Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of KRLD-FM 105.3

What’s your reaction to Charles Barkley analytics debate?

Cuban: He’s half right; the Mavs have been using analytics since the day I bought the team. The fun story behind that is I took graduate level statistics at Indiana University, and after I graduated, never thought about it again, and then after I had bought the team, I’m watching Jeopardy and who should be on but my old stats prof. And then a month later, we’re in Indiana playing against the Pacers, and who should be in the stands screaming “Hi” to me, my stats prof, Wayne Winston. I met with him and pretty much hired him then. We started using advanced plus/minus to help us, and it started to help us quite a bit…it eventually helped us come back from a 2-0 deficit in the playoffs against Houston, based on what the numbers said. Putting JJ (Barea) in the mix in the championship run had a lot to do with analytics. What happens is when a couple teams are using it, you have an advantage, but now that everyone is using it, that advantage is pretty much gone, and that’s where analytics has gotten to now.

Some say Monta Ellis isn’t an analytics fit, how do you work around that?

Cuban: Just by knowing basketball, knowing your team, and knowing what you are trying to accomplish. Guys get better when they are surrounded by better players. Guys get better when they have good coaching. Guys get better as they grow and mature in the league, they realize it’s not about me and it’s about winning. It really didn’t matter what the analytics were because we knew that we could make him better. You use analytics as a way to identify guys, and you use the eye test to confirm or not whether they can be an asset to your team, and vice versa, you use the eye test to say this guy looks good, but then you see in the numbers if you are missing anything. So they have to go hand in hand.

What’s the tiebreaker?

Cuban: Talking to the players. Talking to Tyson, talking to Monta, talking to Dirk, you played against them, what are the things I don’t know about them? What can they do to help our team? Then you talk to your coaches, and then you watch film, look at the numbers and see if anything stands out.

Why do you think this debate has gotten so personal between people who defend these numbers and those who say it’s the eyeball test?

Cuban: I don’t think it’s gotten that personal. Here’s where this has changed the most, the turnover of NBA owners. When I first got into the league, it was a lot of old school guys who didn’t like me, I was the young guy who had no clue what he was doing, just trying to make a name for himself. Now the old school guys have sold their teams to hedge fund guys, data driven guys, guys who understand numbers, understand investing, and understand trying to hire the best people possible in order to win. These guys are much smarter in that area, and because of that, they bring in GMs who are data driven, as well.

With Barkley’s approach, could he be a good NBA GM?

Cuban: There’s no such thing as a singular GM anymore. Basketball is so global now; it’s about who’s on the staff, and who can help you. You want as many different viewpoints as possible to bring in all the information you have available to you, and then it’s about coming together and making a group decision.

Did you know Karl Malone, back before he was drafted, wanted to be a Maverick?

Cuban: Yeah, because I played against him at the premiere club, and it killed me. I knew it, but that was before my time. I was just trying to make it on my own back then.

When are you playing Kevin Durant?

Cuban: Hey, he’s backed off; he’s not willing to play me. I don’t blame him.

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Mark Cuban talks about DeMarcus Cousins, Kings (Video)

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Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of the Doug Gottlieb Show

On researching Rajon Rondo’s reputation before trading for him:

Cuban: “Give me examples? I love Rajon. I heard stories about how difficult and this he was and that way. I talk to him all the time now. I love talking to the dude. He’s a great guy. Maybe we just are on the same wavelength, but the way he approaches things, the way he looks at things, how hard he works, his desire to win, his competitive spirit – he’s not different at all. Then again, I’ve been around Dirk [Nowitzki] for 15 years.”

On how much Dirk taking a less expensive contract made the Rondo trade possible:

Cuban: “All of it. This trade was Dirk’s trade. Without Dirk doing what he did, we would’ve been unable to pull it all together.”

