# Mark Cubans biggest mistake



## ChristopherJ (Aug 10, 2004)

Is it just me or is Mark Cuban absolutely insane. I mean to not match the offer on steve nash's contract to Phoniex or even come close??? nash was clearly the rock of the team and without his skill and leadership i hate to see the future of the mavs.


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## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

Well, The Suns will be paying Nash like 13 million when he is 36. They have Harris and Daniels, and now Terry. More than enough to compensate for Nash. Nash will get injured 2-3 years down the road, and those will keep bugging him for the rest of his career. 

BFreak.


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## Hibachi! (Sep 18, 2003)

Cubans biggest mistake, altough I enjoy Marks' will to win, he does stupid things. He does trades like a video game. He thinks what's on paper is what wins. Like what matchups win wins the game. He thinks that just because his players beat out the other players in every position means he wins. And it isn't like that. You need certain roles, but he doesn't see that. He just wants big names, and that is their problem...


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## rebelsun (Nov 25, 2003)

Cuban is not a dumb***.

He is passionate about the organization and wants to win. The decision to not resign Nash was better for the franchise as they were in a position to draft a very good young point guard. Harris at $1-2m is better for the franchise than Nash somewhere around $10m.


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## Scinos (Jun 10, 2003)

I think his biggest problem is impatience. The 2002-2003 team made it pretty far in the playoffs and had good chemistry. The core was basically Nash, NVE, Finley, Dirk and LaFrentz with some vets off the bench. Why not keep them together ? maybe add someone who can help through FA or do a small trade with the expiring contract of Avery Johnson. Instead, they deal NVE and Lafrentz for Jamison, Walker and change. Two guys who added nothing that the team was lacking and lost the team chemistry. So now Nash leaves, Jamison and Walker are moved again for Stackhouse, Terry and change. More guys who look to score and don't help the Mavs defense...did they learn nothing ? If they were just patient, they would probably be in a much better position.


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## rock747 (Aug 3, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>SacKings384</b>!
> Cubans biggest mistake, altough I enjoy Marks' will to win, he does stupid things. He does trades like a video game. He thinks what's on paper is what wins. Like what matchups win wins the game. He thinks that just because his players beat out the other players in every position means he wins. And it isn't like that. You need certain roles, but he doesn't see that. He just wants big names, and that is their problem...



thats interesting, i can see what your saying


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## LA68 (Apr 3, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>SacKings384</b>!
> Cubans biggest mistake, altough I enjoy Marks' will to win, he does stupid things. He does trades like a video game. He thinks what's on paper is what wins. Like what matchups win wins the game. He thinks that just because his players beat out the other players in every position means he wins. And it isn't like that. You need certain roles, but he doesn't see that. He just wants big names, and that is their problem...


It's not just Cuban although he is the owner and the buck stops with him. But Don Nelson is just as bad if not worse.

He keeps getting jobs and never seems to have what he needs. Every team he has had never has a center. Then when he goes to NY where he had a Hall of Fame center and lots of money to spend, he couldn't make through one season.

They had a 60 win team that made it to the conference finals. First thing he does is gets A. Walker "we need a point forward"??? 

Nash plays well, they go and get Van Exel ,Delk ,T Best and now Harris and J. Terry to take the ball out of his hands. Not one of these players is a real point who passes the ball.

Finley plays well,M. Daniels, J Howard show up . Dirk plays well: Walker, Jamison are suddenly acquired.

They spend their time replacing the best three people on the team. But, they have needed a center and power forward since day one, who have they gotten ??? 

How is it that when Nelson was in Golden St. he used Manute Bol everyday. Yet Bradley is just as tall and a million times more skilled yet, can't get off of the bench ?? I am not sure this team wants to win:sour:

Dirk will be the next superstar to ask for a trade. When he is gone, so are the Mavs !!


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## FlyingTiger (Aug 4, 2002)

he goes out and givs Raef the monster contract, and cant even pony up the cash for Nash. i think Nash will take the suns to the playoffs. Dirk will miss him, and so will I.


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## droppinknowledge (Aug 4, 2004)

once again raef and nve played 57 games COMBINED last year. They both having serious knee probs. cuban knew it and moved em. What could what they do the mavs on i.r? Raef was injured ALOT during his mavs career. They got tired of it and got rid of him. Ditto for nve. Terry does exactly what nve does. What's the big deal?


