Cuban: Mavs' summer moves may have set franchise up for seasons to come
Earl K. Sneed takes a closer look at the Dallas Mavericks' off-season activity in free agency, after owner Mark Cuban said the team could be well-positioned for seasons to come.
Cuban: Mavs' summer moves may have set franchise up for seasons to come
DALLAS – Heading into the first offseason in the Mark Cuban era in which the franchise was armed with financial flexibility and salary cap space, the Dallas Mavericks were expected to land a big fish through free agency.
But after Brooklyn Nets All-Star point guard and The Colony native Deron Williams spurned his hometown team in free agency and decided to remain in the Big Apple, a building sense of reluctance circulated throughout the Mavericks’ fan base.
According to Cuban, however, much of that feeling was media-created and not reality, as the Mavs continued to be a major player in free agency even after Williams re-signed with the Nets. And if the off-season additions of center Chris Kaman and O.J. Mayo are any proof, Cuban and the Mavericks expect for Dallas to continue to be a desired destination for summers to come.
With that said, Cuban isn’t shying away from acknowledging the believe that free agents aren’t interested in calling the American Airlines Center home, believing instead that the Mavericks will prove over time the ability to court more star power to town to pair with 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki.
“I mean the reality is this is the first year we’ve had cap room,” Cuban explained last week during the Mavs’ introductory press conference of their off-season additions. “And, you know, we took all of our cap room and found what I thought were phenomenal free agents. Elton [Brand] is a little different perspective, because it was the amnesty program, but that kept your cap room. And with O.J. and Chris, it worked out great. And so, in talking to people we’ve never had anybody say, ‘Well, I don’t wanna go to Dallas.’ You know, it’s been the exact opposite. It’s been more, ‘Yeah, I want to come to Dallas but you’ve gotta trade for me. That’s the only way I can get there.’ And so, all that’s just nonsense.
“Look, in the world of Twitter and 140 characters, you’ve gotta say something and you’ve gotta say it first, ‘cause if you don’t say it first, you’re not gonna get retweeted. You know, we don’t build a team based on who’s gonna retweet us. We really try to go out there and do what we think is right. And that stuff about people not wanting to come to Dallas is just not true.”
Adding the duo of Kaman and Mayo in free agency and acquiring Brand with a winning bid following his amnesty release from Philadelphia, the Mavericks bolstered a summer of transactions that included the drafting of rookies Jared Cunningham, Bernard James and Jae Crowder, as well as a sign-and-trade of big man Ian Mahinmi to Indiana in exchange for point guard Darren Collison and swingman Dahntay Jones.
Meanwhile, the Mavs continued to keep their financial flexibility in order to remain in the free-agent hunt next summer, when they hope to further disprove the notion that they’re not on the radar of the some of the game’s marquee names.
Still, after adding several key pieces that could become mainstays for the franchise going forward, Cuban again says don’t believe the speculation, adding that if the team is able to reach its full potential this upcoming season then the roster could remain intact beyond the 2012-13 campaign.
“I know a lot of people going into the summer were kind of looking at us going, ‘What the heck are you guys doing?’ And I know there was a lot of blood pressure that rose up, particularly when [local sports radio personalities] were on the radio and giving us [flack], calling us idiots,” Cuban added. “But, you know, we’ve had a plan. We’ve had a plan for the last several years. There was a reason why all of our contracts ran out in two years (after the 2011 NBA championship), because we knew at some point we were gonna have to get younger and we were gonna have to change. And as painful as that is, it was a process we were gonna have to go through. We took some calculated bets, we took some chances, we went for some things … and sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make. And I think that’s what happened this summer. We felt like there would be some strange things happening in the free agency market that people wouldn’t expect, and we wanted to be there to take advantage of it.
“It really shocked us how successful we were to go out and get these guys. And I think now we’ve managed to rebuild and really get on with it. A lot of people talk about what we want to do in future summers, and that’s the exact opposite of the way we planned. Our goal is to have these guys in Mavericks uniforms for a long, long time. If we can do what we think we can with these guys and Dirk and Roddy [Beaubois] and company, this is gonna be a very good team that can accomplish a lot. I think with the induction of [the newcomers], this is the beginning of a long relationship and just carrying on the Mavericks’ tradition of winning.”