On if that sends a message to the rest of the league:

Cuban: “I hope not. I hope they keep doing…I want the biggest superstars to take all the money they can and diminish the flexibility of their teams. Everybody’s different. We all approach our lives differently. It’s not like Dirk hasn’t made a lot of money. He’s made a lot of money and saved every penny of it, he’s not a big spender. To Dirk, knowing him very, very, very well, it was all about competing. He’s seen how much I’ve spent and how the Mavs have lost money trying to win titles all these years and our ongoing conversations have always been him wanting to compete during his final years of his career more than anything, and that was more important than a few dollars more. Now, he doesn’t have five rings, he isn’t 30 years old like Carmelo [Anthony], everybody’s in a different scenario in their lives. What Kobe [Bryant] did, what Carmelo did, I respect what they’ve done, but Dirk is unique in a lot of respects.”

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HBO Real Sports Will Go One-on-One with Mark Cuban on Tuesday (VIDEO)

Per HBO

The Maverick. It would be hard to find a pro sports owner more visible, outspoken or revered by his players than 56-year-old iconoclast Mark Cuban. After making billions from the dot-com boom and other business ventures, Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million in 2000, and has spent much of his tenure challenging the status quo of sports ownership. His courtside behavior has been controversial at times, as evidenced by several six-figure fines from the NBA for criticizing officials. Cuban has also funded studies about flopping in the NBA and the possible merits of HGH use.

The Indiana University grad may be best known today for the hit show “Shark Tank,” where he is a “shark” investor for hopeful business owners seeking investments and partnerships from wealthy panelists. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg visits him in Los Angeles on the set of “Shark Tank,” as well as courtside in Dallas, to talk about hot-button basketball issues, the relationships he has forged, Hollywood and what it’s like to live in Mark Cuban’s world.

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Chandler Parsons talks Mark Cuban, Team USA

Dallas Mavericks G/F Chandler Parson was were one of the last players cut from the Team USA roster this off-season but the experience of trying to play for his country was one that he welcomed.  Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks, hasn't been shy when it came to his feeling about NBA players participating in International competition and Parsons recently shared some insight on the matter.  

“He made that clear to me,” Parsons said. “He did. He’s great. If there’s any issue or any conversation that needs to be had I’m having it with Mark. … He obviously told me how he felt. He told the world how he felt about his guys playing for USA basketball. But at the same time he understood it was something that I was really passionate about and it was something that I really wanted to do.

“I think I got better going there and I got in shape. Just being able to play against those guys every single day, it’s not often that you get to learn and play and practice with those type of players every single day in the summertime.”

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Q&A: Mark Cuban...Updated

Courtesy of KRLD FM

On what he would have done if he had accepted the ice bucket challenge:

“I was going to have one of our guys throw a basketball at a bucket of ice on a hoop. It was going to hit the backboard, hit the ice which was going to fall down. Then the water was going to stop. I was going to take a selfie with the water in the background, write a check and then get soaked. You know, just something simple.”

On what social media has done to the ice bucket challenge:

“We’ve gotten to the point now where it’s not so much about ALS or raising money. It’s really a social media phenomenon and I’m starting to feel bad for a lot of the other charities who are going to have a far more difficult time raising money. A lot of people are going to try to copy what ALS has done and it’s going to be impossible. Someone else is going to have to come up with something completely different. Not to take anything away from ALS. Whatever amount of money they raise, good for them. It's a terrible disease. You never know which dollar is going to be the dollar that helps them find a cure. I think we may be reaching a point of diminishing returns. I don’t think I’m contributing to the benefit of anybody by continuing this because I think it’s going to start creating difficulties for other charities and diseases. I don’t want trying to coming up with an idea to fund raise to be about who is the most creative on social media. I don’t want to see a lot of charities waste a lot of money trying to come up with the next social media phenomenon. I just don’t feel comfortable with it at this point in time. Had I done it early I would have been like, ‘Yeah I was one of the early ones.’ That’s just my style. I've gotten challenged by Chandler [Parsons], I’ve been challenged by Jae Crowder, I’ve been challenged by a bunch of celebrities. I just don’t feel comfortable about it at this point.”

