WEBVTT - The Inside Stuff 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.960 What makes a compelling sports story? Is it a tale 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:07.680 about bitter rivals. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:09.280 Fighting for a chance to even the score. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:11.000 Larry Burn to Paris. 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:13.640 They give it a magic He's got Pooper on his. 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:18.639 Right time perfectly, the past was high, perfectly the bass. 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.639 Is it the underdog story, the team that mounts a 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.400 comeback against all odds. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.639 That's over, that's over. Cleveland is a city of champions. 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:30.320 Once again. 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.560 In the forty years I've covered this league, I've seen 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:36.559 those portrayed as villains. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.920 It's been Detroit and they open up with a hate 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:40.560 to nothing leaves. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:43.720 Do you think the Pistons have gained a little respect. 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:45.720 As comedic protagonists? 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:47.960 I don't know anything about Angola. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:49.760 Angola's in trouble. 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:56.680 New characters introduced. Oh about destroyed. 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:05.400 And the occasional superhero who, of course can fly. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.280 Michael taking off the patented tongue comes out just in 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:09.920 front of that life. 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:11.160 Look this the devil clutch, the. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.000 Reach out and the stuff you got forty. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:17.360 Nine here's Bob Costas. 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:21.480 We covered these stories together on the NBA on NBC. 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.720 It was an ongoing soap opera, not just basketball drama, 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.520 but personal drama. And you think of how vivid the 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:35.280 characters were Jackson and Jordan and Pippin and Rodman, and 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.959 then the antagonists Isaiah and the Pistons, Barkley on the 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:41.040 Sons who gave. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.000 Them a run triple overtime in the finals. I remember 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.440 on my birthday in Chicago. 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:56.520 Two minutes ago, I us third overtime open champers James 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:01.000 we in our sub track. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:06.520 Now the field goal, now the shock shot kJ Barkley. Yeah, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:07.800 that was unbelievable or. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.920 Even even think of their battles in the Eastern Conference 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:12.400 with the Knicks. 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:16.200 For help, but caught what's up. 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.600 A great corner as. 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:21.880 The biggest star wasn't doing. 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:23.760 The biggest star was Riot, you know, right off the 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.679 page's and GQ came from the Lakers, and he was 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.639 going to pose a challenge and he did. 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:31.000 He scared me. 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.720 Pat Riley though. He was so intimidating. I had to 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.200 interview him all the time, and you know, at halftime, 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:38.320 and I. 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.079 Remember on the way to the locker room interviewing him. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.200 He was he was intimidating, Yes, he was. 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.600 I always got along with him because I had that 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.240 buffer year in between the Lakers and the Knicks. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.880 He was with us on the first NBA showtime. 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:52.840 Do I have to go first? 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:54.680 Yeah, the basket actually been moved a bit closer. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.320 I don't mean to throw you off. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.400 Riley does not get the boone an opportunity to move 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:02.079 into a tie. 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.320 Wait a minute, I get to spin around on the wire. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.240 Here, all right. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.200 The one I remember with you in ninety four, the 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.239 Knicks take on Elijah on and the Rockets and game 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.400 seven is close, but lose it. They went to Houston 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.120 up three games to two, and Houston wins six and seven. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.000 And we know how dejected Pat was, and it was 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.480 your job to find him. And you actually walked into 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.160 the locker room, into the coaches room and opened the door, 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:30.600 and I remember that his back was to you, and 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.560 he turned around and he realized, you know, he couldn't 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.600 blow you off. But that was pretty gutsy on your 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.320 part because you didn't know what reaction you would get. 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.840 We're coming in the next locker room right now to 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:43.120 talk to coach Pat Riley. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.200 Pat, we're live on the air. If you can come 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:45.840 up here, please. 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.040 Dick Eversaw, who at the time was the chairman of 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:55.080 NBC Sports, so it was so involved behind the scenes, says, 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.400 tell Hannah she has to go in the locker room 0:03:58.800 --> 0:03:59.800 live on the air. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:00.800 I was terrified. 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.760 We came out of commercial and so I remember as 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.400 I'm opening the door, I said, coach, we're. 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.600 Live on the air. Just somebody wouldn't kill me. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:12.360 That was important. 