NBA's Granik to retire

The NBA will lose one of its most popular and influential -- albeit low key -- leaders at the end of this season. Deputy commissioner Russ Granik, who has been commissioner David Stern's right-hand man through the peak of the league's growth, has announced his retirement after almost 30 years in the NBA office.

Granik was an integral part of the NBA's collective bargaining process, network television negotiations, expansion, and the creation of the famed Dream Team, the first Olympic basketball team to include professionals.

''It's just time. I'm ready," Granik said by phone from New York. ''I'm really happy about it, actually. I guess I'm a little taken aback by the reaction, though. I've known about this for six months, but once you announce it, it really makes it real."

The 57-year-old Granik joined the NBA in 1976 as a staff attorney. He was named general counsel four years later, then executive vice president in 1984. He was named deputy commissioner in 1994 but was already a member of Stern's inner circle. He may be the most powerful second-in-command in sports.

Granik's calm, rational demeanor made him the ideal counterpart to Stern, who is known to be more volatile behind closed doors than his public persona would indicate. The two became so in tune with each other's views and positions that their strategies were often left unspoken.

''The guy that used to joke about that was [union president] Billy Hunter," Granik said. ''David and I would go into meetings having not talked at all about what we were going to do, and Billy would come away saying, 'I know you guys rehearsed that.'

''After all those years, we knew each other so well, it just naturally happened."

Granik's shining moments included his role in the formation of the Dream Team, a collection of future Hall of Famers (Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley, to name four) that stormed through the 1992 Olympics without losing a game -- and without coach Chuck Daly ever having to call a timeout.

Asked to pick his proudest moment, Granik said, ''I'm proudest of the fact I helped run the league as professionally as possible. I tried to deal with people the right way. And to see where the league is now . . .

''When I started, there were stories in the papers questioning whether the NBA would even survive."

Stern, meanwhile, said yesterday that he intends to stay on as commissioner for at least another five years, prompting speculation that his entrenched status led to Granik's resignation.

''I heard that, too," Granik said, ''but that has absolutely nothing to do with it. In my mind David was never leaving. He could have said he was staying another five years or another 10 years, it wouldn't have mattered. I never had any expectations of him leaving."

Granik acknowledged that he had opportunities to pursue higher-profile sports positions, but said, ''I never did. I liked where I was."

As word of his pending retirement filtered out, the deputy commissioner was deluged with phone calls from well-wishers throughout the league.

''The first person I heard from was Bill Walton," said Granik. ''He sent me the nicest e-mail. I don't know how he found out so fast. He sent it to me 10 minutes after we told the staff."

Granik will serve as a senior adviser to Stern and continue to be the league's main representative to USA Basketball.