Cuban is a sore loser

[Sweetey]

From this morning's Dallas News: HILARIOUS !


Cuban is still on Nellie's case

Mavs owner shows he won't let anything go as he sues Nelson

12:34 AM CDT on Saturday, June 30, 2007



For all you fans wanting to know what the heck's going on with the locals while the Warriors get better and the Trail Blazers get better and the Sonics get better and the Mavs get Nick Fazekas, here's your answer:

Mark Cuban has gone nuts.

The official word Friday is that he's in the hospital for "hip replacement surgery," which is the new euphemism for "ins utionalized."

How else do you explain it? Sure, we've seen Mad Mark do some silly things in the name of the Mavs. He's warred with the commissioner, warred with the refs, warred with the media, even warred with San Antonio about the toxicity of its River Walk.

But this complaint tops them all: He's suing Don Nelson on grounds that he beat his old team with insider information, and he wants Golden State to cease and desist, herewith.

Frankly, part of me wishes him good luck. Maybe he knows something the rest of us don't. Wouldn't be the first time.

Cuban has made billions doing things no one else thought practical. As has been written in this space before, I'm loath to take on someone not only far smarter than me, but a guy who never sleeps, either.

Still, until we get some kind of response other than a no comment – apparently, you can still e-mail while wearing a straitjacket – we'll have to take this at face value.

A Nellie-Cuban culture primer: Once upon a time, two great minds got together to resurrect a basketball franchise. And for a couple of years, anyway, life was great. But Cuban eventually tired of Nellie's work ethic. Nellie, in turn, resented Cuban's interference. The simmering feud came to a boil when Cuban allowed Nellie's favorite player, Steve Nash, to walk in free agency. For all intents and purposes, Cuban thought Nellie cashed in. And that's how this became a case soon to be handled by Judge Judy.

On the surface, it looks like it's all about money. Nellie says the Mavs owe him $6.5 million from the days when Ross Perot Jr. owned the club, and he wants it. Or a settlement. Cuban says Nellie violated a non-compete clause in his contract by taking the deal to coach the Warriors.

An arbitrator will decide who's right this fall. But you don't need a law degree to know who's wrong.

Since when did money ever matter to Cuban? He's thrown it around with impunity since he bought the team. He's spent more on luxury hotels and plush towels and private jets than he ever owed Nellie.

Money isn't the issue.

Ego, is what it is.

Cuban had every right to question Nellie's work ethic. Nellie sat out part of a season to fix his golf swing, for instance.

And then Nellie quit to become a consultant, and that should have been the end of a good marriage gone bad.

But it didn't end. Cuban won't let it. Next thing you know, you've got both sides alleging breach of contract.

And now, to help his case, Cuban contends that the Warriors beat the Mavs because of Nellie's inside knowledge, violating terms of his non-compete clause.

If Cuban's point holds up in court, no coach who's fired from here on out will ever get another job in his or her sport again.

For that matter, how much did Nellie need to know? The Warriors' hold on the Mavs predated Nellie's arrival. The problem the last couple of years has been the matchup. All any team needs to handle the Warriors is a low-post presence and a point guard. The Mavs have neither. Utah has both, which is how Golden State got bounced from the playoffs after its historic upset.

Things weren't always so bad between Mark Cuban and Don Nelson.

Either Cuban thinks Nellie is still getting inside info about his old team – in which case, he should clean house – or it's all just a legal maneuver to cloud the issue.

"Mark has always claimed that Don was always looking for excuses to lose," said John O'Connor, Nellie's lawyer. "It seems like somebody else is making excuses here."

Best guess: Cuban doesn't really think Nellie beat them, no matter what it looks like. He simply can't let anything go.

Bad enough when the league's best regular-season team gets booted from the playoffs by the eighth seed. Mad Mark won't let a bad ending die peacefully. He wants to drag it out, create a circus, exact his revenge, no matter what the cost. And money is the least of it.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...n.382ea93.html

[ShoogarBear]

"Mark has always claimed that Don was always looking for excuses to lose," said John O'Connor, Nellie's lawyer. "It seems like somebody else is making excuses here."

Now this statement is 100% on the mark. Nellie's always been one who was more about getting Coach of the Year pla udes for exceeding expectations, but when he SHOULD have won, always complained about how he didn't have the talent.

[HJNTX]

I think anybody that watches and studies Mav's games has this same insider information. Didn't Avery change the team up game 1 against the Warriors, I'm sure that had nothing to do with the loss.

I'm sure Nellie did violate his contract it sounds like that. Thanks Conqueso, but "insider information" to beat the Mavs..... give me a break.

BIGTIME!!!

[Findog]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...n.382ea93.html

All based on the word of Nellie's attorney that this is Cuban's counterclaim. Good thing an op-ed doesn't count as evidence. Pretty dismal by the media to run with this without all of the facts being in.

[bresilhac]

How so? Didn't he pay Nellie a consulting gig for a year after Nellie quit on the team? That's awfully generous.

Del Harris retired and he's paying him to stay around as a consultant. Cuban is a flawed human being like anybody else, but you make him out to be Darth Vader.

That Cuban is a flawed human being is probably the understatement of the decade. Cuban's much worse than that though. He's a loudmouth, pain in the rear end, sore loser and flat out cancer on the backside of the NBA. The league hates him, fans around the league certainly hate him and I'm not even sure that his own players like or respect him. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. Simply put Cuban is a disgrace to the league and is ill-suited to being an NBA owner. Used car salesman would be a more appropriate vocation for that idiot.

[Findog]

Cuban's much worse than that though.

And you know him personally?

He's a loudmouth, pain in the rear end, sore loser and flat out cancer on the backside of the NBA.

