# Avery and Cuban



## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

I posted my opinion on Fact or Fiction, but it may have been misconstrued. 

Cuban's conduct has cast a shadow over what was a great season by the Mavericks, nationally became the face of the franchise at a time when it should be Avery (or Dirk); and what is worse, gave the players excuses - and something else to draw their focus away from the task at hand during the Finals. 

Believe it. 

Focus is what Avery demands as a staple for greatness. We can all agree that this team has the talent; cohesiveness, trust, hard work and focus would've done it. But Mark Cuban may have failed to see the damage he (innocently) caused. Internationally, this was a great story. First full year under Avery, many man-games lost to injury, the maturation of Dirk, the list goes on of the things to be appreciated. 

But that's not what the world saw and heard. 

Avery didn't like it. Believe it.

So I'm wondering not if Cuban would get rid of Avery as some supposed, but if Johnson would call it quits.

:sfight:


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

bray1967 said:


> I posted my opinion on Fact or Fiction, but it may have been misconstrued.
> 
> Cuban's conduct has cast a shadow over what was a great season by the Mavericks, nationally became the face of the franchise at a time when it should be Avery (or Dirk); and what is worse, gave the players excuses - and something else to draw their focus away from the task at hand during the Finals.
> 
> ...


I don't think A.J. would quit for something like this. He'll politely approach Cuban and ask him to tone down his whining so the team can focus on what's at hand. If Cuban is set on his ways, I can see A.J. calling it quits after several more seasons. A.J. knows this is a team capable of greatness, so he'll want couple cracks at getting the ring while he has the chance.

If Dallas fans start wanting him to stay quiet, I think he'll keep his mouth shut. Angry fans = less merchandise sales = less money in his pocket (not that he cares.... lol...)


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## StackAttack (Mar 15, 2006)

This is a guy that wants his team to win. If Avery tells him to shut up, he'll shut up. I personally have no problem with Cuban, think he's great for the franchise, think he's the future of sports owners. But if Avery does, you better believe that Cuban'll listen.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

1337 said:


> This is a guy that wants his team to win. If Avery tells him to shut up, he'll shut up. I personally have no problem with Cuban, think he's great for the franchise, think he's the future of sports owners. But if Avery does, you better believe that Cuban'll listen.


 ...


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## StackAttack (Mar 15, 2006)

er...what?


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

Agreeing to exactly what you said


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Just to follow up, I appreciate Cuban as much as any long suffering fan. We can only speculate about the nature of their relationship, and I remember the feeling when the other Johnson (Jimmy) was suddenly out at Valley Ranch.

But I hope we're right in saying all parties want to win, and are willing to put egos aside. The franchise - and the fans - deserve it.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

Look at it like this

Cubes basically made Don step down so that Avery could take over, so why would he want him to go?


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Saint Baller said:


> Look at it like this
> 
> Cubes basically made Don step down so that Avery could take over, so why would he want him to go?


Look at it like this: *The other way around. Avery gets tired of trying to get this team to focus while a circus is in town. *

So he leaves. That's the scenario I was referring to.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

bray1967 said:


> Look at it like this: *The other way around. Avery gets tired of trying to get this team to focus while a circus is in town. *
> 
> So he leaves. That's the scenario I was referring to.


Ye of little faith...

:biggrin:


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

edwardcyh said:


> Ye of little faith...
> 
> :biggrin:


 LOL, though I think AJ will straighten Cubes up


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## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

I think Cubes is head coach next year and AJ takes over as owner.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

TX_MAVFAN said:


> I think Cubes is head coach next year and AJ takes over as owner.


 Oh god, we'd be horrible lol


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Saint Baller said:


> LOL, though I think AJ will straighten Cubes up


I like. :greatjob:


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## StackAttack (Mar 15, 2006)

lol Gana Diop threes on every posession


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## Jet (Jul 1, 2005)

1337 said:


> lol Gana Diop threes on every posession


I remember seeing him drain a 3 in the last game against the Clippers. They were down by like 20 so everyone just started throwing the ball up and Diop drained a 3.. all net too. LOL


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Jet said:


> I remember seeing him drain a 3 in the last game against the Clippers. They were down by like 20 so everyone just started throwing the ball up and Diop drained a 3.. all net too. LOL


Isn't he 100% 3-point % for the season? LOL


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## Seed (Jun 29, 2005)

Why do ppl care so much about Cuban any way, he's just an owner who acts like a die hard fan. Is that too different to be considered okay in the world.


