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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  • http://www.starting5.com.au NM30

    Lol
    I’m sure they are mr cubes I’m sure they are
    And without terry and withoutbkidd to I’d assume?

  • http://www.xvideos.com nbk troll

    How in the toronto can anybody say lebron is not a game changer…. The dude is the best player in the world. 3x mvp. 3 finals appearances. Finals mvp. The only way you get a resume like that is by changing games….

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    @seed. DRose missed a lot of action last year nd the bulls barely missed a beat. DRose is not Abrams changer. Just a good baller. He won’t ever take a team over the hump. That’s especially true since he tore his ACL

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    A game changer. Not abrams. Autocorrect

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    Look slick rose used to one of my favorite players to watch, and I watched him that whole year too. But *barely* carrying your team to the playoffs, and then getting murdered in the first round doesn’t mean your a game changer at all… Otherwise we’d be calling Melo one. Let’s be realistic here. The only time Rose has gone deep it all into the playoffs is when he’s had good teams around him(he’s actually only been deep once, but that 09 team would’ve gone very deep into the postseason had they not met the celtics in the first round.) honestly rose hasn’t actually been any deeper into the playoffs than Cp3 or D.will. If they can’t be game changers than neither can rose. And this is coming from a guy who has loved watching the man play since college

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    Also cosign lakeshow and LA Huey. KD does way more than just score… The quotation marks are for irony/sarcasm lol

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    All in all I understand what cubes is saying. That having D.will, dirk and marion and a thin bench wouldn’t get them anywhere but having good, versatile players(that he can trade) +dirk and Marion might. But ultimately I think I disagree. Deron would”ve been worth it.

  • Clydesays

    What’s up with Cubes. Did Shark Tank get cancelled or something? Dwill to Dirk would have been deadly.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    Datkid….first off, I said nothing about being a game changer, I know that’s what started the debate but I was strictly talking about Rose carrying his team to the playoffs in the 09-10 season . Second, It doesn’t matter whether he barely did it, he did it, period. Third, The Bulls were not MURDERED in the playoffs that season. Being murdered is something like what happened to CP3 in the 09 playoffs when the Nuggets killed his team by 50 and Chauncey was outplaying Chris. Speaking of Chris, he’s the one that has never been past the second round round, D-will and Rose has. I don’t wanna hear the sorry excuses of him not having a team anymore. If he’s as good as people making him out to be, he should of at least gotten as far as Rose and williams has once. AI did it and so did lebron on worse teams.

  • http://www.nba.com Dacre

    So now we have 2nd tier game changers. . . ? Awesome. Where’s shock exchange. . . ?

    Is Brian scalabrine a game changer? . . . Andre Blatche is but for a whole nother reason.

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    1. What exactly are you debating then? Nobody said he DIDNT carry them. 2. Nah. Nobody should’ve expected the hornets to beat the nuggets that year.. The talent disparity between those 2 teams was hilarious 3. And no rose and co, still got murdered. The nuggets had far too much firepower for the hornets but the Cavs for the 7th year in a row had only one guy who was any good…and he did whatever he wanted WHENEVER he wanted against the bulls and for all but one game they were totally and completely powerless to stop him. The 2nd best players on that nuggets team were Chauncey billups and JR smith, on the cavs? Mo Williams and Anderson Varejo.

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    You may not want to hear the whole cp3 had no team thing…but it’s true. Rose and d.will have had roughly equal talent on their teams, including many of the same players and have gotten farther as a result, Cp3 had very little, got injured and when he finally acquired a decent squad, got injured again.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    @DatKid are u kidding? Deron had great teams to contend with. He even made himself look like a moron by saying that Al Jeff. was going to be an All-Star which never happened. Deron is not better than Rose, not when Rose dominates him and is the youngest MVP ever plus youngest PG MVP.

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    Yes Rose has beaten D.will but d.will is still a better passer,better and more versatile defender, and a better shooter from 3 etc etc. I never said Dwill didn’t have good teams. That was my point that his (and rose’s) teams were always better than Chris Paul’s top to bottom.

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    Rose is actually better at almost nothing than D.will. He has beaten him several times tho, so I’ll give him that. And I never said Deron’s teams were terrible. That was my point, lmao That deron and rose had far better teams then Chris Paul did, up until now to contend with. I don’t know what you’re aguing about.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    1. Allenp said it dude, reading is fundamental. 2. Who cares if nobody should of expected them to win, they got beat by 50 freaking points one game and cp3 played with no heart that whole series, dahntey jones locked him up. 3. The Bulls didn’t get murdered that series, the first game was almost a blowout and then the bulls made a surge and got within seven points in the fourth until the cavs pulled away. The second game was a close match through out the game until the last three minutes until the cavs got up to about ten because one of the player got hot. The third game, the Bulls were blowing the cavs out by almost twenty until the late third/early fourth quarter when they climbed back in but the Bulls still won. The fourth game was close and then in the second half of the game the cavs blew the game open. The fifth game was close throughout the whole game, so yeah, they were murdered……3. It was the Cavs who had the best record in the league right? You forgot they had jameson, shaq and big Z as well with Lebron killing deng and they still didn’t get outplayed as much as the hornets did in the 09 playoffs. Cp3 overrated, you cant make these excuses for dude about being hurt and then say Rose has only been deep in the playoffs once like the potential of him doing so again this year wasn’t extremely high.

