Harvey: Blog open, Cuban back as the unifier
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...n.200cfb7.html
San Antonio Express-News
Mark Cuban brings people together. He does today, when the Spurs play the Heat.
Cuban went after Dwyane Wade last week the way Cuban once went after Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen and an "ugly-ass" river. As a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote last spring, Cuban turns whoever plays the Mavericks into America's Team.
It won't mean anything today. But it will this spring if Cuban yaps and the Mavericks wonder again if their boss has done too good of a job of unifying the world.
Is he the only reason the Mavericks can't win the le?
Cuban likely isn't enough to derail Dallas. After Dwight Howard soared over Tim Duncan on Friday night, the Mavericks took an eight-game lead in the division. The last time the Spurs faced this kind of hole, Duncan was a college kid.
But most thought the same was true last June. Then, the Mavericks had more talent but folded against Miami, with Cuban screaming at the refs and league officials from the bench and from the hallways. Just days later, Dirk Nowitzki followed with a suggestion only a superstar can make.
Cuban, Nowitzki said, has to "learn to control himself as well as the players do. We can't lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court, and I think he's got to learn that, too."
Cuban had added to the chaos, as well as to the sense that the NBA was out to get the Mavericks. Cuban set a tone that said, in effect, his players were victims, and that goes against what Avery Johnson and other coaches believe in: Instead of blaming others when things go wrong, take responsibility.
Some of it is still in place. The Mavericks continue to give little credit to the Heat, and Cuban entered into the debate in January. "It might hurt less if we had lost to a better team," he said then. "But we didn't."
Most of the Mavericks, including Nowitzki, have repeated that. Last week, it surfaced again, and Wade responded with a surprisingly harsh statement.
"Dirk said they gave us the championship last year," Wade told Miami reporters. "But he's the reason they lost the championship, because he wasn't the leader he's supposed to be in the closing moments."
Wade isn't wrong. The better team is the one who wins a best-of-7 series.
Besides, numbers don't lie. In the three Finals games decided by three or fewer points, Wade scored a total of 46 points in the fourth quarters and overtimes. Nowitzki scored 19.
That said, does anyone remember Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson — or any of the Spurs — needing to say such things? The ring should say enough.
Nowitzki declined to respond. But Cuban, ever busy with his blog, couldn't resist. He tried to be funny, with a few lines about Wade's commercials, and sometimes he sounded angry. "You don't have a clue," he wrote to Wade.
Cuban also added his usual sarcasm. "You are an amazing player Dwayne," Cuban said, misspelling Wade's first name. "I love watching you shoot free throws."
That's classic Cuban, the relentless fan who admits to nothing. Just as he tried to turn Finley into a villain for taking Jason Terry's punch, he prefers to think Wade didn't earn any of his free throws. The refs, ever blind to justice, did this.
That's also classic Cuban, the promoter. Whether he's working the crowd or his blog, he has one undeniable gift. He demands attention, and Cuban created a similar storm last year in San Antonio. As he said was his intent then, he helped fuel a rivalry.
It's not all calculated. Sometimes, Cuban is simply a jerk. Cursing Bowen at courtside wasn't a publicity stunt, and neither was his venom in Miami.
But he's clearly brilliant, and his recent opinion on the future of newspapers is something the industry should read. After all, he already knows how to sell newspapers, as well as his league.
A blog entry is part of that. And when the playoffs start, perhaps Cuban will calm down as Nowitzki wants.
But there also are signs Cuban can't help himself, and today, on the same floor where the Mavericks came apart, is one. The Spurs and Heat have never been closer.
Random Thoughts:
-Cuban complaining about free throws is the funniest thing I've ever heard.
-The Mavs toughest opponent in the playoffs might be Cuban's mouth.
-Wade's comments were dead on.
-Cuban and Dirk are right. The Mavs lost to a worse team. The Heat were the worst team to make the Finals in 30 years.
-Cuban "The Promoter" is overrated. He just says dumb stuff sometimes.
-I wish Holt cared about winning half as much as Cuban does.
I agree with all of that except the last one. Winning isn't so important to me that I'd want some of the bad apples on the team that Cubes was willing to sign. Character is important and off the court behavior is important too. Cuban has said numerous times that he doesn't care and other people shouldn't care if athletes break laws or use performance enhancing drugs because they're just entertainers, but I disagree. They have to accept their responsibility as role models. Even Barkley, who started that whole "I don't want to be a role model" thing admitted years later that he was wrong.
Imagine having Cuban as the face of your franchise?! Thank the good lord that "man" is in Dallas embarrassing that city and not ours!
Cuban doesn't mean anything he says I'm willing to bet, he does it for attention because he's smart and a brilliant business man. I don't let what he says bother me beyond a laugh.
Oooo. I don't know about that. The second Houston championship club was pretty ing bad. They won only 47 games, were a 6 seed and just caught fire in the playoffs.-Cuban and Dirk are right. The Mavs lost to a worse team. The Heat were the worst team to make the Finals in 30 years.
I just think that Cuban is hillarious. He's got passion and isn't afraid to say what he's thinking no matter how crazy it is. I enjoy him and he makes the NBA a better place. I can't say if I hit the lottery and buy a team that I wouldn't be doing some of his stuff like getting in huddles and jumping around in a franchise t-shirt. I think he's better than the rest of the stuffy owners.
