NEW YORK - NBA Commissioner David Stern, hoping to tap into the burgeoning sports and entertainment market in China, said on Tuesday that the first step may be to run a league in the populous nation.

"What the NBA has to offer is its expertise and reputation as understanding the game, the rules, the facilities -- all things about it -- and that's a good name," he told Reuters in an interview.

"And it doesn't necessarily have to result in an NBA colonization of the basketball world but rather an NBA assistance of the basketball world, using the NBA name and expertise.

"But it doesn't necessarily have to come under the dominion and control of one big NBA monster."

Stern views the Chinese league as having American players filling many of the roster spots.

"That's what happens now," he said. "Every team there has one or two American players. American players have been playing in Europe and around the world.

"And so as the free movement of labor intensifies, the answer is that the best will play."

BALL CONTROVERSY

In a wide-ranging interview at the Reuters Times Square office, the 64-year-old Stern spoke with the same passion he had when he was named to the post in 1984.

Stern discusses games he saw 20 years ago, describing in detail key shots, the time left on the clock, and who finished as leading scorer.

He is a fan's commissioner, dedicated to making money for the team owners but, at the end of the day, someone who religiously scans box scores.

Stern has taken heat for changing the NBA ball this year from leather to a composite, the first such move in 35 years.

The commissioner's most vocal critic has been future Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, who quipped: "Whoever did that needs to be fired. It was terrible, a terrible decision. Awful."

"Shaq is Shaq. I love him," Stern said when reminded of the comments by the loquacious Miami Heat center.

"For the most part I would say the most valid observation about the ball is that it's different," Stern said. "We think it has a better grip. Our tests do not support the proposition that it's different when it's wet than the leather ball is.

"We went back to some of the Adidas comments when the new soccer ball was put in, in 2005 prior to the Olympics. It was widely criticized and trashed by the players. By the time of the World Cup it was OK."

"But we're quite concerned. So every time a player says something he gets a call. We ask him what it was and we run it by (ball maker) Spalding... How stupid would we be if we brought in an inferior product at the heart of our game?"

But to make his point, Stern said, "Scoring is up, shooting percentage is up, and turnovers off the dribble are down."

NO FRANCHISE

Stern said Las Vegas, site of the 2007 All-Star game, will not be awarded a franchise as long as there is betting on the NBA games in the casinos there.

"Our policy is consistent. The reason we're in Las Vegas is that they took the All-Star events off the line," Stern said referring to the fact there is no betting on the game there.

Stern vowed to return the Hornets franchise to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. The team will play six games there this year, the rest in Oklahoma City.

"They have said they would like us back and we have said we're prepared to go back," Stern said, despite the city's currently poor atmosphere for business partners.

Stern was excited, moving his hands wildly, when discussing the quality of the basketball tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"In Beijing, the French team is going to have seven NBA players," he said. "That's what's done in football (soccer). (Brazil forward) Ronaldinho goes home (to play for his country).

"That's what will happen here. Our guys are going to go home and they're going to play for their countries."

Stern sees the Beijing Olympics having as big an impact on global basketball as the 1992 gold medal-winning U.S. "Dream Team."

"It's going to be an awesome tournament. Beijing is going to be to the globalization game what the (Michael Jordan-led) Dream Team was to the beginning of globalization (of basketball).

"I've been predicting we're going to take back the gold. But who knows? The idea that everyone says this is a blow to the fundamental values of America... Grow up!

"The world is paying us the most exquisite compliment. They're playing our game with a passion."