David Stern, A 76ers Remembrance Podcast

this game global. On New Year's Day, Stern passed away at the age of seventy seven, and since then there have been plenty of stories shared across the league about the former commissioner's remarkable run, and we've got a few of our own. Innovator thought leader for Alliant, a leader of leaders, he was a force. He's a father figure, this legend in his prime. On this episode of the broadcast, members of the seventy six Ers family reflect on David

Stern's life, career, and legacy. How are you doing out there, seventy six Ers pod people. I hope you are great and enjoyable holiday and your two twenty is off to

a nice start. I'm Brian Seltzer, and before we get going, I want to take a moment to remind you that to subscribe to our podcast, which you hope you do, you can go to just about anywhere you get your pods, type in seventy six ers podcast or sixers Podcast Network, and that will take you to our feed, whether it's on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Desktop and mobile, Stitcher, SoundCloud,

tune in. All those places are where you can find our pod and then some and we hope again you do subscribe. Former NBA Commissioner David Stern died Wednesday at the age of seventy seven. He suffered a brain hemorrhage several weeks ago and had been in serious condition after undergoing emergency. Stern was the NBA's longest tenured commissioner. He held the league's top post for thirty years. From all over, from an NBA icon to a former president, tributes have

poured in and the sentiment is unanimous. With the passing of David Stern, the sports world and the world in general lost to Titan Hi. I'm Kreiman Abdul Jabara, and like everyone else, I'm setting by the loss of the former commissioner of the NBA, mister David Stern. He was a giant as far as the game was concerned. What was your reaction to the news of David's turning For me personally, it was a dream come true to step

up on that stage and shaking David's hand. Dan just gaining the relationship over the course of my career with him, my prayers and condulescens ghost was family. Personally, He's met a great deal because when I was younger, I did a lot of stupid things, and it's terrifying to go in his office. He ran a tight chip when he got you in there, but at the meeting he would always tell you, hey, you got to learn from this, grow and mature. Even when he was given it to me,

he did it like a father figure. So I got number love and respect for David and bless him. In learning more about Stern's life for this podcast, it became clear that there are many layers to his legacy. He could be both compassionate and brutally tough, curious and combative. When it came to matters of basketball and beyond. There seemed to be no stone he wouldn't or couldn't overturn.

A native of New York, Stern began his professional career as a lawyer, a vocation that ultimately paved his path to the National Basketball Association, which he joined on a part time basis in the late nineteen sixties. On February first, nineteen eighty four, after serving as Larry O'Brien's right hand man, Stern was named commissioner on a full time basis. He held the post for thirty years until January thirty first, twenty fourteen. Under Stern's watch, the NBA emerged from a

particularly sketchy period to become a force. Individual superstars were born as the league tapped into a global marketplace, and all of this growth was underscored by an air of social responsibility and progressiveness that distinguished the NBA from its peers. Think about the tone Sterns said following Magic johnson stunning public HIV announcement. When Magic understood that he was HIV positive, they asked for the support of his teammates, the Lakers

in the league. Everybody said, this is a very courageous, heroic person on a heroic act, and way all pledge now support and the creation of the w NBA. Kennice Parker a star in that league. What does that meant to your life? It means everything. I went from shooting in the driveway trying to be like Michael Jordan to

trying to be like Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson. We are so thankful for what he's done, you know, for the w BA. Yes, the boom of basketball towards the end of the twentieth century was largely David Stern's doing. He of course, had help along the way, and trusted deputy commissioners, to staffers at the league office, to owners

and the players themselves. Over the past couple of days, I spent time talking to several members of the seventy six ers family about their experiences with Stern, his influence on them, and the impact he had not just on hoops but the world. Why don't we start with a kid fresh out of college and a couple months on the job in the Basketball Operations department of the NBA League Office. At the time, basketball ops at the League office was a smaller outfit and down the hall from

the commissioner. Some of the interactions were by design. Others, we're impromptu. This is Nid Collen, currently assistant general manager for the seventy six ers. I found out quickly that it was important to be prepared for any potential interaction with David prior to joining the organization in twenty sixteen.