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## StackAttack (Mar 15, 2006)

Jet said:


> I remember seeing him drain a 3 in the last game against the Clippers. They were down by like 20 so everyone just started throwing the ball up and Diop drained a 3.. all net too. LOL


lol yeah i mentioned that cuz that's the only play cuban's ever called in a huddle...when their 3-point streak was on the line, Cuban drew up a play for Gana Diop...


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Seed said:


> Why do ppl care so much about Cuban any way, he's just an owner who acts like a die hard fan. Is that too different to be considered okay in the world.


That of course isn't an issue until it becomes a distraction to your team. Not to mention a PR fiasco.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

PR Fiasco? Am I missing something here?


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

bray1967 said:


> I posted my opinion on Fact or Fiction, but it may have been misconstrued.
> 
> Cuban's conduct has cast a shadow over what was a great season by the Mavericks, nationally became the face of the franchise at a time when it should be Avery (or Dirk); and what is worse, gave the players excuses - and something else to draw their focus away from the task at hand during the Finals.
> 
> ...


This is really interested, and makes you think everything is not peachy. You bring up valid points, but I can't see Avery leaving us now.

Maybe down the stretch, when the time is right - even if he is a great coach --> he may not suit us anymore.

Avery at the moment is one of, if not the best coach in the league. Cuban needs to realise that he should butt out every now and then for the best of the team. Not only that, Avery needs to man up and tell Cuban "Hey, your ruining the feeling of this - we ****ed up, we don't need you making excuses. I support you being active, but give me my space".

We don't want this becoming another Nellie/Cuban thing.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

I'm sure Cuban wont do anything to **** up the Mavs now that what he has done already


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Tersk said:


> Cuban needs to realise that he should butt out every now and then for the best of the team. Not only that, Avery needs to man up and tell Cuban "Hey, your ruining the feeling of this - we ****ed up, we don't need you making excuses. I support you being active, but give me my space".


Bingo. :banana: 

This thing crashed and burned, imo. I'm gonna play the shoulda, woulda, coulda game all summer. To say I blame this on Cuban is partly true; without his influence as owner (not to mention his $$), we'd still be floundering in the '90s. 

Going into these these playoffs, he still had a marginal amount of credibility nationally. People saw him as outspoken - maybe even rude and obnoxious - but his influence on the Mavs and the league was overall quite positive. 

But at a time when focus was critical, his "support" came in the form of whining against the officials, and bad-mouthing an opposing team and city (San Antonio). It can be argued that, compared with his peers at the ownership level, he became a liability. What this team could've accomplished with this coaching staff and veteran influence as its only leadership isn't known at this time.

Will we find out next season?


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## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

Stop it. 

Cuban did NOT lose 4 games in a row for us. He should not be this teams nor this citys scapegoat. If you wanna blame anyone you have to blame the guys on the court who did not get their job done. 

Do I always agree with the way Mark expresses himself? Of course not. 
Were his actions and words what lost us the games? Of course not.

You guys know as well as anyone that you have to take the good with the bad. You can't praise him for turning this franchise around and bash him for his actions all in the same sentence. We know waht to expect from the guy, but to say he had enough of an impact with the league, players, refs, coaches etc, to cost us the series is ridiculous. 

Just my 2c.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

TX_MAVFAN said:


> Stop it.
> 
> Cuban did NOT lose 4 games in a row for us. He should not be this teams nor this citys scapegoat. If you wanna blame anyone you have to blame the guys on the court who did not get their job done.
> 
> ...


 THANK YOU!


.


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## StackAttack (Mar 15, 2006)

TX_MAVFAN said:


> Stop it.
> 
> Cuban did NOT lose 4 games in a row for us. He should not be this teams nor this citys scapegoat. If you wanna blame anyone you have to blame the guys on the court who did not get their job done.
> 
> ...


Repped


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

Haha nice 1337! I was about to say that I havent seen a StackAttack around here before lol


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

In my naive days I used to think that news stories were meant to be stories of interest. That they were uncovered topics that were being revealed to a public thirsting for information and knowledge.

Now, Im coming to realize that there is something more to how stories are selected. Im just not quite sure what that “something ” is.

I keep on reading commentary about how Ozzie Guillen “makes himself the story” . That “Mark Cuban made himself the story”. It reminds me of the days that everyone wanted to know what color Dennis Rodmans hair was going to be. “Dennis made himself the story”

Is this something like “The Devil made me do it ?”. Is there some invisible editor in the ether doling out assignments ? How does someone “make themselves the story ?”

