David Stern Quotes (89 Quotes)

Mohamed's defense attorney David Stern asked the jury not to make his client a martyr. Send him to jail and he'll be forgotten, ... Kill him and you guarantee him immortality.

We went right to the terms of this new agreement. The adidas presence on a global basis is extraordinary.

In the good old days, Chamberlain and Russell played in anonymity compared to Bird, Magic, Michael and Isiah. And even those guys played in less of a spotlight that our players today are playing in thanks to this saturated media environment.

Is the question do I think the officials miss a play Absolutely

We've got teams that have been through stretches of difficulty. As fast as you can spell Clippers.

Those conversations happen all the time.

that the combination of the global appeal of our game and the growth of television markets around the world meant that NBA games were going to be seen everywhere.

We are pleased to have these renowned franchises represent the NBA in the most ambitious international competition in league history.

We are saddened by the news of Jason Collier's sudden passing, ... He epitomized hard work, dedication and perseverance, and more importantly compassion, kindness and selflessness.

We'll look at it. Even in figure skating, there is some quality of mercy that maybe should be allowed. Maybe it's one or two (misses). Maybe it's three.

We've had a very good year because people are talking about the game. They're complaining about the game, they're praising the game, they think it's good, they think it's bad, but it's about the game. Any time it's about the game it's fine from my perspective.

It's going to be that you can get it however you want it. The distinction between over the air, wireless and Internet delivery is going to evaporate.

They do events in a great way and we have no doubt that they will be ready to receive us in 2008 as their tourism industry swings back into action.

Let me ask you a question. Do you think we'll go to the Olympics if bird flu is pandemic There may be a thousand different reasons why the world tomorrow will not be the same as it today. All you can do is set things in motion and plan to follow through on them. And we are planning to go back to New Orleans.

(The playoffs are) a road you have to follow if you want to be considered among the great ones, because it demonstrates that you're either making the players around you better or management is putting better players around you in order to showcase your talent longer into the playoffs.

The Arkansas ownership and management team combines an established and successful local businessman in Larry Crain with an experienced and knowledgeable basketball mind in Otis Birdsong.

We think that basketball is the international language. It's a sport that was invented in America, but it travels the world. It's been an Olympic sport since 1936, and we have worked with many of the countries here.

I'm having as good a time as I've ever had. All systems are go.

A substantial amount has been done for the baseball and football teams. I'm here personally to find out whether the same is being considered fairly for the NBA.

There are different uniforms for different occasions. There's the uniform you wear on the court, there's the uniform you wear when you are on business, there's the uniform you might wear on your casual downtime with your friends. . . . We're just changing the definition of the uniform that you wear when you are on NBA business.

That's a road you have to follow if you want to be considered among the great ones. The campaign last year about the Finals was 'where legends are born,' and I think you could have said that for the playoffs. ... Clearly in order to write yourself large in NBA history, you've got to be in the playoffs.

Russ and I have worked together on a daily basis for 29 years and everyone in the NBA family is aware of the enormity of his contributions to the success and growth of the league during that time,

I think it's fun to have the discussions about Kobe. I think it's a terrific water cooler subject. Can he go for 100 Can he outscore a team by himself

We think that our players are the most talented athletes in the world and people come to watch them play, not to fight, bump and knock each other down.

I think Dave has a very keen understanding of assets and their values. I understood him (buying the Blues) as a sign of great confidence he had in the new NHL model and ... that he thought he would be able to buy the team and profit on it. And I have no d

Abdul-Jabbar is not the only former NBA player looking -- without success -- to get back in the game. There are numerous Hall of Fame players who would like an opportunity to work in the NBA, ... and hundreds more who are not in the Hall of Fame. We field calls, meet with many of them and sometimes even hire them in our coaching camps to expose them to teams. In the end, the marketplace takes care of itself.

We've got an extraordinary number of good cops at the NBA.

Of all the cities, Oklahoma City was the best geographical match in terms of travel for our teams. If the Hornets do well in Oklahoma City, we expect that they would not return economically hobbled.

We have the assets, the resources, the marketing and business operations to make this work. This is what we're geared to do.

I think he's living up to those expectations and doing better than a lot of people thought he would, the so-called basketball experts.

From everything we have seen and heard, we have little doubt that New Orleans will soon regain its place among the world's premiere cities for hosting major sporting events.

Have you been around South Beach Most of the people I see with chains are elderly Jewish gentlemen. I don't know what he's talking about. There's no rule we have that doesn't affect several hundred young African-American men. You can't play the race card here without having it flipped back at you.

The perception problem was there, and therefore it was real, ... We were focusing on that issue even before the brawl, but it certainly was an exclamation point in terms of perceptions of NBA players. We've got to do a better job of both acknowledging it and working to correct it.

You're going to see enormously strong products like the Olympics and Monday Night Football remain strong network programming, and you are going to see programming that controls audiences on a Sunday or Saturday afternoon ... that will still be attractive to a certain degree to the over-the-air networks, ... But then for other sports programming you are going to see a migration to cable.

Our attendance record is further evidence of the extraordinary connection that exists between players and fans. We are thankful for our fans continued support and passion for the game.

I fully expect to be visiting Seattle in the relatively near future to weigh in on that subject and I'm quite on record as saying that Seattle has what is the least competitive lease in the league, which is a decided economic disadvantage. I think if that situation is not ultimately improved ... I think that the board of governors at the expiration of the lease would be inclined to listen to their partner's request for an opportunity to be in a place where there is a good lease and a good facility.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Charlotte back into the NBA, since we appreciate how supportive their fans have been in the past. We are particularly excited to have Robert Johnson as our newest owner. Bob has shown a great understanding for building a new company, and we are confident in his ability to develop a strong NBA organization.

Always with respect to who plays where, intentionally losing was always an issue. It's something we're going to live with.

The commissioner stopped short of saying the incident set the league back to the 1970s, when its image was of drugs and militants. I didn't see that at all, ... In fact, in a funny kind of way, business was OK. ... Dress codes are a separate issue, a lot less important, but apparently more important to a lot of people than we would have thought.

As it's properly understood, it will be embraced, ... The union's fine with it. It's quite liberal and easygoing.

I've taken the tour, sampled the fare, looked at the extraordinary video board this is one exciting building. You cannot miss the video board, it is simply the best in the league.

NBA teams have embraced the NBA Development League as a place to give their young roster players the opportunity to improve and as a source for game tested talent in case of injury. As a result, more investors are seeking to bring the D-League to their communities.

Intel and Microsoft are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make that happen. They're smart companies. They make intelligent bets.

He's grateful he's been given a chance to live his life. Like all human beings he has good and bad.

There's no doubt the city is making progress.

I would say that the city is making it pretty clear of what they want us to do, and we'll accommodate them.

This is an extraordinary person who just happens to be amongst the greatest fifty in NBA history and probably the best power forward to play the game. It's been fun to be along for that ride.

We think the nature of our fan would change dramatically because (inside) information becomes, you know something, you make a bet, somebody tells you something else and perhaps you even go away from the game unhappy because the home team won but they didn't cover.

The NBDL continues to attract significant interest from successful businessmen around the country, further enhancing the league's vitality,

Obviously, there will be issues, no matter what the system. I'm sort of disinclined to change it, but we're going to get the data, and maybe something will emerge from a little data mining that will suggest that we have it all wrong, or a little bit wrong, and then we'll make the change.