When we first conceived Pure Hoops Media back in August of 2018, our vision was to create a basketball community that would generate exciting and exclusive content that featured substance over “click bait.” One such example is our two part exclusive interview with NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern on The Mike Wise Show.
I have known David for almost 20 years. We worked together on the NBA Draft from 2003-2013 when I was his producer. When I approached him to appear on The Mike Wise Show, he graciously invited our Pure Hoops Media crew to his New York office for the interview. Our host Mike Wise is one of the preeminent basketball journalists of our era and he was the ideal person to talk to David as their relationship goes back even further than my own.
Mike and David covered topics from Stern’s own humble beginnings working in his father’s delicatessen, to his work as a lawyer for the NBA, to his reign as Commissioner from 1984-2014, to his vision of making basketball a global game, to the recent controversy involving China, and even his reaction when HOOP Magazine airbrushed Allen Iverson’s tattoos for a cover photo back in 2000. David even expressed regrets about not suspending two future Hall of Fame coaches for their comments about the officials and the league office. The name David Stern is synonymous with excellence and his contributions to the NBA and the sport of basketball cannot be overstated. We at Pure Hoops Media plan to offer much more content with this type of substance in the coming months and years.
The Mike Wise Show is free for anyone who would like to subscribe and it is available on all of the popular podcast platforms. We hope you will subscribe and enjoy all of our shows. Part I of the interview will be available Monday November 11th and Part II follows on November 18th.