On Chandler Parsons’ off the court lifestyle is changing because of the major increase in salary:

“I don’t think it’s the money, I think it’s the fact that he went out with, what’s her name, Kendall Jenner? It’s more her than him. I don’t see [the money] making a huge change, that’s just not his personality. Every guy who is good goes through that though because you go off your rookie contract and if you’re good, you’re getting paid. I think it’s rare to find a guy who takes the money and is out. I think in Chandler’s case in talking to him, he wants to prove that he’s worth it. He’s working his butt off to do it. You never know until you know. It’s not like he was only good for one or two years, he was good for three years.”

On if Dirk Nowitzki taking a pay cut was contingent on signing a particular player:

“Dirk is the man. It wasn’t that type of conversation at all. Dirk and I sit and talk about all of this stuff. He knows the strategy, what we’re trying to do, why we’re doing it. He realizes that if he didn’t do it the chances of him being in a championship position weren’t nearly as good. Dirk is very, very good at saving his money and Holger [Geschwindner], his agent quote unquote, wears the same three pairs of pants and three shirts. He carries all of them in a gym bag so he’s good at saving a lot of his money. There wasn’t a lot of tension there. Dirk and I laid it on the line. There’s no question he could have gotten paid more money, but he wants to win.”

On an improved roster helping take the pressure of Dirk Nowitzki on offense:

“That is really the hope. Part of the lesson that we proved when we won and what San Antonio proved was that it wasn’t [Tim] Duncan getting that last-minute hoop. It was Patty Mills and Danny Green. Anybody was in a position to contribute. Manu Giniboli didn’t have a great last series, he did against us, but not afterwards. They were a good team. They moved the ball and got the open shot and they were smart. Literally in the Finals Patty Mills is sprinting up and hitting pull-up threes. It was almost like Nellie-ball. The lesson there isn’t can just one guy carry the load, but it’s can one team carry the load.”

On Shawn Marion signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers for a minimum deal:

“It’s different when you’re going back to your same team as supposed to going to a new team. I think there’s a different dynamic and different expectation. I have a great relationship with Shawn. We’ve kept in touch. We messaged yesterday. He just thought that he wanted to go to somebody that he thought, and this was all prior to signing Chandler [Parsons] and everything, that he thought was closer to a ring particularly in the Eastern Conference. He decided to go that route and we wish him nothing but the best. Trix is a champion in our eyes and always will be.”

On if he was happy with Chandler Parsons’ DNP-Coach's Decision against the Dominican Republic:

“Oh absolutely. Chandler and I have talked and I kind of know where his head is at but I told him, ‘Chandler, I’m not allowed to suggest one way or the other. You’ve got to do what you think is right. I’m here to answer any questions, but I’m not going to influence you, but it’s hard not to know where I stand.’ He says, ‘I know boss. Trust me, I know.’ That’s about all we can say and from there it’s up to him.”

On if the Olympics is about patriotism or money:

“There’s no such thing in my mind as false patriotism. When you put on the jersey, you’re doing it for the right reason. Everyone really knows what this is about because if it truly was patriotism, we would give a hard time to every player who refused to play. Why wouldn’t you? We give them a pass because we understand that they have to protect their future. There’s so many other places where we don’t give anybody a pass if you put the United States second. But everyone in the heart knows this is truly about economics, not truly about playing for your country. And if we give people a pass, not just in basketball but other sports as well, if we say, ‘Put your financial future ahead of playing in this tournament,’ we’re okay with that. Then it is about economics. There’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it. The biggest trick the IOC ever played was making us believe the Olympics was about patriotism.”

On what he feels like being the only owner speaking out about international basketball:

“I’ve never had an owner come up to me about the subject and say I’m wrong. Never. They all thank me. And that’s typical of my role. It’s just not a lot of the owners’ nature to say anything publicly. You better believe OKC was breathing a sigh of relief when Kevin Durant stepped down. There was nobody in Oklahoma saying, ‘Darn. What about the USA and the Olympics?’ Everyone understood that it was the right decision for Kevin Durant. It is about money. We accept that it’s about money.”

