Wednesday, September 12th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  110 responses

Mark Cuban Not Impressed By New-Look Lakers


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

With the acquisitions of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard over the summer, most people now consider the Los Angeles Lakers very serious title contenders for the 2013 crown.

There are legitimate concerns about the experiment working — aging superstars, chemistry concerns, injuries, and coaching — but the overwhelming public opinion surrounding the Lakers is that of a scary, super-team.

One person who claims to be undaunted by his new-look, longtime Western Conference rival is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Cuban isn’t so sure things will turn out so well for the Lakers next season, despite major roster upgrades.

Per the Sporting News:

“The Lakers have done this before,” Cuban said. “Remember Gary Payton, Karl Malone and Kobe and Shaq were all together, and it didn’t work. It takes great chemistry, like coach (Rick Carlisle) alluded to, it takes guys wanting to be there — I don’t know if all their guys want to be there — it’s going to be interesting.”

“Look, (the Lakers are) going to be a great team, but I remember when we made our run,” Cuban said. “We weren’t supposed to win any series. The Lakers were defending champs when we swept them, and they had everybody back. A lot of teams do a great job winning the summer, but I never get so antsy about what happens over the summer.”

The comparison between the current Lakers and the 2004 version has proven to be a popular one among naysayers, but there are clear differences (back then, Kobe was dealing with sexual assault allegations, to say nothing of the simmering beef between Shaq and Bryant.)

Mark Cuban can shrug off the Lakers’ offseason bonanza all he wants, but to discount them would be beyond foolish.

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  • Vince Mai

    To everyone who brings up 2004: Revisionist forget that Karl Malone got injured that year and never fully recovered. And that team was still in the NBA Finals. So yes, a super team does not guarantee a championship, but we will beat The Mavericks. I guarantee that.

  • LakeShow

    Awh hell naw. He just helps them more than the terrible front court they had last year.

  • guy

    Hey Dru, watch the thunder sweep the Lakers…

  • pposse

    MWP and Dwight Howard will be a defensive tandem like no other..ofcourse one KB24 will enjoy the fruits of their labor and receive all the praise from the media

  • LakeShow

    Hmm, so you think that if the Lakers are successful on defense that Kobe will get the credit for that?
    I just don’t see that happening.
    Howard will get 90% of the credit for the defense on this team. As he probably should.
    I would love for you to pull up an article next season when they credit Kobe for the teams defense. I just don’t see that happening. You have 2 former DPOTY on this team. Defense will be on those guys.

  • BBall Guru

    uh yeah i remember the gary payton shaq and kobe and malone team, no where near a bust they went to the championship game and if it wasnt for malone getting injured during the championship game they would of won also aside from the starters theyre wasnt any depth off the bench and thats the diffrence between the old sqaud and this one dumb ass they are deep

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    yeah Lakeshow is right. Howard (and Mike Brown) will get the lion’s share of defensive credit. Kobe might get initial credit as the “defensive leader” but that would be as much true as anything. He will be the teams leader in every way aside from conflict resolution.

  • lakerfan

    Who cares about him. You won the one and only ring, rip Mavs

  • BigShotRob

    The 2004 team still made the finals and may have won if Malone didn’t get hurt in game 1!

  • LakeShow

    lol.
    K, I can go for the Kobe isn’t the best team mate gig, but really, you think he doesn’t care if there is strife between players and he would do nothing to try and patch the ship? Say Howard called Pau a b*tch. Kobe wouldn’t say or do anything to Howard or Pau?
    I don’t see it working like that anymore. Kobe has changed. He isn’t the young punk he use to be. He knows it’s his job to keep the clan happy.
    He won’t let this team fall apart like that AGAIN. IMO.
    .
    Or if you were just making a joke then NM…

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    it was more or less a joke. But in reality, i think Nash will be tasked with conflict resolution. Not because Kobe can’t or won’t help, but because Nash is better at it. But it was definitely a joke.

  • justin05

    go crawl back under your filthy bridge, troll.

