It’s like listening to players talk about Magic and Worthy, Jordan and Pippen or Stockton and Malone.
Stern and Granik fit together.
Ask anybody.
 |
Granik, shown in 1994, spent 16 years at the side of David Stern as NBA deputy commissioner.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
|
“They were highly collaborative and complementary,” said Val Ackerman, the Big East commissioner who worked closely with both Russ Granik and David Stern in her days as a young attorney at the NBA and then as WNBA president. “David was more mercurial. He could be emotional and inspiring and vocal and active. Russ would be the analytical one. The one thinking: That’s a great idea. Now how can we really make that work.”
In his days as executive vice president of the NBA, Gary Bettman’s temperament was more like Stern’s, which made the counterbalance even more essential in the league’s earlier days.
“In a sea of chaos, he could always be the stable, guiding force,” said Bettman, whom Granik hired as his own replacement when he was promoted to general counsel in 1981.“It would not be uncommon for David or I to bounce off a wall on a subject. And as the chaos was emerging and the alternatives, the suggestions, the theories, the visions were flying, Russ would always keep the focus centered. And the three of us would generally come out in a common place after going through this chaotic, but balanced, process.”
All who witnessed their work together came away struck by the way they played off each other, and not only when they were together.
Said Gordon Gund, the former Cleveland Cavaliers owner: “Russ could talk to somebody in a way that they never felt that he was coming to sell them something. He was open. He would listen. David was very good at this, too. But he would sometimes turn around and say you were full of shit. Russ was good at listening and was much more diplomatic.”
Said Herb Simon, the Indiana Pacers owner: “They’re two different personalities, competent and capable in their own way. Russ’s demeanor was a good adjunct to David Stern’s. They made a hell of a team.”
Said Rod Thorn, Granik’s longtime friend who is the NBA’s president of basketball operations: “Russ was like the consigliere. David would run things by Russ. He trusted Russ. David [has an] A-plus personality. And Russ is a calming influence. He can look at what we really need to do and remind everyone not to get caught up in personalities. Russ is the steady guy who you could always count on to get things done.”
It is interesting to hear Stern and Granik speak of each other, each acutely aware of the dynamic. The one difference is that while others frequently attribute the differences to their innate personalities, Stern and Granik leave room for the possibility that their respective styles evolved as they did because they had each other.
Stern liked to venture, but was emboldened to do so in part because he knew Granik would reel him in. Granik was sedate by nature, but took special care to appear so because he knew it was essential in his role.
“Because his personality was so calm, he gave me the opportunity to take the extreme position,” Stern said. “He knew I meant it 90 percent. And I knew he would be there to bring me back to something closer to the middle. So I could always be modestly out of control, knowing that when it saw the light of day it would be something more moderate.”
While much is made of the contrast in their respective temperaments, the more important difference may have lied in their interests.
Early on, each had hands on most every aspect of league business. But as the NBA grew, Stern leaned toward marketing, technology and international growth, while Granik maintained oversight of the day-to-day basketball matters that were the traditional hallmark of sports leagues.
“David was always very focused on the business side of things,” Granik said. “I think he was happier if he was talking to the CEO of a major company that was ready to put some money into the NBA than having to explain to an owner why the referee made a bad call that he thinks cost him the game.”
Granik’s patience for such conversations was boundless.
“The harshest thing he could ever say to somebody was, ‘I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you lose my phone number,’” Stern said, acknowledging the contrast with his own history of volatility.
“I can’t even imagine Russ telling someone to lose his phone number,” said current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
While Stern concurs with the long-standing depiction of Granik as a calming force, he wants to be sure that’s not taken as indicative of what was brewing inside.
“Beneath that calm demeanor is a perfectionist, a person who is stressed if things are not going well and has an unyielding determination to get it right,” Stern said.
“One of us breathed the fire which was within. The other had it within, but just didn’t breathe it as often. That’s all.”