On if there’s a number he’d listen to about selling the Mavericks:

“Yeah of course. If it was a trillion dollars I’d say yes.”

On Steve Ballmer’s excitement of owning an NBA franchise:

“I just wish he would have been around to give those speeches when I first came in. When we were in Reunion Arena, I used to run up and down the aisles trying to get people to cheer and to stand up. Literally, I was running up and down the aisles I was so pumped up and so excited. I remember going into a board of governors meeting and one of the old school guys, I won’t name him since he’s since passed away, said, ‘You haven’t done shinola in this league. You need to sit the eff down and shut the eff up. I never want to see you or hear from you again.' And David Stern literally had to tell him to calm down.”

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Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of KTCK-AM 1310

On his feelings and excitement about the Mavericks’ offseason so far:

Cuban: “Yeah it’s been fun so far. I try never to get too excited, but I’m always excited. Getting Chandler, getting the Chandler brothers is going to be a big step forward for us. I think we’ve gotten younger, I think we’ve got a team that is very flexible; we’ll be able to do a lot of different things. We’ve got a high basketball IQ. I’m really excited about it."

On adding six players this offseason who were starters for other teams last year:

Cuban: “I didn’t even think about it that way, but that’s probable true. We were looking to improve. We were looking to add depth. ... The thing about the NBA is that it’s becoming much smarter. There’s a lot more analytics. The new owners that have come in since I’ve been here are just really smart guys. So rather than always doing it the old-school way, the way it’s always been done, teams have to be a lot smarter and the league evolves a lot more quickly. And I think one of the reasons we were able to give San Antonio such a run is that we had a high basketball IQ and we were able to make adjustments that they didn’t expect. I think if our basketball IQ was a little bit higher, then we should have beat them — we could have beat them, we would have beat them — and that’s what we were looking for this summer: guys with high basketball IQs, guys who can play multiple positions, guys who were unselfish and were willing to move the ball and guys who could hit an open shot. And so we think having a lot of flexibility, being able to switch on defense, moving the ball a lot, we think by adding all these starters from all these other teams, we added guys who had those capabilities and I think hopefully it will take us to the next level.”

On giving coach Rick Carlisle many more options:

Cuban: “Yeah, no question about it. Richard Jefferson, Tyson, Chandler Parsons — Raymond Felton we think is going to have a bounce-back year, Jameer Nelson. I mean it’s crazy that we’ve gotten guys who were cornerstone s not only on the court but in the locker room for a lot of different teams, and I think that’s going to make a huge difference for coach.”

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Cuban talks George ramifications of George's injury

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is hoping that the NBA revisits the idea of allowing it's stars to participate in international tournaments.  Cuban feels that the tournaments don't help the NBA or it's stars.  

“I think it’s a bigger issue than star players,” Cuban said Saturday night. “We are being taken advantage of by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and to a lesser extent FIBA (International Federal Basketball Association).....We take on an inordinate amount of financial risk for little, if any, quantifiable gain. It’s like our guiding principle is to lose money on every game and make it up in volume. There is no logic to our position. (We) just hope we get value somewhere in the future.”

“The IOC monetizes everything they touch,” Cuban said. “FIBA tries. The players won’t play unless they have their contracts in place. So that leaves just the owners holding all the risk.....We pay no matter what happens. I think If we can work out supporting the basketball federations of other countries, we can create a tournament that will eventually approach the popularity of soccer’s World Cup.”

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Cuban talks Melo

Carmelo Anthony was busy Wednesday with meetings with the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks.  The Rockets courted Anthony for 6 hours while the Mavericks took a different approach and only courted Anthony for around two hours.  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently explained the Maverick's approach to fans courtesy of Cyberdust.  

"What I can tell you is that we made this purely a business meeting. No tours. No banners. All basketball and business."

