The outpouring of praise for former NBA Commissioner David Stern upon his passing yesterday has been continual and unstinting. Deservedly so, as few sports executives have shaped the landscape as dramatically as Stern did during his tenure from 1984-2014.
Today Henry Abbott of TrueHoop.com reminded readers that legacies are usually more complex than is portrayed publicly, especially for a person who with as much influence as Stern had as commissioner. In a public posting, also emailed to site subscribers, Abbott tackled the conflicting images of Stern as kindly father figure and ruthless power broker.