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## MemphisX (Sep 11, 2002)

sticking with the Nelsons


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Scinos, hit the nail on the head. Cuban should continue to build around Dirk as the lead player on his team. How many guys does he need trying to score 20? 

He was doing alright when he added Howard and Daniels and now Harris, but man, Stackhouse and company will just drag this team down.

He really needs to have patience. It takes time to build a championship level contender.


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## droppinknowledge (Aug 4, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> Scinos, hit the nail on the head. Cuban should continue to build around Dirk as the lead player on his team. How many guys does he need trying to score 20?
> 
> He was doing alright when he added Howard and Daniels and now Harris, but man, Stackhouse and company will just drag this team down.
> ...


stack isn't gonna stay on the team. Once again raef and nve were on ir all of last year. how can they help the mavs in street clothes?


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## Pan Mengtu (Jun 18, 2004)

> Cubans biggest mistake, altough I enjoy Marks' will to win, he does stupid things. He does trades like a video game. He thinks what's on paper is what wins. Like what matchups win wins the game. He thinks that just because his players beat out the other players in every position means he wins. And it isn't like that. You need certain roles, but he doesn't see that. He just wants big names, and that is their problem...


I'm not sure if Cuban really wants to win, or if he wants to continue to have high scoring stars who put the fans in the seats. I can't tell.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>droppinknowledge</b>!
> 
> 
> stack isn't gonna stay on the team. Once again raef and nve were on ir all of last year. how can they help the mavs in street clothes?


I am just saying, he tinkers with what he has too much. Who is going to take Stack? Are they going to try and waive him? He is not someone that many teams want to have on their roster. He is a cancer.


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## droppinknowledge (Aug 4, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> 
> 
> I am just saying, he tinkers with what he has too much. Who is going to take Stack? Are they going to try and waive him? He is not someone that many teams want to have on their roster. He is a cancer.



tinkers with what? the big 3 were the core of the team. The other guys have changed but so have other teams. But when the mavs make moves to try to get better it's wrong. *slaps forehead* I forgot


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>droppinknowledge</b>!
> 
> 
> 
> tinkers with what? the big 3 were the core of the team. The other guys have changed but so have other teams. But when the mavs make moves to try to get better it's wrong. *slaps forehead* I forgot


You make it seem like I'm out to get the Mavs or something. I just don't like the moves they have made in the past, that have acquired them people like Fortson and now Stackhouse and Laettner. These maybe peripheral moves, but in the long run they hurt the team because they drag down morale and cause problems.

Let me guess, since you're a Mavericks fan, you anticipate them going to the WCF's this year huh? I could see them making the 2nd round, but I don't think they are going to do much this year (except be fun to watch, scoring a lot of points).


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## droppinknowledge (Aug 4, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> 
> 
> You make it seem like I'm out to get the Mavs or something. I just don't like the moves they have made in the past, that have acquired them people like Fortson and now Stackhouse and Laettner. These maybe peripheral moves, but in the long run they hurt the team because they drag down morale and cause problems.
> ...


I don't know how far this team will go. Won't know til I see them ON THE COURT but peeps saying this team will be in the lottery just makes me laugh


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## mavsman (Jun 11, 2003)

Mark Cuban and Don Nelson do like to tinker. However, is there any you who believe that any of the teams they have had over the last 5 years were legit Champoinship teams.

So they have to tinker in order to keep trying to find the right pieces to fit together. I will take that in an owner over the previous regime here who did nothing but sit on thier hands and just "Let the team develop". They "developed" into the worst professional franchise of the 90's.

I find it laughable that people criticize Cuban. All he did was buy a terrible fanchise and turn them into a really good team. Does anyone doubt that the Mavs will be in the mix for as long as Cuban owns the team?

No they have not won a championship yet but I have faith that Cuban and Nelson (or whoever comes after) will continue to try and improve the team every year. That is all I could ask of the owner of my favorite team. I was a huge Mavs fan when they sucked and believe me this is alot better.

Some of the comments here make it sound like the Mavs change out thier entire personel every year. They have tried keeping the core (Dirk, Finley and Nash) together and building around them. Granted last year was a disaster. The Walker and Jamison etc. did not fit in with this team real well. So they tried something and failed. At least they tried something. They realized that with the team they had the year before they were not going to win a championship. And last year they realized that the new team still was not going to win a championship. So what do you do at that point. Well if you are smart you will try something else. Believe me if the Mavs somehow put together a team which is a championship team they won't be changing everyone out the next year. However, until such time they do need to attempt to address thier shortcomings.

