Meet the elder, wiser and savvy Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and his grand plan. The 2012 season has come and gone with the Mavericks bowing out after a first round sweep by eventual Western Conference Champion Oklahoma City Thunder. A sweep, which showed glaring weaknesses in a Mavericks team hoping to make a difference in the postseason. Mavs fans had hoped that between the most recent NBA Draft and free agency these issues would be resolved with dreams of returning to the Finals this upcoming season. The results of the draft will be seen in the future and so far free agency has landed the team all of zero free agents. As a matter of fact it seems that the team has lost a few of the functioning parts to the machine. Good bye to Jason Terry who has moved onto the Boston Celtics. Good bye to Jason Kidd who took his talents to the New York Knicks. All Mark Cuban and his brain trust can do is sit back and reassess their strategy for the here and now as well as the future.
Not So Fast My Friend
Mark Cuban and friends have not been caught up in the free agent mayhem that has enamored other teams. For all of their infinite wisdom and experience they have been tight lipped about missing out on the opportunity to land the gem of this year’s class Deron Williams who opted to remain with the Brooklyn Nets (5 years/$98 million). The Mavs did not fall into the trap of trying to sign Jeremy Lin (Rockets - 4 years/$30 million) nor did they reacquire aging superstar Steve Nash (Lakers – 3 years/$27 million). The Mavs did not follow the Phoenix Suns plan to sign Goran Dragic and Michael Beasley. These two free agents certainly wouldn’t have put the Mavs into title contention. Cuban was quoted as saying, “The old rules aren’t the same as the new rules so putting together a championship team it could be a completely different approach. So it’s not about, or it may or may not be about which free agents, or free agent -- it could be a whole different approach. So we’ll wait and see. And it’s the same discussion I have with anybody that we have a very specific way that we think it takes to put together a championship team and we’re going to continue to do it. But we’re not going to just throw out one way and say that’s the only way it goes, because that’s typically the wrong way.” Cuban showed fiscal restraint and is one of the few owners to do so this offseason. It is a tough pill for Mavs fans to swallow. Everyone else has newly signed talent and we don’t. The win now philosophy will have to be put on hold.
There’s Still Hope
Mavs fans can still hope and dream of having their own “Big Three” and by having plenty of cap space to work with that may come to fruition next year. The talking heads have been rambling on about how this isn’t fair to Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk still has two years remaining on his current contract and even though he is getting up there in age he still has plenty of gas left in his tank. Mavs GM Donnie Nelson in a recent interview with Mike
Fisher of DallasBasketball.com on the subject of Dirk stated “He’s a man. He’s a champion. And all parties involved fully intend on Dirk Nowitzki being a Mav For Life.” The sights are now set on acquiring Orlando Magic Center Dwight Howard and Los Angeles Clipper Chris Paul. Will this happen? Only time will tell if the Dallas Mavericks who by making no moves, made the right moves.