He had been at the NBA for twelve years. One time, you know, as a Friday afternoon, and you know, my mind is already focused on the weekends, and you know, twenty two years old, whatever it was, and I hop on the elevator, I here hold it. David jumps on and then just proceeds to grill me on a variety of different things that I didn't perform very well that day. And from that moment forward, any time I would walk out to the elevator, I knew exactly what I'd be

prepared to talk about. I was gonna say, what did your weekend end up? Being? Like a lot of wish I had done something differently, but it clearly whatever that is. Sixteen years later, that elevator ride stuck with me when it comes to Stern and how he operated not just his business but his life. Few things seemed to be left to chance. He was thorough tactical, omnipresent. As someone

told me, he knew everything. These elevator encounters, or perhaps better put, interrogations like the one Cohen recalled, weren't limited to Cohen alone. In one obituary about Stern, Written by ESPN's Adrian Rojanovski. Another elevator tale was told. In this instance, during the late nineteen nineties, Stern just so happened to share a ride with a staffer whose responsibility was overseeing

the league's licensing efforts. Immediately upon getting into the elevator, Stern started peppering this person about the w NBA ball that was being sold in in good stores. He wanted them removed. Nick Cohen, isn't so certain that these quote unquote random runnings were really all that random. Definitely was not an accident. At times, I think, um, you know,

we all have memorable interactions like that. I think that he, uh, he took a lot of pride in having, you know, the people who worked with them motivated to do their best. You needed to be prepared, and he expected that, and his memory was incomparable. He'd ask a question of something and you would offer an answer, and, um, it may be an opinion, but um, a couple months later, you're you're saying, Okay, it didn't quite turn out like I thought it would. Um, well, he's got a lot going on.

There's there's no way he's thinking about that. But sure, enough, it was in his for his recall, everything was bound in the history books, and you were you were kind of on record with him for that. Chris Heck is team president of the seventy six ers. One of his previous stops in his career was at the NBA, where he was Senior vice president of Marketing Partnerships. In one breath, Heck describe Stern like this. They say that he was

the greatest commissioner ever. I almost think that's an understatement. Is this any sport you're saying, Yeah, Yeah, for sure. I worked for him for seven years in New York. I traveled the world with him. Not only was he a leader of leaders, but he was arguably the most brilliant person I've ever been around. And I mean that in every sense, from book smarts to street smarts, to toughness to vision. Then in the next breath, Heck has this sort of thing to say about his former boss. Listen,

the guy was not a waf flower. I mean he's He's was an unbelievably intimidating figure because of the power he wielded, and he had world leaders thinking of him as the guy right. It was unreal to be in his presence in that sense, and being part of his entourage, so to speak. Presence. Presence is a noteworthy word in the context of Stern. What is presence anyway? How would you define it? Presence certainly isn't tangible, and it can

be measured in a variety of different ways. If you've ever seen footage or photos of Stern, or maybe even spotted him at a game in the past, you know his height belies his prominence and influence. Google David Stern and height and you'll immediately be sent to his Wikipedia bio, which lists him as five foot nine. He had Cohen worked with Stern for over a decade. Size had no

bearing whatsoever on Stern's presence. You know, I've seen some articles that um reference, you know, a guy five foot nine. There was no ways five nine. That was pretty pretty generous with David's height. But whatever room he was in, the attention focused on him. It could be him speaking in front of a you know, a group of all stars, it could be the head coaches, whatever it was, everyone kind of everyone's attention went to him, and kind of,

you know, everyone knew who was in charge. I will tell you, you know, he was a you know Stern is not just a name, it was also his PERSONA. Scott O'Neill has been in the NBA for over twenty years, both on the team side and the league side. These days, he's the chief executive officer of harn Splitzer Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the seventy sixers. Before the Sixers,

Scott ran Madison Square Garden Sports. Before that, he was Senior vice President of Team Marketing and Business Operations for the NBA. All these years later, the four digit extension from Starns line at the league office is still ingrained in O'Neill's mind, and he's not alone when that number eighty three flash on your phone, it was not a warm and fuzzy feeling. You know he was coming with heat.