  • Dr Stephen T Colbert

    Sounds a little bitter. Nash and Dwight are two players Cuban wanted but did not get.

  • Dr Stephen T Colbert

    Let’s see how many point, rebound, assist and blocks the coach contribute on the floor when the Lakers wipe the floor with the Mavericks this year.

  • Dr Stephen T Colbert

    Right? He won 1 title. If he was right wouldn’t he have won more?

  • Dr Stephen T Colbert

    He is becoming the Donald Trump of the NBA.

  • Dr Stephen T Colbert

    Yep. And won the first 10-13 game out of the gate (don’t feel like doing research at the moment but I remember them winning a lot).

  • kc

    doc rivers is a very good coach

  • kc

    Jodie Meeks is terrible

  • Thinker Bell

    Of course he’s not ….until they get that ass….. that is.

  • LakeShow

    Yeah definitely Nashty for that job.
    He’s a pro’s pro at getting guys to work together.
    Kobe use to not give a S, but nowadays he truly seems to care more about his team than yesteryear.

  • Thinker Bell

    Hey mark they made the finals. You have to get there to have a chance to win it….Dumb ass

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    i absolutely agree.

  • Brion

    Staying healthy will be the only “if” for the Lakers..Nash and Howards backs?

  • http://www.facebook.com/cross.crude.3 Cross Crude

    Lakers and Celtics franchise did not become great franchises over night. It took a lot of time to gain experience and finding the right management and coaching staff and players to win 16 and 17 titles. They learned how to crawl first before running.
    Mr. Cuban you need to be more patient and learn from the NBA vets. Your time will come for 2 or 3 peats. Maybe!

  • dru

    Hehe…dreamboy!

  • The Seed

    This is why I hate the choking Mavericks, they are living and dieing by Dirk the one hit wonder. All of the years the Lakers killed them, not Mark excited by the one year of greatest by his team, which included clutch-JJ Barea, Jason Terry and the defense of Tyson Chandler. He let all of these players leave for nothing thinking he was going to get Howard or Williams. Cuban is left with pie in his face in the Lakers shark tank.

  • Mr. Wet

    I realize in La La land that’s not a success. But, for like 22 teams in the league that’s a huge success. It’s a bold statement to say it didn’t work.

  • The Seed

    Slam when you going to post the Kobe articles about Kobe Bryant continuing working to eradicate homelessness in L.A.

  • pops

    7-8 against the Bobcats all time .467% winning percentage LOL

  • juce

    the 2004 comparison is actually an example of why this will work, that team made it to the finals in first year together IN SPITE OF Shaq and Kobe’s feuding hitting a climax. the only thing that stopped the winning of that title is that Shaq and Kobe did want it to happen, not because of malone and payton.

  • roscoe

    truth.

  • roscoe

    I agree

  • roscoe

    Oh, how I miss PJAX & Q-Bano going back and forth.

  • Dagger

    “Do some research” . . . are you serious?

  • Dagger

    To be fair, the article title is misleading. He never said he wasn’t impressed. He said it’s one thing to have talent, and another to use that talent to maximum effect. It’s one thing to be great on paper, another to win a championship. Hard to deny that, especially coming from Cuban.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001563715785 Devin Green

    so you think, but we’ll see bro! we shall see

  • https://twitter.com/#!/GametimeWeezy Gametime

    yea didn’t they lose to the Pistons that year?

  • Johnnybegood

    The 2004 Pistons were a great defensive team and would have beat the Lakers that year, even if Malone wasn’t injured. However, this year’s Lakers are a lot more well balanced than the 2004 Lakers. They have a really good chance of winning it all. But like Cuban said, it’s gonna depend on how much chemistry they develop.

  • philipe

    you all suck! Dallas is just a wanna be. How many titles does Dallas have to back-up there shit. Cuban why don’t you spend money and get yourself a high caliber TEAM. Dallas has nothing to compare with either the Celtics, Chicago, Detroit and the Lakers. Dallas will always be a wanna be, paper weight and will never have there championship era like the Celtics, Chicago, Detroit and the Lakers. Mark Cuban is a funny guy, a show man, and without having his team there wouldn’t be entertainment in the NBA. Keep up the entertainment that’s the only thing you & your team have something to brag about.