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Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of SiriusXM NBA Radio 

I think you got a raw deal on your comments to Inc

Mark Cuban: I'm a big boy. I can deal with it. When I was talking about the price you have to pay and that people have become more vigilant, that's exactly what I was talking about. We live in a sound-byte world right now. I call it headline porn. That's what you need to get people to your website, to click on it, to get people to your app. So you pull out a sound byte ... Cuban hates hoodies, or Cuban thinks any black kid in a hoodie is a criminal. That gets people to click through. And that's the price you pay when you try to have an intelligent conversation. But the good news is, there's folks like you and others who will listen to it in its entirety and start a conversation and maybe something good will come of it.

How are you going to vote on the Donald Sterling ownership issue?

Mark Cuban: I don't know. If I think the ethical thing is to vote the other way of the 29 other guys, I will. I haven't made up my mind on anything because I don't know all the details. I'm not going to jump to conclusions. It's not fair to the process. Mess up the process and then he (Sterling) has a lawsuit forever. I'm not going to know until I hear the presentation (June 3). What he (Sterling) said was awful. It was horrific, it was racist. There's no place for it in the NBA, but it's not going to force me to make up my mind without hearing all the facts. When all this went down, I was probably the only owner that sat down with all my players and we discussed everything. Everything. Everybody's gotta be careful because everything has changed. And that's the slippery slope, part of the slippery slope I talked about. We're all going to be held to a different standard going forward.

On Jerry Jones

Mark Cuban: I like Jerry. I get along really well with Jerry. Jerry's a hustler. When I first bought the team, your guy - Dave Checketts - was the one, when he was working for the Knicks and they put me through this interview process in front of all the owners. He was like 'Are you going to be like that other owner in Dallas that owns the Cowboys?' I'm like, 'Hell yeah, I hope so. They just won two Super Bowls. His sales are going through the roof. I hope so.' Jerry's got more guts than I do. He built that stadium for a billion-plus. I look up to Jerry. I think the world of him.   

LeBron vs. Michael Jordan, who do you go with?

Mark Cuban: I think they're a toss-up in terms of talent. But MJ had to play against a lot more physical defenses and he was still able to rise above. I think LeBron is so big and physical; I would have loved to see him battle it out against the Charles Oakleys and Rick Mahorns. It would have been amazing. But he hasn't had to face those types of throw-you-on-the-ground defenses. That's the only reason I give Michael the edge.

When you're paying a player millions of dollars and they mess up, do you have to go to them and say 'What (expletive) are you doing?'

Mark Cuban: Oh yeah. Lamar Odom, I did it front of everybody, cause that's the way it had to be done. We tried. His head was not in it. Not into it at all. I tried to give him every opportunity, give him all the support he needed. Psychologists, whatever he needed, I tried to give it to him and it just didn't connect. It happens. That's real world. I had one guy, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, I said don't ever come back here again. I'm paying you. I don't care. I don't want you anywhere near us. It just depends. And then there's 100 stories you never hear about. You gotta put it in perspective. They've got lives outside of basketball that create pressure.

On Dirk Nowitzki

Mark Cuban: Dirk is the core to our culture. Every team has gotta have an identity. And how hard your superstar works, the kind of attitude they have toward the media, toward the other players kind of sets the tone in the locker room. You've seen where we put up the fun videos that the fans love. Dirk is the first one up there playing the fool. And that kind of sends the message to everybody else that we can have fun and not take ourselves too seriously. He's a great guy.

On Rick Carlisle

Mark Cuban: He's a great coach. He's one of the top 3 in-game coaches. Period. End of story.

What do you guys need?

Mark Cuban: Everything. The West is incredible.

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ICYMI MARK CUBAN’S “INSIDE THE NBA” INTERVIEW AFTER HOODIE COMMENTS

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Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of the Shelley Dubois

On whether he takes his success for granted: Every day, I look in the mirror and I just make sure I don't pinch myself so I don't wake up.