It would not be surprising to see that extension eighty three hundred pop up and David's calling to check in on whatever it might be and need Cohen. It was critical that you were prepared and ready with the answers at your fingertips there, and he had a lot to cover and be responsible for, and he expected that people would be ready and that his time would be well spent. Chris Heck, the tricky part is that he could call you and you just be like his assistant would call

and say, be up there in thirty seconds. And then you feel, what, Oh, it's it's Principle's office times ten, you know, and you're just scared to death. But also know that he's calling you up there for a reason. He's not doing it for an exercise. He's doing it for efficiency and for function, and and that was a great honor to give him information and know that you actually knew what you were talking about. O'Neill used words like treacherous, intense, and high pressure to describe some of

the calls he got from Stern back then. Now he reflects on Extension eighty three hundred fondly, he wanted and deserved and demanded excellence. I mean he used to talk about every meeting I was in with him, he used to talk about the relentless pursuit of perfection over and over and over again. Stern totally understood that what he was striving for wasn't actually attainable. That didn't curb his

ambition one bit. He had a common refrain that were constantly on the road to perfection, knowing that we're never going to get there, but never stop trying to get there, and he relished kind of those details in an attempt to achieve perfection. I remember actually sitting with David and

I think it was Detroit at one time. Yeah, it was a Pistons game in Detroit against Cleveland, and I believe it was the Eastern Conference finals when Lebron was first or second year player, and I was sitting next to him and he said, how much does that sign cost over there? And I'm like, uh, you know, stumbled a little bit, and then he just kept going. He had this unique method of making you prepare, and if you didn't prepare, you were You were not there for long.

You were not there for long. I take it as a true badge of honor of being there for seven years. Nothing so about him. He was He was sarcastic, he was right, he was New York through and through. Of all Stern's qualities, there was one that stood out above the rest. His intellect was second to none. I saw a man who would wake up every day thinking he didn't know anything. This deep knowledge of everyone's business was

beyond belief. His depth and breadth of knowledge inside the NBA in sport, but outside current events, a lot of things that he was passionate about outside of basketball, he immersed himself in it. He was a voracious reader and would constantly quiz employees on what they were or weren't

up to speed on. He was into a lot of things like politics and had his opinions, and when he would find out that you may be on the other side of the aisle, he would go right after you, so you would have to be prepared, which I secretly enjoyed those confrontations, both with business as well as, you know, personal beliefs. He would read and study, and he was interested in politics and life sciences and business just as

much as he was in sports. He read every newspaper, He read all the trades from all these different aspects of life and business and geopolitics, and I think he understood that sports has that special place in the cross section of it all, and that we provide that little slice of escapism that's so necessary in building communities and changing lives. He was NonStop and his mind was continuously

running on ways that he could have an impact. Stern's influence on both the NBA and the international sporting community is the kind of thing you measure in massive milestones, and how he managed watershed moments. Through it all, Stern relied on a consistent stable of external partners to help

him execute his fish. There were the teams that made up the league and the businesses that supported it, But the success of any sports league, to a certain extent, hinges on the relationship it has with the people responsible for actually providing and creating the product. In this case, yeah, that would be the players. More of this David Stern Rememberance podcast in just a moment. But here's the thing. The regular season is about to pick up. We are

zooming towards the All Star Game break. There are some marquee matchups on the home schedule ahead. The problem is it is tough to get in to the center. The good news is this. You can get priority access for two twenty twenty one season tickets by signing up today for Club seventy six, the official season ticket waiting list of the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. Other benefits include exclusive seventy Sixers gear and access to special ticket offers and

events all year long. For more information, go to Sixers dot com slash join Club seven six. You can email Club seven six at seventy six ers dot com or called two on five three three nine seven six seventy six. And while we are in the throws of winner right now it has recently got particularly cold, it is never too early to start making plans for the summer, especially

for your kids. Yes, seventy six Ers Camps, presented by Rothmann Orthopedics empowered by EESF is now open for registration today and overnight camps are available throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware for boys and girls ages five to seventeen. For more information, visit seventy six Erscamps dot com or call six zero six six eight seven six seven six.