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:18.800 Literally ask the John Starks question. Thanks coach, Bob. And 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.400 then you had like fifteen seconds to get us off 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.080 the air. Boom, We're done. 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.400 And at those times we used to fly charter, and 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.320 so I remember getting on the plane and Dick Eversol 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:35.720 standing up and slowly clapping, and I was like, Okay, 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:41.160 I have a job. So many stories make up the 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:45.479 fabric of professional hoops in our country. Here's longtime basketball 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.040 writer Peter Vessie on the ABA days. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.599 You know I can tell you stories off the record. 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:53.279 Nuts. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:58.880 Oh come on, how about how about what come out? 0:04:58.920 --> 0:04:59.800 A couple on the. 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.360 Bring me upside gets inside of me? 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:14.480 So so I remember, you know, the league's fighting for talents, 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.080 players jumping Rick Barry jumping cutting him the other way, 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:23.640 Spencer Haywood, Brisker McDaniels, you know, going both ways. But 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:28.240 then it's seventy again, I think seventy two Charlie Scott 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.840 jumped from the Virginia Squires to the Phoenix Suns, and 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.880 he gave me the story. And and so I go 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.080 out to Phoenix, and and before I could even like 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:45.120 pick up my bags, this Suns knew that this ABA 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:50.240 writer was in Phoenix. Jerry Colangelo was the president of 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.320 the team in and he wound up telling me years 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:59.120 later that a baggage handler had spotted me and had 0:05:59.240 --> 0:05:59.880 called him. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.080 And I guess who else was in town? 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:06.080 Your father? 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:13.120 Oh, okay, and Johnny Kerr. Johnny Kerr was the general 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.680 manager of the of the Squires at that time and 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.159 also had coached the Sons in the NBA. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.440 So so we're all in town. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:25.760 So I go to the game, and I go to 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:30.479 their practice. I'm allowed to interview him, and I remember, 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.160 I remember Contind Simmons was the coach, and he didn't 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.400 like the line of questioning. Throw me out of his office, 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:39.240 throw me out, that's hard to imagine. 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:41.479 Throw me out of the. 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.719 Why that's what they were practicing at the Wye Christ 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.880 And anyway, so your dad says to me, he calls me, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.480 he knows I'm there, calls me up. He says, look 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.440 would you. He's going to get me in trouble. 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:55.680 I know. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:00.200 But he says, would you mind cornering Paul stile Us 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.919 and ask him if he'd like to jump to the ABA? 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:04.479 Wow? 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.640 I said, yeah, okay, no problem, sure, totally. 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:16.559 Unethical, but I said, so I got Paul. 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.080 I got Paul on the side, and he was with 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.720 Clem Haskins, you know, vividly remembered saying that, you know, 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.520 you guys, you guys could make an awful lot of money. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.120 The ABA is dying to get even with Jerry Colangelo, 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.440 and you guys would easily, you know, make a fortune 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.239 if you decide you want to go the next game, 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.680 the next Sun's game. I'm at court side and I'm 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.880 sitting next to David Wolf, two white guys sitting next 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.600 to each other at this game. And during the first half, 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.720 a guy comes up to David and he hands them 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.040 an envelope and then he just runs and David opens 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:54.360 it up. 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.680 He says, he says, this isn't for me, this is 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:02.680 for him. It was a stubpoena whoa whoa. Colangelo had 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.760 me subpoened, but he gave it to. 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:05.440 The wrong guy. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.640 So hilarious. So you weren't served. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.240 No, I wasn't shot. I left it halftime and went 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:17.680 to the air. It's time to leave, Dodge. 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.000 I heard so many of these stories from my dad, 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:28.360 Mike Storren, former ABA commissioner, and from my friends in 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:32.760 the business, like former NBA entertainment boss Don Spurling with 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.920 this from the Barcelona Olympics and the Dream Team. 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.839 I have a story that I actually beat Michael Jordan 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.200 in a pig pong game and he got so angry 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.840 that the next game I kind of had a play halfway. 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:45.600 So the next game he won. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:47.640 Because the next day we went. 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.839 Out on that famous shoot you know for his home video, 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.520 and we walked around the street to Barcelona and went 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.920 to the you know, and he played cards all night 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.960 till five in the morning, and I was so upsetenting, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:01.800 Oh my god, he's going to crash and sleep. We 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:03.520 only have one day to shoot with him. It was 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.360 the day of the gold medal game. I followed him. