The National Basketball Association continues to mourn the death of former commissioner David Stern, with league executives remembering him as a commanding and complicated leader who many regard as having been one of the greatest commissioners in sports.
Adam Silver, who succeeded Stern as NBA commissioner in 2014, called him a “mentor” and “friend.” Stern, who died Sunday at the age of 77, three weeks after being hospitalized for a sudden brain hemorrhage, is survived by his wife, Dianne, and their sons, Andrew and Eric.
“Like every NBA legend,” Silver said in a statement, “David had extraordinary talents, but with him it was always about the fundamentals — preparation, attention to detail, and hard work. But over the course of 30 years as Commissioner, he ushered in the modern global NBA.”
“He launched groundbreaking media and marketing partnerships, digital assets and social responsibility programs that have brought the game to billions of people around the world,” Silver continued. “Because of David, the NBA is a truly global brand — making him not only one of the greatest sports commissioners of all time but also one of the most influential business leaders of his generation.”
San Antonio Spurs CEO R.C. Buford, the team’s general manager during Stern’s time as commissioner, remembered him as a man of “clear vision and purpose.”
Buford and the Spurs certainly had their battles with the league office while Stern was in charge. It was Stern who hit the Spurs, which many consider the organization that popularized the “rest” trend in the NBA, with a $250,000 fine in 2012 for doing exactly that when the team played the Miami Heat in a primetime matchup. The Spurs rested star players Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green by sending them home, an action Stern called a “disservice to the league and our fans.”
Despite any differences during Stern’s reign, Buford joined in with other NBA executives around the league who remembered Stern as the person who changed the image and economics of the league.
“He built our game to a significant position, not only domestically but around the world. He had an impact on basketball across so many platforms,” Buford said.
During his 30-year tenure, from 1984 to 2014, Stern took the NBA from a 23-team organization struggling to make a profit to a 30-team operation whose revenue increased by 30 times to a reported $5 billion. He helped boost its attraction by expanding its presence outside the United States through marketing and television broadcasts in more than 200 countries and regions in 49 languages.
He also presided over four NBA lockouts and led efforts to create two new leagues, the Women’s National Basketball Association and the NBA Development League; implemented the first dress code and first anti-drug agreement in professional sports, and introduced salary caps and revenue sharing to the league.
Philadelphia 76ers CEO Scott O’Neil, who worked for Stern in the league office, said Stern read “stacks of newspaper articles” to study international affairs as he attempted to reach a bigger audience for the NBA.
“It wasn’t sports,” O’Neil told CNBC. “He wasn’t reading about the Atlanta Hawks versus Milwaukee game. He was reading about life science, and politics, the emerging economy in Brazil and India, and the incredible market that Africa is today. He understood the geopolitical impact and influence that it would have on this game.”
Neil Olshey, the Portland Trail Blazers president of basketball operations, said “for those of us fortunate enough to work in this league under David’s leadership, he elevated the standard of excellence in all areas of basketball operations and required you to always be at your best.”
Golden State Warriors Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts called Stern the “single most important individual” in the history of the NBA.
Welts worked under Stern as the league’s chief marketing officer and president of NBA Properties until 1999 before leaving the NBA to become president of Fox Sports Enterprises.
In a video statement provided by the Warriors, Welts called Stern a “mentor.”
Said Welts: “I used to joke that my greatest success of my life was directly reporting to David Stern for 17 years and living to tell about it, because it was, some days, an amazing challenge.
“I had a complicated relationship with him, like everybody else,” Welts continued, “but at the end of the day, he was a friend, he was a mentor, and his inspiration, creative genius, innovation, ingenuity are the things that really created the NBA that we know today.”
Though Stern reported to the league’s owners, he was also seen as a commissioner who had the players’ best interests in mind when it came to growing league revenue.
Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan, who was drafted by the Chicago Bulls the first year Stern became commissioner, told The Athletic that Stern created “opportunities” for players to grow their brands. Last year, the Jordan brand’s parent company, Nike, announced the line reached its first-ever $1 billion quarter.
“His vision and leadership provided me with the global stage that allowed me to succeed,” Jordan told the subscription-based sports media company. “David had a deep love for the game of basketball and demanded excellence from those around him — and I admired him for that. I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”
In a text message to CNBC, Roger Montgomery of sports agency Elite Athlete Group added: “His legacy of turning the NBA and the game of basketball into what it is today has made it possible for me to be a part of the awesome opportunities I’m experiencing as an agent. Thank you, Mr. Stern.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