As far as Nash goes it was unfortunate as I believe the Mavs would have loved to keep him. But sometimes you have to make a tough choice and that is what they did. Will this team suck with Jason Terry and Devin Harris at the point, I don't think so but that remains to be seen.

Anyway if Mark Cubans biggest mistake is that he tries too hard, I will take that over not trying anything any day of the week.


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## droppinknowledge (Aug 4, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>mavsman</b>!
> Mark Cuban and Don Nelson do like to tinker. However, is there any you who believe that any of the teams they have had over the last 5 years were legit Champoinship teams.
> 
> So they have to tinker in order to keep trying to find the right pieces to fit together. I will take that in an owner over the previous regime here who did nothing but sit on thier hands and just "Let the team develop". They "developed" into the worst professional franchise of the 90's.
> ...


exactly. all last year the mavs getting jamison and walker was "bad" but then when they move em "they shouldn't have done that" the mavs get criticized for whatever they do. LOL


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## Coatesvillain (Jul 17, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>mavsman</b>!
> Some of the comments here make it sound like the Mavs change out thier entire personel every year. They have tried keeping the core (Dirk, Finley and Nash) together and building around them. Granted last year was a disaster. The Walker and Jamison etc. did not fit in with this team real well. So they tried something and failed. At least they tried something. They realized that with the team they had the year before they were not going to win a championship. And last year they realized that the new team still was not going to win a championship. So what do you do at that point.


Tinkering isn't a bad thing, but when tinkering results in a team with the same exact weaknesses as the team the year prior. That's just a parallel move, in last year's offseason trades, the Mavs went and got Danny Fortson, did anyone in their right mind believe Danny Fortson would be able to man the pivot for them? I want a show of hands.

The Mavs problem has been lack of any defensive prowess by the starters, and no inside strength in the paint. To be perfectly honest, the closest thing they've gotten to having a legit post player (and this is used really loosely) is Calvin Booth who they just reacquired this year.

Tinkering for the sake of tinkering isn't a good thing, especially when it results in a team like last year's where a good amount of players didn't know their role. If the goal is to build a team around Dirk to win a championship, then build a team that caters to his strengths and covers up his weaknesses, not a team full of guys who just shoot and don't play defense.


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## mavsman (Jun 11, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>PhillyPhanatic</b>!
> 
> 
> Tinkering isn't a bad thing, but when tinkering results in a team with the same exact weaknesses as the team the year prior. That's just a parallel move, in last year's offseason trades, the Mavs went and got Danny Fortson, did anyone in their right mind believe Danny Fortson would be able to man the pivot for them? I want a show of hands.
> ...


That is your opinion that they are tinkering just for the sake of tinkering. The biggest problem two year ago with the Mavs team was not defense. They were around 13th/14th by any measure of defense ( opponent FG% being primary ). Not great but not terrible. The biggest problem two years ago was rebounding. That is what killed that team more than anything else. They were like the 3rd worst rebounding team in the league. It was the 2nd and 3rd shots by the opponents that was killing this team.

So what did they do. They went and got bigger and better rebounders. They also happened to bring in some big time scorers in the process. The theory being that if they could rebound the ball better and still outscore the opponent that they would be a better team. What they did not realize is that they got much worse on defense in the process. They did in fact fix the rebounding problem and they were still a big time scoring team but thier defense sucked. So the experiment failed.

To say that they brought in people with the same weaknesses is incorrect. They got rid of Adrian Griffin, Raja Bell, Raef LaFrentz and NVE. While these guys could not rebound well they were better defenders than Jamison, Fortson, Walker and Delk. Not great defenders but better.

So to say that they have done the same thing every year is not true. They have actually tried to do different things while still maintaining thier high potent offense.

It's not like Ben Wallace has been available to them for two years but they just refuse to go get him. They are continuing to look to improve in all areas.

It remains to be seen how good defensively and with rebounding this current team will be. I would like to believe that they will be better defensively since they have lost two of the weaker defenders on the team in Jamison and Nash but we will have to wait and see. Can this team rebound will be a question?