About David Stern and the NBA players, sometimes circumstances called for Stern to stay and with the players, other times he was forced to line up opposite them, either way looking out for the best interests of the NBA and protecting the league. We're always at the root of his decisions. They see the narrative of business person tough, but then you also have the side where he related to the players. He related to us. Elton Brand played in the NBA

for parts of seventeen seasons. David Stern was the league's commissioner for one thousand and two of Brand's one thousand and ninety six career games. Very personable, charismatic person and it was genuine like this is business, this is who I am. You know, we can talk and we can be friends, but if we have a deal, we need to get the best deal from both sides and make sure that we can grow this business and grow this

pie of the NBA, which he did for the players. Brand, of course, is in the midst of his second season as the seventy six ers general manager. Over the course of his All Star career and as he continues to do now in his role as an executive, Brand took advantage of opportunities to try abroad in an effort to grow the game. That was one of Stern's top initiatives and biggest accomplishments. Basketball, NBA sports breaks a lot of

barries around the world. So when we went to Asia with the NBA, I went to Russia with the NBA, went to Mexico with the NBA and to see the fans, just to see the smiles in their faces they knew the players. You know, that's there's like Elan Brand twenty and ten. You know, it's just like wow, like, how do you know who I am? How do you know about the NBA? How do you follow this like they did? And just growing the business of it and also relating to different cultures. You can go to my laptop. I'm

gonna pull up some archive photos. I think this was from two thousand and six from a European tour that you were part of. I see Tim Duncan in there, Andre Gadalashawan, Maryon, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, David Stern When he would accompany you guys on trips like this. How close was the interactions with players? Were there certain things that he spoke to about as far as the league's responsibility to promoting the game overseas and abroad. Absolutely, absolutely

to just be him and us. It wouldn't be a lot of you know, other staff or employees. He just want to relate to us, you know, as a group and as a leader, and get our thoughts and what we didn't like, what we felt we can do better, or what the league could do better, and really caring as what we felt. We felt that he really cared about us and he wanted to care about the business

but he cared about us as humans. The most prominent and powerful example of Stearn's capacity to empathize with players to rally around them was arguably his full fledged, proactive support of Magic Johnson in the aftermath of the Hall

of Famers Shocking HIV press conference. It was nineteen ninety one, and at that time, fear and confusion surrounding HIV AIDS was at its peak once again, Ned Cohen, if you asked David what his major achievements were during his time, um, you know, he'll cite things like the changing in the worldview regarding HIV and AIDS after Magic Johnson, Uh, you know in ninety one, and uh, you know, elements that

relate to societal progress. He took great pride in the platform and the support for NBA players to have impacts in their communities and with their voices, and so I think that's another area that he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for. Elton Brand was twelve years old when Magic made his announcement. He remembers what the national dialogue surrounding HIV AIDS was like in the early nineteen nineties.

He was young. Then. Time has given Brand an even greater appreciation for the steadfast support the league through behind Johnson and his desire to use his diagnosis as a platform to promote public awareness. It's great symbolism, it's great support, and it was needed, you know, just from an educational standpoint. I was a kid. I'm thinking you can get HIV from someone shaking your hand from sweat, and I'm just like, oh,

they're gonna play against them. Other players may have came out and says some things at the time, and it's like for him to stand up, you know, in hindsight and kind of create create a barrier from that stigma and this is not true. You can play, you can you know, have a life, you can live with HIV, and we're going to support one of ours that's dealing

with this issue. It was a great statement. Another one of Stearn's great success stories working in partnership with the players, came less than a year later, in the summer of nineteen ninety two. I think there's a pretty decent chance that a couple of you out there probably weren't even a thought on the great great hour of life at that point in the time. Me I was just on the cost of entering the prime of my sports craving youth.

Elk Brand was too following a Dream Team. As I said, is this amazing example of you know, the greatness of the NBA players, the visibility of the NBA players. The Dream Team was incredible. I was captivated by during the Olympics in Barcelona, the best American basketball players all in a single squad, absolutely destroying the competition. Charles Barkley led the team scoring, and the United States scored over one hundred points in each of its six games, winning them

all by no fewer than thirty eight points. That's how good this group was. And David Stern was largely credited and rightfully credited for convincing owners to let their players compete on a larger, more significant scale than the Americans winning the gold medal that year. Was that the Dream Team's run only made basketball that much more popular and accessible,

both at home and around the world. They were rock stars, you know, everywhere they went there was crowds and Michael Jordan and you know, Scottie Pippen and Barkley and the Magic Bird, like they're just rock stars around the world. That was my first time, you know, really understanding that it was bigger than the US. The NBA was an actual global game, and Davids third played a pivotal part in allowing NBA players to represent their countries in the Olympics.