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.120 I'm standing over the card game watching these guys play, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.599 and it's burned and it's magic and it's and you know, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.079 Mod's in the room and Barkley and they're all teasing Michael. 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.480 Michael your babysitters here, your babysitters here. I was getting 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.200 crushed by all these guys. So finally, at five am 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.719 he stops. He goes. She goes, I'm going to my room. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.280 I'll be out in a half out. I said, don't 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.920 fall asleep on me. Comes out in that crazy Nike outfit. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.400 We walked the streets and then he goes, do me 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.760 a favor, drop me off at the golf There's one 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.559 golf course right outside. I got my clubs there. I'm 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:41.920 all set. He goes, what do you mean, how are 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.360 you going to get back? He goes, I'll get a 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:45.280 ride back. I said, Michael, you got a game tonight. 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.160 You got the gold medal game against Croatia. He stayed 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.240 up all night. He was up for twenty four hours, 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.600 shot with us all morning. Then he played thirty six 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:59.080 holes of golf thirty six thirty six, showed up at 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.920 the hotel five minutes before the bus left, walked out, 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:04.679 got on the bus and played the gold medal game. 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.760 Guy was up for forty eight hours. He truly is superman. 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:12.680 Larger than life. Characters have been the backbone of basketball. 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:14.000 Dolan I think by the doctor. 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:15.920 Yes, he's got it p carry count. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.560 They rock the baby to sleep and slammed dump swung 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:20.280 that baby. 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.280 And telling these stories in a deeper way was something 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:28.160 Commissioner David Stern was determined to do alongside former NBC 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.119 Sports president Dick Eversall. 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.959 But you know, you and I were both lucky enough 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.319 to be smack dab in the middle of maybe the 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.760 greatest ear Bird and Magic set it up on CBS 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.640 and then handed it off and the NBA on NBC. 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.800 In the nineties and early two thousands, you had the 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:49.920 six Jordan Bulls Championships, you had the Dream Team in Barcelona, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.839 and then you think that almost immediately after that, when 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.560 Michael retires from the Bulls, you get Robinson and Duncan 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.280 with the Spurs, Kobe and Shaq on three championship run 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.040 in the early two thousands with the Lakers. That was 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.920 a golden era and when you look at the ratings 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.360 of those games, you know, I've often said this when 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.880 people talk about Lebron and Michael. Statistically, you can make 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.960 a case for Lebron, agreed, But in terms of impact, 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.880 it's no context. No little old lady in Omah ever 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.880 said I'd love to play bridge with you tonight, Mildred, 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:28.000 But I have to watch Lebron. But a million little 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.520 old ladies like that all around the world said out 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.920 about Michael Jordan, and they might not have known a 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:34.960 pick and roll from a backdoor play. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:40.840 The NBA became must see TV. Players were pitchmen, movie stars, 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:51.680 and household names. As of twenty twenty three, the NBA 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:56.119 is broadcast in more than two hundred countries and fifty languages. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.760 The average NBA team is worth three point eight billion dollars. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.040 So how did we get here? 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:04.959 Now? 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:09.840 That's a good story. From the NBA and iHeart podcast. 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.920 This is NBA DNA with me Hannah Storm, Episode eleven, 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:24.200 The Inside Stuff. May fourteenth, nineteen eighty one. It's Game 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:29.000 six of the NBA Finals, Moses Malone's Houston Rockets against 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.800 a young Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.920 Don Anderson, Doctor Willoughby, Dobin. 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:37.559 Garrett shot. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:43.040 Y lelev was six seconds off the shot block. 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:44.679 Robert Lee? 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:48.840 Why will Rutor again? 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.280 The Rockets shouldn't be here. 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.600 They have the unfortunate distinction of being the third team 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.959 in history to make it to the finals with the 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:02.120 losing record. Tonight they're playing for their basketball lives. Boston 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.439 leads the series three games to two. At the start 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.880 of the fourth quarter, they're up eighty four sixty seven, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:13.400 but the Rockets go on a tear, scoring thirteen unanswered 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.240 points to pull within three. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:21.080 Unable hope by this, just dude, Boston is called tie up. 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:27.280 It's peak playoff basketball electric to watch, Hey. 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.360 Bird, and he's gonna hit those question shots now eighty 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:31.880 eight eighty three, four minutes. 