Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012 at 10:27 am  |  156 responses

Mark Cuban: Mavs Better Off Without Deron Williams

by Eldon Khorshidi | @eldonadam

Mark Cuban has been in the news quite a lot recently, making a slew of bold statements. Well, those statements may pale in comparison to his most recent remark, which is probably the boldest of them all—Cuban, whose Dallas Mavericks made an all-out effort to sign then-free agent Deron Williams, believes Dallas is actually in a much better situation without the star point guard on its roster. Um, huh? In all fairness, only time will tell how things pan out, but on the surface, Cuban’s remarks are a bit mind-boggling. From a purely basketball standpoint, it could be a fair point. From a purely personal standpoint, though, one could say someone is still a bit salty that Deron chose Brooklyn over his hometown Mavs.

More details, via FoxSportsSouthwest.com:

The Mavericks owner said Tuesday that the team is actually better off with Williams not on the roster. ”In hindsight, I don’t know if I would have been happy,” Cuban, a guest on the Ben and Skin Show on 103.3 [KESN-FM], said of the possibility of inking Williams to a long-term, maximum contract. “I think we’re in better position now then we would’ve been if we’d gotten him.” Wait. What? ”I don’t want to pick on Deron Williams because he’s a great, great, great, great player, so it’s not necessarily him per se,” Cuban said. “Obviously the decision was to go for him. But the conversation was, ‘OK, once you take $17.1 million in salary to what we have with Dirk and [Shawn Marion], then what do you do?’ That’s your squad. And it’s not just your squad for this year, it’s your squad for next year, other than the $3.3 million mini mid-level [exception]. ”So, that was a challenge that we had because we want to win. Everybody talks about Dirk’s window, but not only would it have been difficult to add players, it also would have been difficult to trade players. In reality, that was the same problem that Deron had. Because he looked and saw the same thing and said, ‘Now what are you going to do?’” In regards to not attending the final face-to-face July meeting with Williams, Cuban said: “Obviously, I had a conflict, but I was texting him. I was texting him. We were going back and forth quite a bit.”

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  • JML-G

    YEAH SURE! go ahead Mark, burn the bridges asap, time for Mavs to return at the ground zero

  • Sam J

    He’s making a lot of statements out of spite towards every guard in the NBA it appears.

  • Sam J

    He’s making a lot of statements out of spite towards every guard in the NBA it appears.

  • ALD

    i understand.. the off the court matter… but dwill and dirk would have been so deadly… o well goBK

  • http://juan.garcia@computershare.com PutUrMomma2Wrk

    ”In hindsight, I don’t know if I would have been happy,” as a tear drops down his eye…

  • http://www.fullc0urtpress.com KHOLIDAY

    Somebody give Mark Cuban something to do so he can shut the hell up! Geeeeez

  • ponder

    wowwwww yet if he had come to Dallas they’d be partying… keep it classy cuban

  • chn

    well, mavs hasn’t acquired this year anyone worth making national noise, so marc cuban is stepping up…

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Sounds like the words of a scorned lover.

  • http://nba.com GP23

    Sour grapes..

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    He is being honest in a way. Deron said that he didn’t choose Dallas because they didn’t have enough pieces.
    However, Cuban is also saying on the slick that Deron wasn’t the game changing type of player they needed. You have to read between the lines a little bit.

  • Dagger

    So I take it nobody actually read beyond the headline. I don’t think Cuban’s right, but his statement isn’t nearly as inflammatory or spiteful as the headline would lead you to believe.

  • http://www.slamonline.com spit hot fiyah

    sick brookylyn uniforms, thought they would look much worse based on the logo

  • Fat Lever

    H*ll hath no fury like a Cuban scorned.