And I further represented the USA and in many competitions. But we're talking about opening doors. That's another door he opened up. He was a driver for the Dream Team coming into you know, into effect in ninety two. The US team was miles ahead of the game across the world. And you look at it now where I think it was one hundred and eight international players part of the NBA at the start of this season, so you know,

nearly a fourth of the league. So not only the presence of those international players, but the impact and the style of play that that has influenced over time. During Stern's watch, the NBA held its first regular season games in Japan, Mexico, and England. Preseason games were played in Italy, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Spain, China, and Brazil. You heard the telling stat that Ned Cohen rattled off that roughly a quarter of the league's players now were

born outside the United States. On the seventy six ers roster alone this year, eight of their seventeen players have foreign citizenship. Players worked with Stern to grow the game across the world, and in turn, he helped them become on balance, more recognizable than any of their peers from

the other American professional sports Chris Hack. What the NBA is now are these global superstars that are also icons, and you know, particularly with social media today and how the world has become smaller um their superstars off the court too, and I think that he recognized that before anyone else. Elton Brand praised David Stern for creating an environment in the NBA in which players could be themselves.

You could actually say what you wanted to say, have an opinion, and it wasn't about just catering to what the NBA needed and what their messaging was. You can be free. You felt free being within the NBA under his leadership, for sure, and he's left the you know, great legacy that we continue to pave that path for future generations. But again he started with that. He pushed the superstars and you know, the Michael Jordan's of the world, and just how that blew the NBA up to just

the level that it is now. The relationship between Stern and one of his most vital external partners, the NBA players, wasn't always harmonious. Now, be getting the threat of or resolving work stoppages comes hand in hand with any commissioner's job. Stern helped guide the league through lockouts in nineteen ninety eight and two thousan eleven, both of which cost the NBA games. In between, there was the infamous Sad Game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers in November

of two thousand and four. That was a brawl that spilled over into the stands, and it was at a time when the NBA was, you know, in players and the superstars were not very well regarded. We're not here to rehash one of the more disappointing events in the history of a proud league, but the punishments that Stern handed down to the players involved were swift, steep, and historic.

In the room, there were a thousand reasons why he couldn't, shouldn't, and wouldn't do what he purported to do, which was suspend a lot of players, you know, but he did it, and I just saw it close and personally, I'm not sure how to explain it without giving up the confidence in the room other than to say that, you know, I saw true leadership and stewardship and willingness to make the tough decision, the tough call and do what needed to be done at a time when the basketball fans

around the world needed to see it done. Another ripple effect resulting from the Fight of the Palace was the dress code change that Stern implemented. Initially, there was some resistance. I remember when the whole dress code thing went down. I would remember discussing it for with him for hours on a plane, and he was just like, I think

it'll be nice. It'll be we'll shake it up a little bit, and it was ended up being this brilliant maneuver to highlight players off the court, as opposed to in the beginning was like no ripped jeans and wear a collared shirt. Now everybody wearing some unique fashion statement. I dare you to find me a team's Instagram or Twitter feed that doesn't have a pregame drip carousel post. It's consistently, at least for us at at six Ers, one of our most engaging pieces of game day content.

Players might not have always agreed with Stern, but in the end they did respect him. He made sure they knew where he stood, like it or not, and that it was clear that he was doing what in his mind was right for the game. He followed like, I was on the board, I was on the committees, and you know I represented the team, you know in some of those meetings, and it's he was quite honest. It's like we need to clean us up consumers television. You know, he explained it in a way that he said, Okay,

this is bigger than me at this point. Fair unfair for me to not where a throwback jersey or do something on the bench, you know, want to look professional. We understand or the CB what I'd say, disagreements like figure out where we're going to meet at. It's like again, it's it was all cordial. You know, we saw how some of the messaging was. He was tough, but it was never you know, to the bitter end, like we can't grow our business and figure this out. Let's figure

this out was the message. Scott O'Neill, who was at the NBA for nearly a decade, said he's never seen anyone leading crisis like David Stern. There's so many things that David Stern is, and one thing is just an incredible leader. And part of being a leader is this incredible charisma he had and presence, and he could certainly walk into any room and command attention. But I think was more impactful to me was how he made you feel.

