July 9, 2009, at 4:09 am
Sure he’s foul mouthed and often controversial but Mark Cuban is one of the few NBA owners who actually gives a crap. Most owners in the NBA care about the bottom line. They are in it to make money, not to win. If you don’t think that’s true than you’re blind. Look at all the lopsided trades in the NBA this off-season, Carter for junk, Jefferson for junk, Shaq for junk, those weren’t basketball trades they were economic trades.
Cuban very easily could have re-signed Kidd this off-season and called it a day. The Mavs already had one of the highest payrolls in the NBA and are well over the luxury tax (that means that Cuban is paying double salary for any additional salary over the tax limit [$69.92 million].) He could have gone into the 2009 season with Kidd, Terry, Howard, Dirk, Dampier as his starting five and limped into the playoffs and most likely would have lost in the first two rounds. The team would have been competitive but not championship caliber. Instead Cuban said “eff the economy let’s win a title.” He signed Marcin Gortat to a full mid-level exception deal (5 years/$35 million) and traded for Shawn Marion. Cuban didn’t lose any valuable pieces in the Marion trade, he only lost a ton of money.
Now the Mavs have a formidable and versatile lineup. They can go big with Kidd, Howard, Marion, Dirk and Gortat. They can go small with Kidd, Terry, Howard, Marion and Dirk. It’s a lineup that’s going to give any team in the NBA headaches and it only cost money to assemble.
Outside of the Spurs the Mavericks have improved their team the most this off-season. A pretty remarkable feat considering they were at the cap limit at the outset of the off-season. The 2009 Mavericks are going to cost roughly $82 (really closer to $100 million when you factor in the luxury tax) but Cuban doesn’t care. Say what you want about the man but every owner in the NBA can learn a lot from Mark Cuban.
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