NBA bad guys

Blinded!

David Stern was completely confused. Phil Knight was the big boss in the sports world, and he actually took the initiative and said he wanted to call and support someone. This is simply too difficult.

Not to mention one person, even ten people would be praised by David Stern.

You know, when I said I wanted to praise Michael Jordan, I put a lot of effort into it. How is this possible?

However, David Stern is also very curious. Who does Phil Knight want to support? Is the potion the one he wants to support?

David Stern asked: "Mr. Phil Knight, then I want to know, which newcomer do you have your sights on?"

Although Phil Knight was also helpless, the giant behind him had already spoken. He had to tell what happened, so he said slowly: "It's a Chinese player, his name is Wu good."

David Stern was slightly startled and said, "What, why are you praising this young man?"

After asking this question, David Stern himself was actually a little curious.

In fact, before this, David Stern also thought about praising Wu Liang, a young man, but he is a rookie and does not have certain resources. Is it too early to praise him now?

Regardless of Wu Liang's strength, he has a large market behind him.

You know, David Stern has actually been coveting this huge market for a long time.

Since 1984, David Stern has been committed to the development of the Chinese market. Thanks to his efforts, the NBA has ushered in a period of rapid development in China for decades, making countless children fall in love with basketball. Today, China is the NBA's largest overseas market. The man has passed away, but his achievements will live on forever. The stories between Stern and China are a model of the global development model of professional sports, and are worthy of being remembered by every one of us who loves basketball.

In 1984, Stern took office as NBA president. His story with China actually began in that year. At that time, China had just begun its reform and opening up, and various undertakings were waiting to be developed. But David Stern, who has a vicious vision, seems to have set his sights on the Chinese market, hoping to promote the NBA to this distant eastern country.

Stern recalled in a speech: "At the end of 1984, I attended an event at the Springfield Basketball Hall of Fame with relevant people from the Chinese Basketball Association. I said to him at the time, 'If the Chinese men's basketball team can come to the United States to play, A game will definitely increase our friendship to a great extent.' Of course, all this is not as simple as it is said now, but soon after we received a telegram, which told us when the Chinese men's basketball team will arrive, that’s how it all started.”

Stern revealed that the Chinese men’s basketball team played a game with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Including "Cardinal" Auerbach and "Bone Crusher" Unseld all participated in this friendly match. To this day, the video of that game is still archived at NBA headquarters. This matchup, which has almost been forgotten by people, was the starting point of exchanges between the NBA and China during the Stern era.

After this, David Stern's desire to promote the NBA to China became even stronger. In 1989, he came to BJ in person, hoping to bring the NBA to China's TV screen. So there is the familiar story. Stern appeared at the door of CCTV, waited for a long time in the cold wind, and finally reached a cooperation agreement with CCTV.

"I thought we had an appointment, but Mr. Li from CCTV said there was no appointment information in his record," Stern recalled. Since foreigners entering CCTV need to seek permission from their superiors, David Stern could only wait. "Because I am very stubborn, I said, OK, I want to meet him no matter what." he said.

Perhaps it was Stern's sincerity that impressed the relevant personnel at CCTV, and the NBA video was broadcast on Chinese TV screens. In the first few years, the NBA provided free videotapes to China. In 1994, CCTV broadcast the NBA Finals live for the first time. Since then, it has been broadcast for more than 20 years. Later, when Stern recalled the past events at BJ in 1989, he still said firmly: "At that time, I made up my mind that the NBA must enter the Chinese market. The history of playing basketball here is almost as long as that in North America. It's just that Many people have forgotten it!”

The entry of live television has further expanded the NBA's influence in China. In 1999, Wang Zhizhi became the first Asian player selected by the NBA. In 2001, he officially landed in the NBA and became a pioneer. Then in 2002, David Stern pronounced Yao Ming's name first in the NBA draft. He was selected by the Rockets with the first overall pick in the first round, becoming the first foreign No. pick without an American basketball background.

At the same time, Wang Zhizhi, Battelle, and Yao Ming were all playing in the NBA, which further increased Stern's ambition to expand into the Chinese market. He began to create gimmicks such as "Chinese Derby" and "Yao Shark Showdown" to attract more Chinese fans to pay attention to the NBA. More importantly, in 2004, Stern brought the NBA preseason games to China. The Kings and Rockets played two authentic NBA games in BJ and Shanghai, which made Chinese fans enjoy watching them.

"It was a wise move to choose Yao Ming to play in China. There were huge crowds of people and the atmosphere was very warm, just like a Beatles concert," Stern said.

In fact, it was not easy to organize the NBA China Game back then. Among them, David Stern has made great efforts. In fact, in 2001, David Stern once promoted a performance game called the NBA Starlight Game to land in China. At that time, stars such as Ray Allen and Gary Payton had already decided to go. However, due to the "911" incident, the game was canceled.

Three years later, Stern finally made up for his regrets with the NBA China Game. Once the China Games is held, it will take more than ten years. Players including James, Curry, Howard, Wade, Paul, Anthony and other players have all stepped onto the stage of the NBA China Game.

By 2019, the valuation of the NBA China market has exceeded US$40 billion, and the number of fans watching NBA games through various platforms has reached hundreds of millions. It has to be said that the development history of NBA in China can almost be regarded as a miracle in international business operations. And all of this is inseparable from David Stern's great wisdom and his foresight.

Unfortunately, after Stern stepped down as NBA president, the new head Adam Silver did not seem to continue the good tradition. The "Morey Incident" in the fall of 2019 brought the relationship between the NBA and China to a freezing point. Decades of hard work were destroyed in a few days. Now that Mr. Stern has passed away, in addition to lamenting the greatness and immortality of his life, the current situation of the NBA in China is even more lamentable.

Over the past many years, some people have been trying to decipher the secrets of the NBA's success in China. This is actually very simple. Mutual respect is the prerequisite for all cooperation. Back then, the NBA won the hearts of the Chinese people step by step. But now that people have passed away, those beautiful past and memories seem to be gone with the wind.

Therefore, as the then NBA president David Stern, he had long been eyeing this market.