You know, he had this special way, in the toughest of times, in full crisis situation, to put his hand on your shoulder or send you a note or say something that was both inspiring, challenging, and made you want to be better, work harder, and think faster. In contrast to Stern's toughness, there was also this human touch element that sounded like it was just as transcendent and felt across all levels of the NBA by the players, team employees,

and at the league office. Growing up Peaks Gun, New York, it's like, ah, you know, no one ever made it to the NBA from here. Why should I think I will? You know, but you see David Stern shaking the hands, you know, all the first round draft picks, and you know, when it's your opportunity, it's it's a relief, it's elation. You know, all he stood for all the NBA stood for as just an honored and privilege to play and get drafted and to shake his hand. It's like it's

like a ceremony. It's like a ceremony, as is the custom for the commissioner of the NBA. Stern would shake hands on stage with each first round draft pick after he announced their names. Brand had the distinction of going number one overall in nineteen ninety nine. There was another connection that he and Stern shared that Stern would tend to bring up whenever he and Brand cross paths. He

always would talk about me being from West Sester, New York. Yeah, he's a New York guy, and he's like, you know, nine one four West Sester, And it was like ant because you have, you know, the commissioner like showing you love like that and knowing about your area and things like that. So that was a special feeling. It was a sense of pride that I felt knowing he was from the area and he, you know, would talk to

me about that perspective from Ned Cohen. I think at times we all feel very busy and wrapped up in what we're doing. His willingness to take time to visit with council support, people he worked with or cared about just left such a lasting impact. If you have the commissioner was willing to spend time with me, you know, when I'm twenty four and you know a coordinator, you know, it just speaks volumes to his investment and care for people.

I spent a lot of time with him, and I'm very blessed and fortunate to be with him and catch him at a time in his career where I think he was very focused on mentoring. And I have friends all over the world to have the privilege and honor of working with him, and I think we all feel the same way. I mean, our lives are forever better and forever different and enriched because of our time with him. Scott O'Neil is one of many to have worked for Stern at the NBA, then later go on to assume

a high ranking position in sports. There's also an NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, NBA president Amy Brooks, Chris Heck with the Sixers, Golden State Warriors president Rick Welts, Caroline and Panther's president Tom Click, and Chris Granger, who

runs the Detroit Tiger and Red Wings. At one point O'Neill thought there was no shot Stern would ever retire from his post as commissioner, But on January thirty first, twenty fourteen, Stern passed the post along to Silver, his protegee. Later that year, in August, Stern wasn't shrined in the

Naysmith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. You could certainly make the case that Stern did as much for the game as anyone aside from the guy whose name is on that building, and even that might be up for debate. Where was it that Stern celebrated success, whether his own or the league's. He just wasn't the kind to hand out compliments. O'Neill was in attendance for Stern's Hall of

Fame ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts. David was not really fond of awards or recognition, so I thought it was kind of funny. I want to ask him if he would ever have a book written, because I was always interested, like I would read the book about David Stern in his life. And he said, no, I've chosen. I chose him a long time ago that I was going to

live for today. And I was not going to worry about my press clippings, he said, long after I'm gone, someone else would be the judge of how well I did or how well I didn't do. And then he added, however, if I did write a book, it would be called Micromanagement is Underrated. And I thought that was so funny, and I said wow. And he later edited that a couple of years later to episodic Micromanagement is Underrated, which he was famous for. So a deep dish thinks were

going wrong? And I said, well, what I said, what would the sequel be? He said, management by fear and intimidation and I literally burst out laughing. I don't know if he was joking. I didn't know if he was serious, but I laughed out loud. These are the types of stories you hear when you start talking to people about Stern, those who knew him best, who worked with him closely. Yes, he was absolutely relentless, but he was also totally revered.