  • FTexass

    Cuban is famous for making petulant little boy statements. He is what he is, a billionaire who thinks his man parts got bigger because he’s now a rich little boy. Little Lord Cuban
    still in short pants.

  • http://www.facebook.com/SGWhiteZ Gary White

    Not to say that he is “right ON”,, or that he is “wrong” (and way out in left field) but come to think of it, Mark Cuban MIGHT have a good point here! After all, the current Lakers (even WITH Dwight Howard and Steve Nash) are not exactly the “dream team” of the 1992 Olympics,, OR the 1995-1996 Bulls (who went 72-10 and launched their 2nd 3-peat over 8 years). Many MANY holes (let alone questions) STILL EXIST in regards to this upcoming Laker team! As it may be “kind” of “nice” that the Lakers managed to acquire both Steve Nash and Dwight Howard over this past off-season,,,,the Lakers are still a LONG ways away from being closely COMPARABLE to ANY of the “ShowTime 1980s” Laker rosters (or even to the 1971-1972 Laker team that had a 33 game winning streak and went 69-13 enroute to that championship) !

  • shutup

    You forgot Kobe’s vagina might get torn too. But really Kobe is getting up there in age and he has been worse for wear.

  • SirGrey

    Congratulations for winning the 2011 NBA Championship, must we tell you again? Nobody had the Warriors destroying the 67-win Mavs in the 1st round of 2007 either. It all comes down to match ups. Each of these 4 stars have led a team to the playoffs as the main guy. There absolutely cannot be subtraction by addition here.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bertma Cindy Fernandez Bertematti

    Well Mark, Last year you dumped most of your team, than sever starters jumped ship. Mark, this was for $ for Dwight and Deron, well Dwight is with the Lakers and Deron stayed with the Nets. What did you get? Dirk was pissed off at you for destroying a championship team. Talk he may retire! Mark keep flapping your lips, you maybe right. Lakers may not win the Championship, but we got the Big Man you wanted. Lakers out-smarted you……boy that feels good! Let’s see what you do this year, with the team you got over the summer. Laker’s also picked up a few pretty good assistant coaches! Got to admit, Mitch did a good job this summer! What did you do…take a long vacation. lol

  • http://www.facebook.com/bertma Cindy Fernandez Bertematti

    Yea, Malone hadn’t been injured in 18 seasons and in mid-season injured his knee, I believe, and was out for the play-off! BIG LOST!

  • http://www.facebook.com/bertma Cindy Fernandez Bertematti

    Remember, Malone who had not been injured in 18 seasons, was injured before the playoffs and didn’t play in any of the play-offs. Had nothing to do with Kobe and Shaq not wanting it. Are you kidding me. Not wanting another Ring!

  • danpowers

    to me brown and carlisle are both good coaches. just because brown didnt win it all yet doesnt mean that he doesnt have what it takes on the big stage. plus, at the end of the day its mostly about the players on court who perform. e.g. phil jackson wouldnt have changed much about the bobcats winning record last season. the only thing the lakers are missing at the moment to be a “perfect” team is just one athletic wing to get stops at the perimeter. but i get your point, this statement he made wasnt that controversial. but i still got the statement he made before in my mind when he said that the mavs dont need deron williams and that not getting him was a case of “the deals you dont make are sometimes the best deals” or smth like that. leaves a bit of the impression that he tries to let his squad look better than it actually is.

  • danpowers

    “vonderfull”? in germant thats “wundervoll” ;) kaman probably wont play another all star season but dirk n him know each other very well from playing for the german national team. these two will gel straightaway. brand is still a nice backup or if needed also a solid starter. carlisle might help mayo to be a bit more efficient and the rest of their pieces dont look too bad neither. its a nice playoff team they got there, just not really a contender. they are also not comparable to their 10/11 squad as the overall talent level is nowhere near this squad.

  • danpowers

    amen

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