On his success after selling tech company MicroSolutions: I literally retired at 29 with a lifetime pass on American Airlines, and my goal was to party with as many people as possible.

On becoming an entrepreneur after getting fired from two jobs: Those back-to-back experiences confirmed what I already knew — that I was a (bad) employee.

On the fact that his purchase of a G5 airplane was the largest known online purchase: It was $41 million for an airplane. I can tell you without hesitation, it is really good to be able to do that.

On owning the Mavericks: Everybody thinks that we are in the basketball business. It's an NBA game; we're not in the basketball business. We're in the business of creating unique experiences.

On his relationship with former NBA Commissioner David Stern: We get along great. And the few things we didn't agree on, he had the authority to fine me on.

On whether or not he will vote to oust Clippers owner Donald Sterling: You'll find out. I know how I'm going to vote, but I'm not ready to comment on it.

On how to keep bigotry out of the NBA: You don't. There's no law against stupid.

On stupidity in general: I'm the one guy who says don't force the stupid people to be quiet — I want to know who the morons are.

On bigotry in general: I know I'm prejudiced and I know I'm bigoted in a lot of different ways. If I see a black kid in a hoodie on my side of the street, I'll move to the other side of the street. If I see a white guy with a shaved head and tattoos, I'll move back to the other side of the street. None of us have pure thoughts; we all live in glass houses.

On how to fix the national economy: Until you fix the student loan bubble, we don't have a chance. Everything else is shifting lawn chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

On the TV show "Shark Tank": "Shark Tank" sends a message to everybody that the American dream is alive.

On the companies he's funded on "Shark Tank": They're all my babies.

On why he still works: I love to compete. Somebody out there is competing with me and I want to kick your (butt).

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NBA Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of CBS Sports Radio

On Adam Silver denying tanking exists in the NBA:

"No one thinks it doesn't exist, it's just a question of whether or not it's effective. And when so many teams tank in one conference, it's not effective."

Cuban went on to explain that in the Eastern Conference, tanking actually becomes difficult on account of there being so many teams all trying to tank at once. With so many teams planning on tanking from the beginning, plus teams who weren't trying to winding up there (Milwaukee), it creates a competitive tanking environment, basically.

On the Mavs trying to get better long-term while also fielding a competitive product:

"We're trying to do it both ways. Free agency, trying to be smart when we draft, and trying to be smart when we add players. I just didn't think we'd be able to get bad enough to get that first pick. I also didn't know if it was worth it."

He explained that the Mavericks are trying something similar to what Houston and Daryl Morey did for years (my comparison, not his). Adding quality players on short-term contracts who he can trade if he needs to while keeping money open long-term or free agency. It's not a bad approach, but the result is this Mavericks team; good enough to make the playoffs, not good enough to contend.

He also noted how even if you get the first lotto spot, as Milwaukee is currently on track to have for June's draft, there's a 75 percent chance you won't get the No. 1 pick.

On if the Mavericks would ever trade Dirk Nowitzki:

"Never going to happen. One reason is that culture is a critical component to any successful team. There are teams with less talent than us making the playoffs. There are teams with more talent than us who aren't making the playoffs."

He explained Dirk's leadership, character, and ability set a tone for the franchise, and he's right on the money. And unlike some big-name aging stars, Nowitzki was willing to take a paycut to allow the Mavericks more chances at contention.

His thoughts on if Phil Jackson can make it work with Carmelo Anthony in New York:

"I can't talk about specific players, but Phil's awful smart. But part two to that is, they're really stuck from a cap perspective. They can use things like the stretch provision to let people go. There are a lot of tricks they can use in the new CBA to add some players. I don't know. One thing to remember is that Phil let Shaq go. There have only been two players he hasn't been willing to let go of, Michael and Kobe. So who knows."

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Cuban fined

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been fined $100k for confronting game officials/directing inappropriate language toward them postgame on January 15th.  