As Commissioner Emeritus of the NBA, there was no slowing Stern down. He definitely did not use the word retirement, nor would it have been fitting ned Cone. Again, you know, the the passion and nature of his his appetite to learn just stands out in such an amazing way. Um So, when I was in New York, um with the League office, as you know, as he made that transition, every couple of months, I'd go a couple of blocks uptown to

his h his office, and we'd we'd sit around. He'd you know, ask a lot about kind of what was going on with me, uh in such a thoughtful sort of way. But he'd also tell me everything that he had going on. And you know, being on the cutting edge of in the sports tech space and advising number of companies, and he was a non stop a little

more than two years ago. The four primary voices you've heard in this piece, Scott O'Neill, Elton Brand, Chris Heck and Ned Cohen all had the opportunity as seventy six ers employees to reconnect with a man who had given them so much. At the team's training complex in Camden, where Stern was visiting to serve as the marquee speaker for a sports science summit hosted by Harris Splitzer Sports

and Entertainment. His mind was sharp, still thinking about the future, stood thinking about brands, still thinking about growing companies, still cares a lot about the NBA and still talked about Westchester. Chris Heck's final in person interaction with David Stern was just days before his brain hemorrhage. I saw him the first week of December. He looks, he looks good, he

looked healthy. The one thing about David was that I'm glad for his sake and that he um, it was strong till the end, right, and so strong minded and enable. And he died at a relatively younger age at seventy seven, but what he squeezed into that seventy seven years is probably one hundred and fifty years. And uh, and that's

that's something special. The last time I corresponded but with David was in mid October DC, right after the birth of my daughter, firstborn, and you know, corresponded by email and you know, fitting in that um. You know, the last time was about something you know, personal and important and you know, life changing for me because he was always there for me and and those other experiences since we got to know each other. So just really memorable

for his support there as well. Scott O'Neill last saw Stern about two months ago at a luncheon for the March of times. We got to spend about about ten minutes together. In typical David fashion, he gave me a hard time about our team and our performance and our business, and then whispered two or three things about a potential investment that I should be looking at, one that he was already invested in, which I always got to kick

out of. He hadn't slowed down, though. He was as busy as ever, as sharp as attack, astute, connected and just a I don't know. He's one of the kind. They'll never ever be anybody like David Stern, whether it's with a written obituary, a video tribute, or a remembrance. Podcasts like this, it really is a challenge to try and put a life like David Starns in the proper context or to do with justice. We appreciate Scott O'Neill, Elton Brand, Chris Heck and Ed Cohen for helping us

try and we hope you enjoyed the listen. Big thanks to Alex Nolan, Ryan McDonald and Lauren Rosen for their help in producing this episode of the broadcast. And as a reminder, you can search seventy six ers podcast or Sixers podcast network wherever you get your pods to follow or subscribe to our feeds. I hope you do. I'm Brian Seltzer. Talk to you next time see it. Oh hey,

you're still there. Great, well if you're still listening. There were a couple of stories that I'd hope to include in the podcast that did not make the final cut, but they were really good anecdotes about David Stern and his relationships and interactions with some of the guys who were interviewed for the podcast. So I wanted to include

them somewhere somehow. We're going to do it here in their raw, unedited form, and we will begin with Ned Cohen, who is the Sixers assistant general manager and he used to work at the NBA office. He did so for twelve years. Ten of them with Stern talking about the basketball fan that was inside David Stern and that for everything else that was said about Stern, one of the things that perhaps has gone overlooked is just how passionate he was for the game. He was responsible for Stewart.

I was going to ask you, maybe just like you know, for someone to do a job to the extent that David did it, and how relentlessly. It seemed like he did it. There had to be a basketball fan in there somewhere, right, So why don't you give us a little bit more on that? I mean, just how much

was he passionate about the game? Yeah? He loved the game immensely, So you know the type of person who you know, certainly watching it with different lenses in mind, all of the things that the league office was responsible for, whether it be kind of administration of the game, officiating,

so on and so forth. But he's watching every night because also because he loved the game and love the transcendent talents that a number of players, UM over time had, the you know, the style and capabilities of those players and teams as a collective, UM and UM you know a few other elements. You know. He he always had his finger on the pulse and whenever, whenever trades occurred, he wanted to not in role, you know, in any sort of UM management or oversight role, but just for