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:36.680 But there's just one problem. This game is tape delayed, 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.319 meaning if you don't live in Houston or Boston, you're 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:44.600 watching the latest episode of Magnum Pi. The Rocket Celtics 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.439 game will air later at eleven thirty pm Eastern, and 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.040 thanks to the eleven o'clock News, you'll already know the 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:53.760 outcome one a. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.600 World chappion by Boston Celtics. 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.520 Welcome to the NBA of the early eighties. 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:09.400 Between nineteen seventy nine and nineteen eighty one, seven finals 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.720 games were tape delayed. One of the league's many issues. 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:18.199 Attendance numbers were lagging. Drug use among players tarnished the 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:23.440 league's reputation, but along came Deputy Commissioner David Stern to 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.840 change the narrative. As the league changed networks from CBS 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:33.400 to NBC, David Stern approached you, it was in nineteen 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.960 eighty two about creating NBA Entertainment. 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:42.040 What was his vision for the brand In those early conversations. 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.600 David really was a visionary. We used to have these 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.080 meetings this is waiting for Inside Stuff. We would have 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.080 these marketing meetings at the league and I would come 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:51.400 over from NBA Entertainment. 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:56.760 Don Sperling ran NBA Entertainment for fifteen years. He's the 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.040 brains behind the iconic show NBA Inside Stuff. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:05.840 We would talk about how to change the look of 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.120 the NBA. I mean at the time when I got 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.080 to the NBA. I got there in eighty two eighty three, 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.240 that was my first season, the year before the finals 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:18.240 were on in you know, take delay. David's goal was 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.000 to make sure we never had to go backwards again. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.080 So we talked about all the things that we do 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:29.200 and how entertainment could support sponsorship, and how entertainment could 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.320 support properties, and how properties and sponsorship can support our 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.280 network relationships. And we just kept building and we had 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.120 CBS at the time, and then of course eighty four 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.080 Burden Magic happened, Bird and Magic took the NBA Finals 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:43.760 to another level. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.240 Still by Magic Johnson, he anticipated that play by Bird. 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:52.800 Don't see Bird throw too many away? 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.360 Magic looking for Caren quickly back right over. 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:02.760 Sure, So that's what. 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:07.840 Moved the needle initially, was that rivalry. Did you see 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.960 it coming? And how did you take advantage of it? 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.640 One of David's great sayings was it's better to be 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.520 lucky than smart, And I've stuck by that because that's 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.160 I think, that's my career. I've been in the right 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.960 place at the right time. But you do need a 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.160 little luck, but you also have to have smarts like 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:30.080 David had. Okay, and when this rivalry which started in 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.920 seventy nine when they played in college, and then they 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.320 were kind of watching each other as Bird one in 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.480 eighty one and Magic one in eighty two. But then 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:43.160 eighty four the world's collided and we got arguably the 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:44.920 greatest NBA Finals of all time. 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.640 Magic Johnson goes up off the ball and here's Dennis 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.040 Thompson two on one break and. 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:51.040 A rock by Cooper. 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.400 What a play by Cooper. He saved the basket. I's 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:59.440 your basket by off seven games, really crazy, bitter rivalry 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.200 took the Hot Garden, the Laker, you know, showtime pat Riley, 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.719 who was really something to witness. And at that same year, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:09.840 let's not forget who was drafted. 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:16.560 The Chicago Bulls picked Michael Jordan at the University of 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:18.000 North Carolina. 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:19.080 Right, Michael Jordan. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.560 So you know, if you want to talk about timing, okay, 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.840 that's I think that's timing. 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:34.359 During Stern's thirty years as commissioner, the league saw unprecedented growth, 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:40.119 seven new franchises, the creation of the WNBA, a fortyfold 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:45.520 increase in television revenue, zero tolerance for drug use. For 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.840 years before becoming commissioner in nineteen eighty four, David had 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:54.280 laid the groundwork for free agency, established revenue sharing by 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.640 owners and players, and helped negotiate the merger with the ABA. 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:04.600 The app salute explosion, the proliferation of outlets to our 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:09.080 fans provides new non game programming opportunities every time they 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.840 are not watching us, because if they're not watching us, 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:12.439 there's always a. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.560 Danger they might be watching somebody else. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.400 David understood the league was only as marketable as it stars, 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.480 and the NBA set about taking fans behind the scenes 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:27.640 to get to know them. That didn't actually start with Jordan, 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.359 It started with his biggest nemesis. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:35.119 Last year, the Pistons had a three two lead, couldn't 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.080 weave one of the last two. 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:38.440 Now they'll do it. 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:49.119 Without Detroit Pistons, NBA entertainment would not have ascended to 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:53.119 the reputation and the heights they did. Chuck Daly, Isaiah, 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.879 they invited us in, let us go inside the huddle, 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:58.960 let us go inside the locker room. It was the 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.399 first time any team had allowed that. This was literally 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.280 the first access, which is obviously a huge term right 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.920 now in this day and age. So kudos to the 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.760 Detroit Bistons and Chuck Dally love that guy love Big 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:18.520 Daddy Rich as exactly the one of the greatest coaches ever. 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.160 Yeah, Olympic head coach of the Dream Team. I mean 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:24.160 just he was. He was amazing. 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.159 What is it because now we see everything from you know, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.200 Hard Knocks to these access shows that lead up to 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.399 Season X in Sport X. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.240 You know, everybody's doing it. 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.720 But when you think back to the Bad Boys being 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:43.320 the first team that allowed that kind of access, what 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.679 do you think it was about them that they were 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:46.800 confident enough to do. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:51.640 That outside sixty shoot du Mars against Jordan's spins, in turns, fakes. 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:52.760 Lean in shot, got it. 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.320 What a bucket by Joe Dumars. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.439 It was the world against them. I mean the bad boys. 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.240 They were the bad boys. They loved it. They took 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:04.560 that nickname and ran with it. You had even one 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.240 of the greatest players in the history NBA, Isaiah Thomas, 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.800 but there was that edge right bat Nol Lambert. You 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:16.080 had Dennis Rodman. The cast of characters, the personalities was incredible. 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.600 Plus at that time, they were playing against Jordan every 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.919 year and they were They were the ones that Michael 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.120 had to get passed, which he finally did in ninety one. 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.120 But every year, you know, people talk about you need 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.439 a team. The Pistons needed the Celtics to teach them 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.240 how to win, right right, and then the Bulls needed 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.320 Pistons to teach them how to win. And it was 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:41.359 it was like that. I mean the rivalries. You watched 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:44.320 the eighty fourth NBA Finals, you watch eighty six, you 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:50.360 watch the Celtics Pistons. Every single play was life and death. 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:57.159 He's got it, the two five seconds to go, Thomas 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:58.520 wants to get it in quickly. 0:20:58.600 --> 0:20:59.920 You know what it does to Lamberska. 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.119 You called David a mentor of yours. I mean, what 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:15.600 kind of boss was he? 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.639 He was really tough. Okay, I mean I love him 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:24.520 to death, but he was a tough, tough boss. But 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:27.280 he was the kind of guy that would pull you 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:30.760 back in. You know, if there was something going wrong, 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.840 he would let you know in spades. He would he'd 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:37.080 great you a little bit, but he'd build you back up, 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:41.000 you know, so you would learn, and you learn from adversity. Right, 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:43.960 things would go even things that weren't under control, you know, 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:46.960 network games that would happen and we had nothing to 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:49.480 do with it. The network ran the games. Something would 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:52.080 happen during the network games and Sunday night that phone 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:56.080 would ring. If David was yelling, we were okay. If 0:21:56.119 --> 0:21:59.199 he was whispering, then I know I was in trouble. 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.800 He could start a conversation of like, let me ask 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:07.280 you something. When I hired you, Was I the one 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:08.200 who made the mistake? 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:08.639 Or were you? 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:10.760 And then here it comes, here it comes. But then 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.640 by the end of the conversation, he'd build you back 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:15.800 up and go out there and you know, so you 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.240 would want to go out there and just to do 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.440 it three hundred percent better. And he was brilliant and 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:26.280 he was amazing Marketer. He spotted the international opportunity before 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:29.960 anybody did. Okay, I mean it is just incredible what 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:33.560 he's done to set the stage for the NBA to 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:36.520 be successful on a worldwide basis. 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:43.600 Hi, my name is Michael Jordan. 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:45.320 I want you to take a trip with me and 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:47.760 discover the secrets that I've known for many years. 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:50.120