  • Pve_2

    There is nothing wrong with what he said. The collective of Darren Collison, OJ Mayo, Chris Kaman, and Elton Brand is a better haul than Deron Williams.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    suer if you enjoy not having a chance at being more than mediocre

  • http://www.slamonline.com Exile

    He said Deron knew they couldn’t put more around him at that point and neither he, nor Deron would be good with that because it gave the Mavs no depth and was not the recipe for a championship team. He wanted Deron… but the price was too high on a number of different levels.

  • Bawse

    I have questions on Derron. Before last year people were saying he was better than CP3 but this past season showed that was a lie. In a weak conference not only didnt the so called superstar not lead his team to the playoffs BUT THEY WERENT EVEN COMPETITIVE. Check the Eastern Conference out and name another team with at least ONE superstar that did not make the playoffs? Oops now counting the Nets I will now have to say NO TEAM THAT HAD A SUPERSTAR IN THE EAST DID NOT AT LEAST MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. He is overrated. Cuban is bitter but right.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    .Nobody actually thought Collison was that good.
    .
    .Did you see Deron Williams supporting cast? Thinking they should have made the playoffs is blatantly stupid.
    .
    .And name a superstar in the West that didn’t make the playoffs other than Kevin Love.
    .
    .See how easy that is? To make a case for something ridiculous. Kevin Love sucks because he didn’t make the playoffs. Let’s ignore everything else.
    .
    .Cuban is bitter. End of Story.

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    I didn’t think that Cubes could get anymore annoying after winning a title. I was sadly mistaken.

  • LA Huey

    Are those the official uniforms or just what some dude on the internet thinks they will look like?

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    @nbk Truth.

  • disappointednbafan

    BITTER!

  • MirChilly

    Truth is Deron isn’t a game changing player. There are only about 3 guys maybe 5 who fit that mold. The rest are between great to very good to hyped. Denver, Utah, Toronto and a Detroit when they was winning all knows this to be fact. But cuban is bitter. He wanted Howard and Deron bad…

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    If Deron isn’t a game changer, the neither is cats like Rose and Westbrook.

  • Ldub

    If that is true, I can understand the financial side. Yet according to the way the title reads, you would think that he was talking about the talent. Going back to the first sentence, since when is Cuban worried about money he is throwing at players?

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    He is talking about talent, to a degree.
    Look, if they sign Dwight, they would still only have Dwight, Dirk and Marion.
    But Cuban believes that Dwight is so good he is worth building a core around. He doesn’t think Deron is that good, although he was willing to take that gamble. That’s how I read it at least. He didn’t come out and say it, but he implied that Deron wouldn’t have been a game changer.
    I can understand that argument. Honestly, There are three game changers in the League, and it might only be two when you really thing about it. I’m talking about guys who make your bad team good and make your good team a contender all by themselves.
    Those players are LeBron and Dwight, with possibly Durant in the mix. That’s it.
    Kobe, Deron, CP3, Rose and all the rest are stars and superstars. But they don’t make a bad team good. They need additional high quality pieces. LeBron and Dwight don’t really need that. They are special.

  • http://www.slamonline.com L.E.

    Most comments here are made because the article isn’t read correctly.
    Cuban just said, that he and Deron wre on the same page and that they both saw, that this years mavs with Deron couldn’t be a championship caliber team, because of the huge contracts of Shawn, Dirk and Deron. No money for any other contracts or trade material.
    That’s all he said.

  • http://www.slamonline.com L.E.

    @ Allen
    LeBron is special.
    Dwight still has to show that. A monster athlete and defender, but he isn’t able to really create offensivly the way other great centers before him did.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    @Allenp I think you are mistaking about cp3 not being a game changer. That clipper team would have been 10th at best out west. Chris Paul was able to make everyone around him look respectable. I think he deserves game changer status.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    ^I think he showed that by taking a bunch of scrubs to the Finals.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    @Allenp thats just my opinion though. I’m new at commenting on here and have read many of your comments and you do make very goods points often. Indont wanna come off as an ass on my first comment lol

