Mark Cuban is finally admitting what a lot of us screamed three summers ago:
Not re-signing Tyson Chandler and not giving the Mavs a chance to defend their title was a mistake.
“Obviously it would have been better if we could have kept him, right?” the Mavs owner told fans at last week’s Select-A-Seat event at American Airlines Center. “But our hand was dealt with all the changes. All’s well that ends well. I think it turned out just the way we wanted, just the way I planned.”
Okay, he’s only sorta admitting it.
“Let’s just say I learn from my mistakes,” he continued.
Cuban’s obviously a ton of great decisions in his life. He’s got a fortune, an NBA championship and a wonderful family. But he goofed in letting Steve Nash walk into free agency in 2004 and he goofed in letting Tyson go in 2011. Nash won two MVPs in Phoenix and the Mavs cratered without their defensive hub.
In his mind, his reasoning was sound. The new collective bargaining agreement, he theorized, would put such a premium on financial flexibility that re-signing aging centers to multi-year contracts didn’t make sense. The Mavs would use their pile of money to land a big fish free agent like Deron Williams or Dwight Howard or …
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Cuban was right in that championship-team core players like Jason Terry and J.J. Barea and Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson failed to improve their games after the title season. But it’s difficult to see his plan of breaking up the team working, because since then the Mavs haven’t won a single playoff series.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He currently lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
