The World According To David Stern

Even when he is in the mood he doesn't speak--he filibusters, uninterrupted, with Mohammed-on-the-mountain hauteur. In Stern's press conferences there is very little Q and much A. But he does not string together nonsense in Rumsfeldian fashion. (Man, would he hate being labeled Rumsfeldian.) He can be repetitive and evasive, but there is no underground collection of Stern verbal miscues. His hands move as he talks, suggesting a conductor in mid-symphony, but he will often stop and stare into space as he searches for the precise word or phrase before resuming, as Messick says, "in complete sentences." There are times when he seems to be finished but then adds his pet phrase "And by the way...." For Stern, by the way is not an introduction to a throwaway line; it's a signal to keep listening.

He doesn't just seize and hold the floor with underlings and overmatched reporters. When former NBA center Vlade Divac arrives for a powwow in Barcelona to discuss the possibility of Real Madrid, the Spanish League team for which Divac is now an executive, joining the NBA, the commissioner disarms him immediately. "Vlade, why don't you flop for us," Stern says, alluding to Divac's well-deserved reputation for faking fouls. Divac laughs and feigns falling. But in the course of the 45-minute meeting Stern makes it clear that Real Madrid should get back in line and that the NBA will decide who joins the NBA, thank you very much. Divac gets in about, oh, a dozen words.

At a Barcelona sit-down with Jonathan Ford, the London-based sports sponsorship manager for Coca-Cola, Stern was, to an extent, the party with hat in hand: The NBA wants more European sponsorship dollars from Coke, which was a major sponsor of the World Cup, and Ford is reluctant. During the meeting Stern preaches about the NBA's international appeal ("We are serious about becoming the most respected sports league in the world"), plays the underdog card ("We know we have our work cut out for us here with you guys") and gently teases Ford, an unabashed soccer fan, about the racial makeup of Britain's national team. "It's the one place where your colonial policies might've had some latter-day benefits," Stern jokes.

Ford may not be convinced about the future relationship between his company and the NBA, but he is convinced about Stern. "Just meeting with him was fantastic," says Ford. "He is one of the forefathers of sports marketing."

There are stories that Stern can be a fire-breathing dragon. Ask for confirmation, and some NBA staffers will roll their eyes in affirmation. "In the early days," remembers former NBA executive Rick Welts, who came to the league in 1982, "there would invariably be a point during the day when he would absolutely destroy you. You'd feel as tall as an ant over something you mishandled." But Welts, now the president of the Suns, says the commissioner always made amends. "Your phone would ring at 10 o'clock at night, and by the time you were finished talking to him, you were ready to charge into the office to do battle on behalf of the NBA," he says. "He has a miraculous ability to create what seems to be a unique relationship with everyone who works for him."

The consensus is that Stern has mellowed, but his demanding nature is still there for all to see. "Hey, Peter," Stern says to Peter Fink, a member of his events team, the night after the game in Barcelona, "the NBA Cares spot [that was played on the scoreboard] had really low volume. What happened?" He doesn't bark, but it's clear that he wants an explanation of perhaps the only thing that went wrong all night. "Technical glitch," says Fink.

As Stern reclines his seat en route to Moscow, he pulls out his BlackBerry. "This is perfect," he says. "I can read the reports." (All NBA department heads are required to file them weekly.)

A weary Messick, who has been working 20-hour days for the past month, turns around. "I didn't do mine yet," he says.

"That's O.K.," says the commissioner, though his tone suggests, I wish you had.

When he meets with staffers, Stern's favorite sign-off line--he uses it a half-dozen times during his week in Europe--is some variation of this: "Congratulations on a great job. And, as usual in the NBA, your reward for working hard is more hard work."