Personally, I don't enjoy Cuban at all. He's a punk-ass, overzealous, whiny little dirt-bag whose got a serious case of jock envy. I hope his team doesn't ever win . If we ever hear from him again, it'll be too soon.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 02-11-2007 at 10:17 AM.
His act was old five years ago. You must be VERY young.
Last edited by exstatic; 02-11-2007 at 10:15 AM.
What 'bad apples' has Cuban signed?
Stack, Jason Terry, and Antoine Walker come to mind.
Mark Cuban would make a wonderful WWE Wrestling Manager.
In fact, he should take over for the founder of WWE, McMahon.
In fact, Cuban should be a wrestler. That would be funny.
I suprisingly like Wade a lot more after hearing his comments.
If the Mavs do end up winning it all this season, I think Cuban will only get worse (as will Mavs fans)
Oh no, Sideshow updated his blog. Maybe he'll wear a near t-shirt (hopefully freshly laundered) to a game.
A team with Shaq at center and Wade at guard is the worst team to make the finals in 30 years??? Plus, they had two veteren ex-allstars (Walker & Payton). Plus, they have a future HOF coach. I don't think they're even close to being the worst team in the last 30 years. I'm too lazy to look back and seriously argue this though. Mavs still should have beat them though.
Cuban is ALL about "promoting". I think Cuban "The Promoter" is actually slightly underrated. Although I agree with the statement that Cuban just says stupid stuff sometimes (it's almost always in the heat of the moment), he doesn't utter many words that don't have a "bottom-line $$$" as the ulterior motive. He even admits as much as I hear him interviewed often here in Dallas.
In regards to Wade's comments, I don't totally understand the relationship between Dirk's leadership skills and his poor play down the stretch of a couple of those games. To me, Dirk wasn't up to snuff when it counted the most. I'm not sure where his leadership skills come into play here? You can be a good/great leader and not win. Seems to me like Wade is only slamming himself and his team by making those comments as he was the one that got it done (not Dirk's inability to get it done) and maybe (he referenced it but didn't sound like he meant it) he team's defense (Haslem & Posey) had a little to do with Dirk's poor shooting %.
Cuban is an embarrassing classless piece of .
Most Mav fans follow suit.
ABC.
That's the point. When the Heat were down 2-0 and about to go down 3-0 with the series out of their hands, Wade stepped up in crunch time to help his team get the Win. Meanwhile, Dirk did not do the same at the other hand. Good leaders, great players do that, especially in the NBA Finals.
Oh and you're completely stretching it with your comments about "Wade slamming his teamates and himself with those comments."Where exactly was the Mavs team defense against Wade? A good leader would have voiced this and he would have taken over despire bad defense. Posey/Haslem are good defenders, but Dirk is a mismatch for virtually every team in the league. He choked, plain and simple. You think great Heat defense forced Dirk to miss that FT in crunch time that would have given the Mavs the win?
I think Holt cares enough to let the basketball guys do their thing. His style is totally different from Cuban's, I think Holt took over a team that he saw was doing the right things and let them run within a budget. I don't see that many owners throwing tons of cash into thier franchises. Cuban on the other hand is a hands on guys, which since it's his money, I don't have a problem with. Cuban at times comes across as a life and death guy when it comes to his team, more a fan than an owner. I mean how different is he than some of the rabid fans that post in here or go to the games, or follow the team, the only difference is he gets to call the shots. I just can't fault Holt for the way he has handled this team.
That Houston team had a lot of injuries, rested Olajuwon a lot too, and traded for a hall of famer midseason. They beat a 61win, a 59 win, a 62 win, and a 58 win team to win the le, so you can't call them weak.
Miami on the other hand, was easily the weakest champion since at best, 1979. I think they would have no problem beating the 2002 Nets, the 99 Knicks, or the 81 Rockets.
I hate cuban too, but sometimes I wish either Pop or Peter Holt would take a more proactive approach in dealing with the media and especially officiating. No one is telling them to go insult the city of Dallas or anything, but seriously, they need to stand up for their players a lot more. That's the only credit I'm willing to give Cubes.
Shaq was so great with his 14ppg or whatever, including that dominant 5 point game 2, or his astounding 9 point game in the le clincher.
Cuban's a , plain and simple. He says he's trying to make rivalries to justify his crybaby behavior. Watching him lose the le like that last year was the best thing that could ever happen in a year when the Spurs don't raise a trophy.
Absolutely. Somebody commented last year on another message board that a lot of s my people won rings that night, and I replied that was true, but the important thing was that Cuban didn't have one. That may be delayed gratification, since the Mavs could very well win it all this year, but I'm with the LA Times reporter quoted above who said that Cuban automatically makes every team the Mavs play America's team.
Cuban is an Idiot
Dwyyane Wade is an insecure A-hole
Dirk is the best player in the NBA
Oh please, when the Spurs were losing the series at the line pop didn't say . The Mavs were losing the same way in the Finals. And certain peope were vocal. In the end it was the same result. Going after the refs just gives the team someone to blame after the loss except for themselves.
who cares? other than his blog and t-shirts he's been fairly quiet in the arena and media this year...but the media can't resist him because he's gold to them, much the same way that eva longoria garners half the spotlight at spurs games these days
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