Worse than being “made to cover”, it becomes a process as inevitable as a gerbil’s progress on his wheel.

Once everyone writes the story that “was made”, the inevitable follow up is for the same media that wrote the “made story”, to complain that they are covering the “made story”

Its a shame that Mark Cuban continues to make himself the story of the NBA Finals.

Its a shame we are still covering Mark Cuban, who continues to make himself a story.

Its a shame we had to spend so much time covering Mark Cuban, who made himself the story.


So i have a question for the media. If you dont want a person to be “the story”, then why do you write or talk about it ?

Why not ignore me ? Why not make it policy NOT to point the camera at me. If you think im a publicity hound, wouldnt you be hurting me the most by ignoring me ? If Im “making myself the story”, isnt that the at the same editorial level as Editorial for pay ? Except you are doing it for free ? Is it tabloid journalism ?

Thats what I dont understand. If I shouldnt be the story, why are you making it the story ? Can you not come up with something better ? There are a million stories surrounding every game/series/season. How in the world can you not come up with something better ?

-------------------------------------------

Part of Cubans latest blog entry..


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Tersk said:


> So i have a question for the media. If you dont want a person to be “the story”, then why do you write or talk about it ?
> 
> Why not ignore me ? Why not make it policy NOT to point the camera at me. If you think im a publicity hound, wouldnt you be hurting me the most by ignoring me ? If Im “making myself the story”, isnt that the at the same editorial level as Editorial for pay ? Except you are doing it for free ? Is it tabloid journalism ?
> 
> ...


As for the media, they have a job to do - and God help us all if things are slow, then it's the tabloids as you suggest.

But this was familiar to Mavs fans' interest, as we saw "the story" for ourselves. Something happened to the Mavs' quest for a ring, and - even if it wasn't the sole reason - it was a major factor that could have been averted.

Can we deny something like Sep. 11th? Not to trivialize, but its existence can't be denied. In my mind, something did occur that affected the play of the team...at a critical point in the season. Sometimes it can't be explained - other times it can, and the root of journalism 101 (who, what, where, when, why, and how) was darn well something this Maverick fan wanted to know.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

Good post, and to further that, you notice something went wrong, and after evaluating possible reasons for our loss, Cuban certainly is a credible reason.

First off, let's not fool ourselves. There was no one thing, person, player or personnel, that cost us the title. When you play a series, there cannot be one huge problem for 6 straight games, or the coach himself is a goof. A culmination of things led to us losing, part of it was Dirk's passiveness, part of it was some outcoaching, etc., you know all the reasons. Everything that smarty-pants analysts pointed out as *the* reason, actually added up. 

Suffice to say Cuban and AJ were definitely part of the problem, and that's not to make them sound horrible, but they, along with many others, caused the problem. If you're gonna call out these two with threads, you have to go down the whole roster and call everyone out. It is no one person's fault. It was a multitude of things.


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

_Dre_ said:


> First off, let's not fool ourselves. There was no one thing, person, player or personnel, that cost us the title. When you play a series, there cannot be one huge problem for 6 straight games, or the coach himself is a goof. A culmination of things led to us losing, part of it was Dirk's passiveness, part of it was some outcoaching, etc., you know all the reasons. Everything that smarty-pants analysts pointed out as *the* reason, actually added up.
> 
> Suffice to say Cuban and AJ were definitely part of the problem, and that's not to make them sound horrible, but they, along with many others, caused the problem. If you're gonna call out these two with threads, you have to go down the whole roster and call everyone out. It is no one person's fault. It was a multitude of things.


Agreed. 

The scary thing about Cuban's influence is it comes in the form of leadership. If you've ever been exposed to the men's empowerment meetings, maximized manhood, etc. you'll remember one of the basic tenants is *change comes from the top *. Those employed will by nature want to act in accordance with the example being set.

The premise of this thread was that it seems that Avery is wanting one thing (accountability) and Cuban's actions - whether intentional or not - bred the opposite effect (blame). If one of these courses doesn't change, we have problems.


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

SMRattler said:


> I caught the tail end of GAC on the way home and heard Art Garcia from the FW Star-Telegram saying he just got back from Dirk "media" exit interview. The last questions he asked Dirk were blunt about what he thought about Cuban's behavior, etc. during the run and in general.
> 
> Dirk responded by saying stuff like:
> 
> ...


Credit to SMRattler on RealGM, he posted it.


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