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    You have to include a healthy Wade on that game-changers list. He led the two previous MIA teams (before Bron/Bosh) that had no business being there to the playoffs.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    JTaylor21 good point. Those teams seriously sucked. Mario Chalmers and Beasley as your 2nd and 3rd options is a recipe for top 5 draft pick.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Tyler
    Disagreeing with me doesn’t make you an a(ss. I love a good discussion.
    Anyway, I think CP3 had quality pieces with the Clippers. Blake, DeAndre, Caron and the rest are good players man. They would have been tenth because their coach is Vinny and they have obvious weaknesses. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have talent.
    CP3 is great, but he still needs quality pieces. He’s not dragging the collection of talent Dwight had in Orlando or Bron had at one time in Cleveland to the Finals or conference finals. We know Bron and Dwight have done it.

  • ALD

    @lakeshow chris paul took what team to the finals?

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Sorry
    Wade isn’t on the list. He hasn’t been healthy in years. And I’m not sure he still has that 2008 Wade ability anymore even when healthy. And, he still didn’t get as much out of his teams as LeBron and Dwight got. Think about it man.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    I’m not saying he’s on their level when it comes to elevating average teams but he is a notch below that and still a game changer (when healthy) in my eyes. The man still put up 23/5/4 on 46% shooting during MIA ’12 playoff run and that was with a bad knee.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    What about the 07-08 hornets? They were a 56 win team and made the western semi and lost in 7 games. You could make the argument that they should have won that series. That team had David West as it’s only scorer who didn’t need help from cp3. The next best players were Peja and Tyson Chandler. Both needed Chris paul to create for them on the offensive end. He totally made that team what it was.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    I think there are 2 different levels of “game changers” in the NBA.
    You got cats like LeBron/Howard at the top who can carry bad teams deep into the playoffs and at times, the Finals.
    Then you got cats like KD/Wade/CP at the second level, guys that can carry average-to-bad teams into the playoffs every year but don’t expect them to advance past the 1st Round.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    ALD, that was at L.E. in regards to D-Wight.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    KD is a team with Westbrook and Hardin. He isn’t on a bad team by any means. He also is the sole carrier of the team. Plus they just made it to the finals.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    Jtaylor21 KD is not the sole carrier of that OKC team. He has Westbrook and Hardin. They both talented players. Also they made it well past the first round and made it to the finals.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Gin%C3%B3bili nbk

    Allen, is game changer to you just a player that can make you a title contender? is that what you meant by that comment?

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Gin%C3%B3bili nbk

    Cosign JTaylor.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    Braille I don’t think KD can be on this list. His team is too talented to be considered carried by one man. You could see it as that team would be nearly as good without him though. I would like to know how KD would be viewed if he were to be on a Cleveland team during the Lebron era. Would he make those teams better or would be be seen as a Carmelo anthony type player that can only score?

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    Jtaylor21* ^

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    When I said game changer, I meant that in the context of Dallas. With the Dallas cap situation, they need one amazing player or several high quality players. Dwight and LeBron with Dirk and Marion make Dallas a title contender with the addition of decent, cheap role players.
    Deron would make them better, but they would still need a major piece.
    I can see JTaylors explanation, and if that’s how you all define game changer, I’m fine with that in general. I think Wade and Durant and CP3 are definite superstars, but they aren’t on the LeBron and Dwight tier.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    And I’m on the fence about Durant. I am enthralled by his scoring ability. But, he doesn’t do enough else. And I’m not sure that he would make a bad team into a good team simple because he can score. But he can score so well! I don’t know.

  • MikeC.

    Some guys become game-changers when the circumstances permit. KG was an absolute game-changer in Boston with his committment to D and team-first approach. He also dragged some pretty hideous T-Wolves lineups into the playoffs. My list of top-5 all-time game-changers:
    1)Bird
    2)Kareem
    3)Shaq
    4)Admiral
    5)Lebron

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