  • http://WWW.BENNY.COM BIG MONEY

    Everyone please ignore Allenps post … He said Kobe isn’t a game changer ha lay off the crack pipe man

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    Jamison wasn’t used to their system at all and was incredibly uncomfortable within it. He didn’t produce well. And I can’t believe your counting 2 old, essentially immobile centers as help. Shaq could barely jump and it took big z 20 seconds to get down court. Your missing my point tho. The nuggets had an athletic collection of very good to half decent players led by a HOF coach, the cavs had senior citizens, nobodies, and Lebron James and were led by an idiot. Cp3 got embarrassed but he never really had a chance. Rose’s team (injuries and all) was at least equal to lebron’s and prolly better. But lebron with essentially nobody on his squad still beat them. Cp3 lost to a team that was better than his top to bottom Rose and company basically lost to 1 guy and some dudes. They didn’t get murdered tho I will give you that.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    Well he hasn’t proven to be a consistent lone game changer leading to playoff wins@Big Money @DatKid CP3 scored 4 points in that blowout stoppp itttt.

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    SMH why can’t I reply?? I hate slam

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    There we go. An ancient shaq and an essentially immobile big z count as help? Get out. Antawn Jamison was having trouble adjusting to their system and wasn’t performing. And your missing my point. Cp3 got beaten by a team that was top to bottom superior to his, there’s not a whole lot you can do about that. Rose’s team injuries and all was actually better than lebron’s. Rose’s team didn’t get murdered but they basically got beaten to death with their own arms by one guy.

  • http://Slamonline.com Datkid

    And cp3 isn’t overrated.. But D.rose is and certainly was in 2011. Rose really doesn’t do anything better but be tall and athletic, aLthough he has won some match ups w/ him. And i think what allenp meant was that although rose’s team was bad THAT YEAR. Cp3,lebron, wade and others had arguably dragged far worse squads into the playoffs many more times than rose has. Reading is fundamental. Oh and redd? Leave.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    There you go with the hyperbole again about being murdered when I just gave you a run down of the games. Getting murdered or “beaten to death” is not being competitive at all which wasn’t the case in that series, Lebron murdered Deng but the bulls weren’t murdered. You’re doing revisionist history, Lebrons team was better than Roses. Mo williams was/is better than kirk, An ancient Shaq still took advantage of Noah at times on the post in that series. Anderson Verajo was better than a rookie Taj at the time and Jameson actually played pretty well against Bulls, it was the celtics he struggled against. They still had Big Z spacing the court and JJ hickson playing good pick and roll ball with Lebron and cutting to the basket.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    …..and for not do anything better he still gets the best of cP3 and has won every time he played him so……..CP3 is definitely overrated, He’s never beaten Rose, has consistently been outplayed by Deron Williams, even Chauncey Billups outplayed him in the 09 playoffs before the injuries and just one year after that mvp caliber season. That’s your opinion on Rose but I can state facts and show you how overrated he was not in 2011, not just opinion. It doesn’t matter who dragged in far worse squads, that’s not the point, its about who carried their team to the playoffs and Rose has done that. Allenp implied that rose has never dragged a team to the playoffs and was saying his rookie team was so talented that he didn’t need to drag them because they had just been in the playoffs two seasons ago. So I stated that Rose has in fact dragged a team to playoffs just not in his rookie season but in his sophomore season, his first season as an all-star.

  • SeanMagicJuan

    Don’t talk in any way, shape, or form about Derrick Rose to Slick it ain’t praise. I said Westbrook plays better than him in the postseason and got a caps locked tantrum in response. The guy likes D. Rose, really likes him.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    You really think DW or DR would have scored only 4 in that blowout if it was them? Lol that’s all that needs to be said.

  • SeanMagicJuan

    As I said before, the last healthy D. Rose playoff run (MVP), he shot over 50% in 2 out of 14 games. He is a volume scorer who is 6’2″ so he plays PG.

  • SeanMagicJuan

    Steve Francis is his prime was better, just not as humble.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    seanmagicjuan, Rose suffered two ankle sprains, so he wasn’t fully healthy throughout that playoff run. You got caps because what you said was illogical. You act as if westbrook has been killing it in the playoffs every year he’s been in it. He played very well against the lakers and the mavericks(both of which weren’t great teams last season, especially dallas) and had one great game against the Heat in this years playoffs and you think that’s enough to say a guy is a better playoff performer. All I know is that Rose was never benched during a playoff game like westbrook was in 2011. If not for being injured, nobody knows what type of playoff run Rose could of had.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    Volume scorer? Westbrook has never shot over 46% from the field while Rose has done that twice……Its even more sorry when you consider the fact he’s playing alongside The best scorer in the league and sixth man but still cant find efficient shots.

  • sg

    since someone asked but no one answered- no, those aren’t the real jerseys. the jerseys will say Brooklyn on them, both home and away.