Anyway I don't buy the argument that they just tinker to tinker. They do have a plan in mind. Sometimes the plan does not work.


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## JRose5 (May 4, 2003)

As much as I like Nash, that struck me as a hell of alot of money, and I don't blame Cuban for letting him go. It probably would have been nice to keep him, but if he's looking to start toning down the payroll, then its probably for the best.


On a side note, waaay too many 'tinkers' being dropped in this thread...

:grinning:


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## LA68 (Apr 3, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>MemphisX</b>!
> sticking with the Nelsons


25years - 2 Conf Finals app. - 0 Final app. - 0 Rings

You go right ahead and stick with them. 60 win season and two years later rebuilding ?

PG - J.Terry, D. Harris - only one can play at a time
SG - M. Daniels, J. Howard - only one can play at a time
SF - Stackhouse, Finley - only one can play at a time
PF - Dirk!
C - Booth?, Bradley?,Ilunga-Mbenga?, Laettner?, Podkolzine?

What good is it to have two and three deep everywhere when you have nothing at the center??? Who guards KG or Duncan? You can't get 10PPG from this crew ! Who is the role player ?

Why aren't they going after Dampier? He wants to go to NY but, Dal isn't even trying to get him ?

This was the most exciting team to watch two years ago. Now ,nothing but, chaos and cancers


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## Pan Mengtu (Jun 18, 2004)

I think PhillyPhanatic summed up all of the criticisms of Cuban perfectly. If Cuban was tweaking the lineup to make the team better, then why does the finished product continue to look more or less the same, but with different faces?

This is why I sometimes wonder if Mark Cuban wants the Mavs to be a great team, or a good team that's fun to watch.


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## mavsman (Jun 11, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Pan Mengtu</b>!
> I think PhillyPhanatic summed up all of the criticisms of Cuban perfectly. If Cuban was tweaking the lineup to make the team better, then why does the finished product continue to look more or less the same, but with different faces?
> 
> This is why I sometimes wonder if Mark Cuban wants the Mavs to be a great team, or a good team that's fun to watch.


The finished product only looks the same to people who don't know the Mavericks very well. At a quick glance many people say "oh they just went and added more scorers". The real truth was they went out and got better rebounders.

Rebounding was the biggest weakness two years ago, not defense. So they wanted to get bigger with better rebounders. Actually that part of it worked. The went from the 3rd worse rebounding team in the league to the 2nd best rebounding team in the league. What they didn't expect is that the guys they brought in were much worse on defense. They went from in the top 1/2 (barely) on defense to last year they were one of the worst defensive teams.

So if the team looks the same but with different faces than maybe some people need to take a closer look.

I don't expect this years team to be much like last years team at all. In fact I think this year they may be more like the 02'-03' team. They will probably be better defensively than last year but may struggle a little on the boards. We are younger and more athletic so that may not be the case.

This team will still be very explosive and I still expect that they will be one of the top scoring teams in the league. The biggest question mark will be can one of the four headed monster at Center separate himself from the others and become a reasonably good Center. (Boothe, Bradley, MBenga, Podkolzine)


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## HoopsAvenue05 (Jul 20, 2004)

Cuban wants to win, but sometimes you can't keep all your players...here's Cuban's take on not re-signing Nash from his blog (it is long, but very interesting):

http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/6721616637326928/



> “How could you let Steve Nash go?” It’s a question I’m going to hear for a long time. It’s a question Mavs fans deserve an answer to. As best I can, I will try to go through all the logical, illogical, emotional and financial scenarios that we explored in putting together the offer that we thought would keep Steve a Dallas Maverick for the rest of his career.
> 
> In the beginning….
> 
> ...


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## brighty (Apr 8, 2004)

i thought cuban just pays the payroll dont they have a regular gm. i blame the mavs mistakes mostly on don nelson. he is the one who thinks this offense first stuff is going to take them somewhere. he has bradley who makes a ton of money not playing any minutes i thought since zones are allowed he could be used somewhat.


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## nbanoitall (May 21, 2004)

first off i like Mark Cuban. He makes dallas win so i wont be overcritical of him. His mistakes are obvious to me. Loading up on g/fs and small forwards

and not getting that Center.

His biggest mistake this summer would be missing out on Dampier. Not Shaq...but Dampier....rebounds...and interior defense..he can put a body on somebody and doesnt cost 30 million. That guy should be his target.


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