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NBA Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of Fox Sports Live

On if this is a rebuilding year:

“Oh no. Hell no. Don’t even go there. Look, there’s no template for winning in the NBA. … Dirk’s got to be healthy and he’s working hard. He’s been in the gym every single day looking great. Then we’ve got to come together as a team. We’ve got Samuel Dalembert, Monta Ellis, Wayne Ellington, DeJuan Blair. We brought in a lot of really good players and now it’s up to Coach Carlisle to make it all work together.”

On Dirk getting older:

“Karl Malone won an MVP at 35. That’s how old Dirk is. It’s not like Dirk plays with athleticism. He plays with skill. He plays with intelligence. He knows the game. And more importantly, he’s just there to win. He makes everyone around him better and you’ve got to double team him as long as he stays healthy. We were on a 50-win pace when he came back and we weren’t a very good team last year. That was because of Dirk.”

On why he went after Dwight Howard initially, if as he said later the Mavericks are better off without him:

“There’s two different elements. You try to get a superstar player like Dwight, and he is, and then knowing because of all the cap room you’re not going to be able to do it all in one year. You’re going to have to add him and continue to add pieces. That gives you one type of team. Then when we didn’t have to spend the money on him, we went out and got Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis, DeJuan Blair, Sam Dalembert, so we were able to add four or five really strong pieces that in the aggregate will make us a better team. Now, I think over the long term would we have been better Dwight? That’s why we went after him, but this year, I think we’ll be better."

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New Mavericks introduced to fans (Video)

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NBA Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of KTCK-AM

Norm Hitzges: How long a contract do you suspect you'll offer Dirk once he gets into free agency this year and you start the re-up discussion.

Mark Cuban: I have no idea. But I'll talk to Dirk about it. Pretty much whatever he wants. Dirk's got a no-trade deal, so whether it's one year, three years, 20 years, it really doesn't matter. He gets to sign and re-sign as often as he wants. The length of the contract is more about how long longer Dirk wants to play more than anything else. Particularly with a young kid, he's gonna want to spend time, but he's also going to want to get some sleep. I don't see Dirk walking away from the game anytime soon. Dirk really wants to come back and send a message to everybody that he's got a lot left. The thing about Dirk is he's skill driven. He's basketball-IQ driven, he's wins driven. He's not driven by athleticism. As long as he stays healthy, he could play for a long time. It's amazing to me that we see what Tim Duncan does, and people say, OK that's Tim Duncan. And then they dismiss Dirk as if that's a fantasy for Dirk to attain the same thing. The good news is Dirk's using that as motivation. He's motivated and I'm fired up about that. And I think we've put together some great pieces to complement him.

Norm Hitzges: What do see yourself doing in the future?

Mark Cuban: The competitive side of me, I wanna win more championships, for myself and for Dallas and for my family. I look at business as a sport. Also, far more important to me now is family. I look at the Mavs as a family asset.

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NBA Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of KESN-FM

On why he’s so optimistic about his new team:

“Look, I think the missing piece is everybody is just dismissing Dirk. Everybody thinks Dirk is done. Maybe he can’t put up 30 a night. Maybe he’s not going to go for 50 when he wants to. He’s not going to have those Dirk vs. Tracy McGrady type battles, but Dirk is still going to demand double teams. Dirk is still going to be a guy we can go to to get a bucket at the end of a game. Dirk is still going to be a guy that’s going to get buckets when you need them. Now, we’ve added someone who can run a pick and roll with him and know how to run it that knows how to use a screen. I’ll tell you something else, I was shocked when people thought we signed a bad deal with Jose Calderon because hey, the guy shot 50 percent from three. The market for guys who can catch and shoot threes and do nothing else was higher than what we paid for Jose. He knows how to play point guard. He knows how to get Dirk the ball. He knows the game. Never turns it over. Literally, I was like what are people thinking. He may not be the best defender, but it’s not like he was replacing a great defender. I was really surprised by the response to Jose. I think he’s going to make us a much better team. Shawn Marion is going to love playing with Calderon because Shawn knows how to use space better than anybody in the game, and we didn’t have a guy who can get him the ball. Dirk and Vince (Carter) were the two best passers so I think there is just so many things to get excited about. But the No. 1 thing is Dirk has a chance to prepare all summer.”