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    You gotta be kidding me if you think an old Jamison, an old fat shaq and a old useless Z helped Lebron at all then your making a fool of yourself. Shaq did one thing and that was get to the foul line. We all know about Shaq and his free throws… Lebron probably has been on some of the worst teams and still made them go far.

  • -Mas-

    The Mavs won it all without D- Will so why stress that he is not in Dallas.

  • pposse

    “rose is overated” haha laughable..is that why addidas thru 250 million dollars his way? Is that why the NBA had to change their rules during the lockout to accomadate players like him (derrick rose rule)? The only thing you slam commenters can say about Rose is that CP3 and Deron has some sort of superior advanced metric stat…news flash no one cares! Yall still can’t explain why CP3 NEVER in his life beat him head to head. Unlike football, baseball, one man can win you a basketball game…this has been proven time and time. Even these previous posts said that one man (lebron james) took out the bulls in the 2010 playoffs..but CP3 can’t take one game out of 6 against a d rose led bulls??!

  • http://Slamonline.com Tyler

    Pposse Derrick rose plays on a much better overall team. Derrick Rose does not have near the court vision of cp or dwill.

  • http://www.nba.com/knicks danpowers

    cosign tyler. i saw him taking wild shots and drives against two or more defenders while guys like deng or boozer stood wide open almost next to him. same with westbrook. okc n chicago should try to put a point guard next to them like felton / sessions / brooks / collins and move westbrook and rose to the two. i wouldnt be suprised if this would make their teams better and these two guys (brook n rose) more efficient.

  • Drig

    Why is Magic NOT a game changer?? I mean, why?? He could seamlessly play in any position, could ACTUALLY make average players better, could defend well enough. Why not?

  • ThaWindy

    DWill is not better than Rose. Just asks his Utah teammates. Just ask DWill. Mr I would have played better if my wrist wasnt hurt. Something only losers say.

  • pposse

    tyler that argument is silly, cause the last time i check there are no all stars just solid role players who are well coached and know their roles. Maybe thats an extension of their leaders (the coach and D Rose)? Can that be possible? Or is it that CP and Derron are the only leaders as pg’s? Besides all that, d rose even though a pg, has to score. Not one guy on this so called superior team can create their own shot other than D Rose. There is nothing you can say that will make me agree that substituting CP or Derron on the current Bulls roster for D Rose makes that bulls team better.

  • Drig

    Wait, what happened to Boozer exactly once he left DWill for Rose?? What happened to Utah exactly as soon as DWill left? What happened to the Bulls exactly when Rose sat out for majority of last season? Who had the better team? How is Rose a better PG than DWill anyways? Not. Even. Close.

  • pposse

    danpowers both the bulls and thunder were like #1 and #2 in their respective conference…how much better do you guys think these teams need to be? They are championship contending teams whether you want to admit that or not. Check vegas odds if you have to. Lebron and co. are flawed, both of these teams just need to find a way to exploit it over a 7 game series.

  • pposse

    drig, boozer got paid is what happened.

  • pposse

    and your argument almost has merrit about the bulls season, but what happened when the team had final confirmation that D Rose was out for the rest of the season? Oh yeah thats right, reality hit, and we lost to an 8th seed. But Derron Williams would have brought us over the hump and help us beat Miami right? Why don’t u explain to me why d rose is the one with the 250 million dollar deal and not your precious derron williams? Is it cause he is more charismatic? I have corporations backing me, and the NBA backing me and my claims…you have NBK and AllenP and Chinese Opp and the likes of this slam message board..enough said

  • Drig

    @pposse…….So who exactly on Deron’s teams could so far create their own shot other than Al J who didn’t spend too much time with Deron??? Fact of the matter is Deron has had at worst comparable teams to those of Rose.

  • http://www.nba.com/knicks danpowers

    @ppose: these teams were good but not great. both got outplayed by miami (bulls with rose 2 seasons ago, the thunder last season).

  • Drig

    @pposse…….10:21 comment put a smile on my face :D

  • pposse

    yah and he played that way this past year too..the fact of the matter is he won a little bit more than 1/3 of the games he played in this past year..when a d rose led team wets the bed like that then come ask me that question

  • pposse

    look lebron is a case study by himself…i can easily argue that he is going to go down as the 2nd best of all time..you team him up with Wade and Bosh and its a wrap for the league. He went to the finals twice with a stacked team and should have won against dallas, but didnt. Those teams the thunder and bulls of two years ago are as good as it gets, other than the Heat and now the Lakers with Dwight and Kobe and co. I really do believe the bulls would have beat the mavs 2 years ago..and the Thunder probably beats any other team in the league last year in in the finals.

  • ThaWindy

    When was the last time you heard DWill say he wanted to be great? He wanted to be the best? DWill is cool with his checks. Hes content with his career. Rose wants to be the greatest. Rose is the type to prove himself.. That’s why ever since DWill dunked on him Rose has be on a mission to kill that guy. And he has. DWill will make tireless excuse once his team doesn’t amount ship. He’ll blame his wrist, the coach, his dog and any thing else he can conjure up in his mind.

  • ThaWindy

    How can u respect a grown man with a perm?

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