Rozelle's equal? No. Rozelle launched the NFL past Major League Baseball. Rozelle swallowed and/or buried the leagues created to challenge the NFL. Rozelle made a game the overwhelming majority of people never play and don't understand part of Americana.
Stern gets credit for babysitting black kids and making them somewhat palatable to a small percentage of white corporate America.
The NBA has underachieved. In the past 30 years, the league has been home to the most transcendent, recognizable and interesting athletes since Muhammad Ali -- Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Tiger Woods and Mike Tyson are the only athletes who can compete with the quartet Stern was handed.
With the pervasive popularity of rap music and a black man sitting in the White House, there's no reason to pretend the NBA has been handicapped by the blackness of basketball. There's no reason to judge Stern on some sort of curve. He doesn't get extra credit points for running a league dominated by black players.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10377 ... -got-lucky