He runs his franchise better than everybody except maybe San Antonio or Detroit. I'll take him over most. It's his responsibility to hire people that know what they're doing and make the financial commitment to building a winner. I don't know if you noticed but the franchise was in the dumps when he took over. And the roster has completely turned over with the exception of Dirk. Worry about your own franchise and I'll worry about mine.

The league hates him,

Good, he's doing something right

fans around the league certainly hate him

Don't care.

and I'm not even sure that his own players like or respect him.

Speculation and conjecture on your part. If that were the case, I would imagine Avery would've quit by now, Dirk, Josh and JET wouldn't be so eager to sign extensions and Dallas wouldnt be a desirable FA destination.

Simply put Cuban is a disgrace to the league and is ill-suited to being an NBA owner. Used car salesman would be a more appropriate vocation for that idiot

Well, according to Spurs fan, so I guess that settles it. You're right, I would prefer Ross Perot Jr to buy the team back so we can go 25-57 every year again.

[Reggie Miller]

That's true, but Nellie is suing for the full contract value, and that can only be a valid remedy if he in fact didn't breach its terms either. Put another way, Nellie is claiming (I think) that the contract was valid and continues to be valid and therefore, he deserves all the money under the contract, regardless of whether the Mavs actually "use" his services. That would be true had he not also breached the contract. Yet he is also trying to claim (probably) that the non-compete clause doesn't apply because Cuban breached the contract. However, for that to be true, the contract would have to terminate upon Cuban's original breach, meaning that he can only recover the fair market value of his services up to that point. Or at least that's my understanding of contract law, which isn't one of my strong suits.

That is my understanding. The contract was nullified by Cuban's breach (failure to pay). Normally, Nelson would be free to take another job, mitigating his damages. That is, Cuban could have claimed that Nelson was running the damages up by failure to take the GS job (failure to mitigate defense).

Equity normally allows the non-breaching party to violate a non-compete clause, but not "trade secrets" clauses. This is not my area either, but knowledge of basketball operations, set plays, etc. would not qualify as "trade secrets," in my opinion. (We're talking about things like the formula for Coke, etc.)

The problem is that we don't have access to the contract(s). For me the real question is: what, if any, changes were made contractually when Nelson went from "coach" to "consultant?" Any competent attorney should have forced the Mavericks to make major changes at that point.

[Findog]

The problem is that we don't have access to the contract(s).

Hey, that's not stopping the pundits from weighing in that Cuban has turned into Howard Hughes. If Deadspin or people on Spurstalk wanna crack jokes, whatever, that's part of what the internet is for, but this disgusts me:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...n.382ea93.html

I bet Cuban would have a hard time proving this rises to the level of actual malice, but just to prove a point I'd sue him for libel. That's irresponsible and disgusting.

[TampaDude]

Wow...as if I didn't have enough reasons already to detest Mark Cuban...may he drown in the vat of his own stinking bull ...

[TampaDude]

I bet Cuban would have a hard time proving this rises to the level of actual malice, but just to prove a point I'd sue him for libel. That's irresponsible and disgusting.

yeah! Sue the sucker!

[lotr1trekkie]

Cuban is actually a sore winner. That's what happens when you have a billion at age 32. He has taken on godlike qualities. He likes to judge others but can't take it. Hopefully, he will never win a le in Dallas because he would be insufferable and classless. Hires Avery to beat us --didn't work yet. Let's Finley and Nash go[Duh]. Let's Don Nelson go as coach and Nellie takes him to school in the playoffs. Obviously a shrew businessman but as an owner he need etiquette lessons.

[Findog]

Hires Avery to beat us --didn't work yet.

Really? The le part -- still a work in progress, but eliminating the Spurs in the playoffs? Hasn't happened yet?

Let's Finley and Nash go

Both the right moves. No Finley, no luxury tax hit. Went farther without Nash than we did with him. Nash is one of my alltime favorite players, love the guy, but it's hard to win a le paying him that kind of money and being so atrocious defensively at the PG position.

Let's Don Nelson go as coach

Wake me when Nellie leads a smallball team that plays no D to a le.

Nellie takes him to school in the playoffs.

X's and O's. We didn't get to pick our first-round opponent.

[saporvida]

Really? The le part -- still a work in progress, but eliminating the Spurs in the playoffs? Hasn't happened yet?

like all suns fans have been spewing here lately.... *

[CosmicCowboy]

Mark Cuban has gone nuts.

The official word Friday is that he's in the hospital for "hip replacement surgery," which is the new euphemism for "ins utionalized."

And this is the DALLAS papers...

[Findog]

like all suns fans have been spewing here lately.... *

Then that makes you just as big a as those whiners.

And what would that asterisk refer to? Timmy had an ingrown toenail and it made his fweet huwt? Manu spent too much time in the mirror trying to comb over his bald spot? Timmy and Eva were on a break at the time and TP's mind was elsewhere?

[exstatic]

X's and O's. We didn't get to pick our first-round opponent.

Who does?

[50 cent]

That Cuban is a flawed human being is probably the understatement of the decade. Cuban's much worse than that though. He's a loudmouth, pain in the rear end, sore loser and flat out cancer on the backside of the NBA. The league hates him, fans around the league certainly hate him and I'm not even sure that his own players like or respect him. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. Simply put Cuban is a disgrace to the league and is ill-suited to being an NBA owner. Used car salesman would be a more appropriate vocation for that idiot.

There is no way in that Avery respects him.

[Findog]

There is no way in that Avery respects him.

if he didn't, he could resign and 20 teams would line up to hire him. try again, please.

[exstatic]

if he didn't, he could resign and 20 teams would line up to hire him. try again, please.

That's 20 Cuban lawsuits waiting to happen.

[Findog]

That's 20 Cuban lawsuits waiting to happen.

ok, thats funny...walked right into that one