his understanding. He want he had such an appetite to understand what was going on. So you'd pick up you'd pick up the phone, he'd be on the other end, one wondering why both teams did a particular trade. What were they trying to accomplish? And you know, how did that work? And so he uh, you know, he was watching, you know, constantly after you know, after know when he transitioned from commissioner to you know, commissioner meritus because because

he loved the game. Nedko talking about the fan inside David Stern and will play one more story that did not make the podcast, and this one comes from Scott O'Neill, the CEO of Harris Splitter Sports and Entertainment. He was the top man on the business side for the seventy six ers. Before that, worked in the NBA office for a long time with David Stern in the Team Bow division.

And this story took place in two thousand and three when Scott was getting ready to head out on a trip to Denver and Salt Lake City with Stern to do site visits with the Nuggets and the Utah Jazz. Anything else you would want to be I want to happen, Yeah, yeah, I do. I do want to tell I want to tell one quick story. Yeah, I was in um So we were about to fly out to Utah to see the Jazz and Denver to see the Nuggets. And traveling

with David was always an adventure. And I'd gotten a call from his wife I AM the night before and I had never spoke in Troy on the phone. I've met her several times, and she said, hey, m Scott, I'm just calling because David has walking pneumonia and if anything happens to him, I'm holding you responsible. And I kind of chuckled to myself. I said, okay, you know, no problem, I am. Thanks for the call. I'll make

sure I do the best I can. And she said that's not what I'm asking for, and I said, okay. You know, so we got on the plane and we uh he was I mean he was in bad shake. I mean he he was coughing and sick and tired, and I'd never seen him rest even before. But he wasn't bad bad shape. And so we landed in Denver, was snowing, you know, went right to the game, the pregame media, halftime media, postgame media. When I say we he you know, I was kind of a caddy advanced

guy setting everything up. And we got on the plane. We landed in Salt Lake at you know, one on thirty in the morning. You know, he asked me to be in his room at six am so we could start with morning radio. And I said, okay, he's sure, you don't want to rest, And he said some things that weren't very nice, and I said okay, So he had six He gave his room number, so six am I knocked on his door. He's all full suit, suited up.

We get on. We do like four or five radio interviews in Salt Lake Market, and we're driving over together in the car. He's always sat on the front seat. I was sat in the back and the driver obviously, and I had prepared notes because he was about to speak to just three hundred season take the hold of

sweetholders and sponsors. Then we're gonna see Larry Miller, the man you rest in peace, the former owner of the Jazz And then we're gonna do a walk through with the with the two coaches, and then see the referees and go to the game. And and so we're driving up and I said, hey, David, you know, would you like to see the message points. He's like, I know

what I'm doing. I was like, oh, okay, you know, I'm just you know, we're about to see three hundred people, and you're gonna be up there with no notes, so I just want to give you a heads up, like if you could just review these message points. He's like, leave me along, and I was like, oh boy, I've never heard this. He gets on the phone called somebody at the office and he's carrying on, and so I'm

kind of waiting patiently. And we get to the dock where where you kind of right where the ramps where you go down to park, and he rips the message points out of my hands from the front seat, spends about fifteen seconds on three pages of notes and I probably spent six hours on throws them back at me they're unstable to the go all over the back, and uh walks up to the podium, walk straight to the podium, shakes a couple of hands, and hits every single message

point in three pages that I prepared. And I literally when he got off and I'm like, I literally was like, do you have a photographic memory? And he just winked. He's like, it's not my first rodeo kid were on for the next meeting, and I thought, holy moley, this is just I am. I am seeing and experiencing greatness. It was awesome, He's an amazing executive and even a

better man. Great stuff from Scott O'Neill. And yeah, like I kind of said in the podcast, Stern was this guy who seemed to lead with intimidation and certainly had the ability to strike fear in his employees. But like all these people who talked about Stern did so with such high reverence for the guy, so clearly a pretty special person who without question left such a huge, huge mark on a game that so many of us love follow, allow, root for, live and breathe and all that good stuff.

All Right, this time I'm signing off for good. Thanks so much for listening. If you hung around this long, we'll talk next time here on the broadcast. See you