On how surprised he is that Shawn Marion is still on the team:

“I was texting him all the time. Always know this about the Mavericks. If you’re reading about it, it’s not true because we will fire anybody who leaks. I’m the only person allowed to leak anything because there is a reason to be out if there is a reason for it to be out so if you’re reading about it, it’s not true. When we do trades, when we sign people, when we sign Monta, when we sign Jose, it was a surprise to everybody. The fact that his name was out there means some other teams were putting it out there to test the market. I’m not saying we didn’t take calls, and we didn’t have conversations about Shawn, but it had to be the right circumstance and the right decision, and it never came close.”

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NBA Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of KESN-FM

On how upset Dirk Nowitzki was when the Mavs missed out on Dwight Howard:

“Dirk is fired up. Yeah, he would have liked to have gotten Dwight. But we sat down and we told him, here’s is Plan B. Here are the guys we’re going after. When we got Monta (Ellis). If you ask him about him, it was like can we get him, can we get him, can we get him so again, everybody dismisses Monta Ellis. Oh, he can’t do this. He can’t do that. You’ve got to look at our history of integrating scorers like that. When we took Jet (Jason Terry) for Antoine Walker, everybody was so down on Jet. I hate to say this about Antoine because I like the guy personally, but to show you what the hawks thought about Jet, they took Antoine Walker and then, we had Stack (Jerry Stackhouse) and in order to get us to take Stack, they had to give us the No. 5 pick, which turned into Devin Harris. We gave up Antawn Jamison, who turned into an All-Star for them. We feel like when you put a guy like Monta into our system with a player like Dirk into our culture where we do a good job of integrating players, we think Monta can make the same advances and have the same improvements to his game.”

On saying the Mavericks are better off without Dwight Howard:

“I’ve said it over and over again. When you sign one free agent, you’re not going to fill all your holes. It’s typically a two-year plan to not only have that superstar but also to fill the positions around that person. It still takes a team to win. You have to fill in the spots. We’ve had Dirk (Nowitzki) for all these years, and we’ve continued to make trades to fill spots around him. We started a season with Dwight Gooden as our starting center and Tim Thomas as his backup, but we evolved from that to get Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson and grow that into a championship team. My point was we obviously went after Dwight. We were disappointed. That was our primary goal. We failed. That was unfortunate. But that’s the way it turned. We had a Plan B, and the Plan B was put together the best possible team that not only gives us a chance to compete this season but creates a foundation for future seasons knowing that we still have max cap room and flexibility to improve our team. We’re in an industry that loves headline porn, and the headline was Cuban says we’re better off with Dwight Howard. We wouldn’t have gone after Dwight Howard if we didn’t think that was the best approach for us. Once we didn’t get him, we knew we could get more roster spots. I think we did a great job of it.”

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NBA Q&A: Mark Cuban

Courtesy of Badd Radio 

On who has enough space to sign free agents:

“There’s a lot of BS going on out there about who has enough cap room to sign one guy, let alone to sign two guys. We get to see the actual salaries, so we know that such and such a team that is saying they’re going after two, they have to convince somebody to do a sign and trade, which puts them in the same boat as every team not over the tax threshold.”

On how much room the Mavericks have:

“We’ve got enough room to sign one max out guy. Obviously we have the opportunity to do a sign and trade for a second max-out guy like anybody else, but that’s much more difficult to accomplish.”

On his secret promotion of the Mavericks:

“If you ever go to Hoops Hype, and go to the rumors page on a PC, notice: you’re seeing Mavs there every time. Every time. That’s where every player and every free agent in the NBA goes to keep up with the rumors. So you see Mavs in the community, you see little features on Mavs players, and players see that all the time. So that’s kind of the way we back door promote ourselves. It’s always the Mavs.”

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