Jonah Ballow: David Stern: “I’m very interested in the sports gambling space.” #HS19 pic.twitter.com/1qJm5h8YgN
David Stern Rumors
Former NBA commissioner David Stern and former ESPN digital chief John Kosner will be joining the Israeli startup WSC Sports Technologies Ltd. as advisers, announced the company on Wednesday. The artificial-intelligence platform “analyzes live sports broadcasts, identifies each and every event that occurs in the game, creates customized short-form video content and published to any digital destination,” according to a description on the company website.
“The NBA is the only league that didn’t have to enact a Rooney rule,” said Richard Lapchick, referring to the NFL’s rule requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a head coach. “They’ve just been hiring the best candidates and bringing in a diverse pool of candidates since David Stern took over. And then he pushed that to the team level, where they don’t have control but they do have a lot of influence.”
Williams likes to think former NBA commissioner David Stern changed the rules in his mind before he’d even shook hands with the Magic exec after winning a second consecutive season. “I had to bite my lip after we won because nobody in that room was happy for us. Nobody,” Williams remembered. “You watch the video; you’ll see shock but no dancing. I tiptoed up to the stage, but David Stern was not happy to see me. He was not happy. (He was) like, ‘How did this happen to my lottery? This is not why we put it in there.’”
Unlike David Stern, who said “I don’t think we can go back” to Vancouver 10 years ago, Silver provided hope for local hoops fans. “In retrospect, I wish we had a team in Vancouver right now. I think Canada could handle two NBA teams,” said Silver. “I share David’s sentiment that we do have regret. I think we were a bit ahead of our time. There was a moment in the league where prospects seemed down in terms of the team. Attendance was down, ratings were down. I understood from an economic standpoint why the then-team owner (Michael Heisley) wanted to move the team.”
Long before Kaepernick and Reid, two of the NBA’s all-time best shooters, Craig Hodges and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, were frozen out by the NBA for their activism in the 1990s. “I played in the Stern era,” Thomas said. “Adam Silver is not against it, not moving backwards. It’s completely different. Remember that Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Craig Hodges happened during the Stern era.”
McIlvaine: We once kicked Jack Haley out of a meeting because he had recently retired. He was there as a mole. Years later he told me that ownership had somebody listening on every call and knew exactly what we were strategizing. I don’t know whether this was Jack blowing smoke, but there were certain players that were sympathetic to owners. Hunter: Stern would always tell me, “I got my people everywhere. I know as much about what you’re doing as you know. I got my eyes and ears.” Clearly, I think there was someone amongst the players, but there also may have been people within my office and on staff. I have my suspicions, but I’m not going to disclose that.
