Cuban on KG

[Findog]

Anyway... I was struck by how the fans seemed to be more like WWE fans than basketball fans, and how Cuban's approach to marketing the game seemed to pander to all this.

T-shirt cannons, loud music and annoying PA announcers are not exclusive to the Mavericks. It's not exclusive to the NBA.

I really think Cuban is building up this "us vs. the world" mentality to get people to be Mavs fans. And guess what... it's working.

It's in every team's interest to grow the fanbase. Are bandwagon fans supposed to be turned away the door of the AAC? Success attracts fair-weather people, they will go away if/when the Mavs start sucking again.

That's why I say he's sucking dollars out of the fans' pockets.

As to why he'd rather be successful than win... well.. just look at it. He has done that! He's built up the fan base, sold out the games, made the team the talk of the media by being controversial and outspoken, and put on a good regular-season show to keep people thinking he's got a shot in the playoffs.

And, all this "the refs are out to get us, the league is out to get us" is exactly what you do NOT do if you want to build a championship. The rule for championship teams is "no excuses, no complaints, figure out how to win".

At one of the finals games, it was reported that Popovich wrote on the board for the team, "Expect nothing. Ask for nothing."

This is perfect. It is exactly the at ude a championship team must have. No excuses. No talking. No complaining. No expectations of success. There is no try, there is only do or not do.

If you think Mark Cuban doesn't want to win a le, and inking Dirk, Avery, Josh, Jet, Diop and soon Devin to extensions and going into lux tax territory says nothing, then I can't help you. Going into lux tax territory doesn't mean you've spent your money wisely, the Mavs have made some questionable personnel decisions, but it DOES mean you're aiming for something more than a 50-win season.

Admitted, you see a bit of this in Spurs games too.
But not to anything like the degree I saw in Dallas.

Whatever. All teams about calls. It's not anything exclusive to Dallas:

[ShoogarBear]

^Yes, but that's successful ing.