, right?" #FirstRounderProblems Twitter @tribjazz

Utah Jazz, Gordon Hayward, Adam Silver 

Brian Windhorst: Adam Silver: "(Stern) has set the standard for all commissioners." Twitter @WindhorstESPN

Brian Windhorst, Adam Silver 

Jeff Zillgitt: Adam Silver to Stern: "You’ll be remembered as the best (sports commissioner) of all time.” Twitter @JeffZillgitt

David Stern, Adam Silver 

Adrian Wojnarowski: David Stern will step down as NBA commissioner on Feb. 1, 2014, league sources tell Y! Sports. Deputy Adam Silver will replace Stern. Twitter @WojYahooNBA

David Stern, Owners, Adam Silver 

Marc Stein: Sources tell ESPN that NBA commissioner David Stern will announce later today that he's stepping down as commish on Feb. 1, 2014 Twitter @ESPNSteinLine

David Stern, Owners, Adam Silver 

Adrian Wojnarowski: Stern's sent an email to key NBA execs that he's retiring on Nov. 1, 2014, and that the Board of Governors has picked Silver to replace him. Twitter @WojYahooNBA

David Stern, Owners, Adam Silver 

Ken Berger: League sources further confirm that David Stern laid out a specific retirement timeline to owners. "It was a big topic," one source said. Twitter @KBergCBS

David Stern, Owners, Adam Silver 

The demand for the merchandise has far exceeded what both the Nets and the NBA had anticipated. “I think, in many things, we may have underestimated how broad the appeal would be for the team,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said. “We anticipated much of it would come, but not until later in the life of the arena and the team. “The fact that it began so early … I give Jay-Z and the Nets a lot of credit. They got that logo out into the marketplace, they got their merchandise out … and the ongoing drum beat of support has clearly exceeded our expectations.” New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Jay-Z, Adam Silver 

Since word broke yesterday that Scott O’Neil, a man who has risen up the ranks since being first hired by the Nets years ago, would be leaving his post at MSG, I’ve spoken to several league sources and have come up with some notes of interest. One league executive, who worked with O’Neil at one point, told me that he would bet that O’Neil’s “main goal” would be “to sit next to Adam Silver when David Stern retires.” The Knicks Blog

David Stern, Madison Square Garden, Adam Silver, Scott O'Neil 

Stern has been met with an increasing level of resistance about his and the NBA owners’ desires to turn the Olympics into an Under-23 tournament and send the league’s superstars to an NBA-FIBA partnered World Cup of Basketball. So much resistance, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Stern use this trip to England to start back-peddling spare himself one more indignity in these sad, dark final years on the job. Stern should tell the owners that he’s parking the issue and leaving it to his eventual successor, Adam Silver. Yahoo! Sports

David Stern, Olympics, Adam Silver 

Ken Berger: Adam Silver says it's "likely" some sort of plan for jersey advertisements would be implemented next season. Twitter

Owners, Merchandising, Adam Silver 

Ken Berger: Silver says guidelines on jersey ads would be in effect for next season, but the ads wouldn't appear on jerseys until the following season. Twitter

Owners, Merchandising, Adam Silver 

Ken Berger: Silver says his sense is that every team is in favor of jersey ads in some form. Twitter

Owners, Merchandising, Adam Silver 

The relentless, full-throated booing of NBA Commissioner David Stern has become one of the truly remarkable and ridiculous traditions of the annual NBA draft over the years, and the 2012 edition was no exception. Cats on the spot at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., dropped bombs on the commish from pillar to post on Thursday night, unleashing weapons-grade hate on the league's boss from before he stepped out on the stage until the moment he ceded the spotlight to NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, who announced the picks in the second round. And he loooooooooooved it. Check out Stern's reaction to those lusty, lusty boos, and get caught up on the rest of Thursday's top stories in sports, thanks to our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute: Yahoo! Sports

Draft, David Stern, Adam Silver 

"Thank you for that warm welcome, and good evening," Stern began, the smile already crawling across his face. After a brief boilerplate into, Stern decided to have a little bit of fun with the Newark audience, which was composed (as most drafts are) largely of New York Knicks fans. "And thank you to our great fans, who tuned in for another extraordinary season," Stern said before briefly looking down at his podium and coming up for air with a smirk. "... and saw the Miami Heat win its second NBA championship." Yahoo! Sports

Draft, David Stern, Adam Silver 

"And I do want to thank all of you for your wonderful enthusiasm, and thanks to the Prudential Center for your hospitality," Stern said. "The second round of the 2012 NBA draft will be conducted by Deputy Commissioner of the NBA Adam Silver —" And the crowd goes wild. For this guy. Just fantastic. To his credit, Silver walked out onto that stage like a freakin' boss, soaking in the cheers, nodding to the crowd, smiling and thanking the die-hards who stuck around for the second round before resorting to the oldest trick in the book — saying the name of the place you're in to get a cheap pop. "Thank you — and hello to the great state of New Jersey!" Silver said, the crowd hilariously playing into it and increasing their applause before the announcement of the second round's first pick, which saw the Charlotte Bobcats take Vanderbilt small forward Jeffery Taylor. Yahoo! Sports

Draft, David Stern, Adam Silver 

Weeks later, the committee -- minus Fisher, who remains in power but not in communication with his fellow committee members -- has proceeded with its own business review, which thus far, according to a union source, has "turned up nothing." Meanwhile, the NBPA is the target of a federal investigation being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's office. Hunter continues to act as the union's lead negotiator, and has been in conversations recently with NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver about resolving the so-called "B-list" issues -- the fine print -- in the collective bargaining agreement. CBSSports.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Adam Silver 

For the good of the legacy that Stern so cherishes and, more importantly, for the good of the NBA, there needs to be a succession of power soon. The longer Stern stays, the worse for his legacy. It’s sad to watch, and his accomplishments do deserve a graceful ending. He has his deputy commissioner, Adam Silver, set up to succeed him, and Stern has suggested that the transfer of power could come within the next couple of years. Within ownership and high-level league management, there's growing hope it comes sooner than later. They’ll never push out Stern because most of the owners do respect him and admire his acumen and achievements. Yahoo! Sports

David Stern, Adam Silver 

This year's U.S. team could include the likes of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, but it would be time for the younger guys to take over if the change that Stern and Silver are warming to was enacted. "We think international soccer has an excellent model and in the case of soccer, of course, there's the World Cup of football, which is the biggest sporting event in the world every four years, and then in the off years, for the World Cup, they play, in essence, with some exceptions, a 23-and-under competition at the Olympics," Silver said. "And there's a recognition certainly Mark Cuban, other owners have raised repeatedly the issue of our players playing in essence year round when you add the Olympics to our newly renamed world championship of basketball to our World Cup of Basketball. So when you have the Olympics, the World Cup of Basketball, we are taking a very close look at whether it makes sense from an NBA standpoint and a global basketball standpoint for the top players to be playing at that level on a year round basis, and somewhere (every) summer. ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, USA Basketball, Olympics, World Championship, Adam Silver