The Dallas Mavericks currently sit at an NBA worst 3-13 after last night’s win over the Pelicans, but owner Mark Cuban isn’t hitting the panic button just yet. Talking with reporters before last night’s contest, Cuban argued that it’s important to always compete and play hard so you don’t develop bad habits down the line.
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“Haters gonna hate. We think that you always compete,” Cuban said after finishing his pregame StairMaster routine Sunday night. “If you’re competing when the league is better, like it is this year, if you don’t do well, you’ll be in a position to get a good pick. Which, remember, even if you have the worst record in the NBA, there’s a 75 percent chance you’re not going to get the top pick.
“There are so many teams that became four years away from four years away because guys just learned how to lose,” Cuban said. “They stopped caring about any individual game and just got used to it, and you don’t want guys developing those bad habits. We have so many young guys on this team, we want the games to mean something. Not to be, ‘OK, who are we going to pull in the fourth quarter so we can lose this game?’ That’s not how teams develop good habits.”
Cuban also said that he doesn’t see a superstar player on the level of Shaq, LeBron or Tim Duncan in the 2017 Draft class:
“The only way you overcome that is to have the ultimate superstar carry you through, and it’s tough to draft the ultimate superstar. I don’t see any Shaqs or LeBrons or Tim Duncans in this draft, so I don’t think that’s the right way to do it. You just ignore the haters, let them bitch, and go about your business.”
Dallas has been banged up all season with JJ Barea, Dirk Nowitzki and Deron Williams all missing extended time. Despite the terrible record, Dallas is five games out of the eighth seed in the West but their schedule does them no favors as the Mavs are set to take on the Spurs, Hornets and Bulls in their next three games.
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