I stand by everything i said in my last blog.
Actually you guys proved my point.
Did you read the blog at all ? It was nice that TNT left out the reference to us tracking our results on defense and going to and away from what was working or not.
CB, get a 2 way with internet access. There is some good info out there that could make you better at what you do. More importantly, when you say people out there that spend their days on computers have no life.. time to step into 2005. When you said that , TNT and the NBAs audience that advertisers covet the most looked at each other and laughed. THen they IMed or TXT messaged their buddy list and called you out again. Get that 2 way CB. It will make it easier to keep in touch with the family and to do your job. You will love it.
And comparing your basketball IQ to mine isnt quite apples to apples given that Im not the coach. Im willing to compare the basketball knowledge of AJ, Del Harris, Joe Prunty and Larry Riley to the two of you anytime. My guess, you guys are on the short end of the stick
Nothing personal guys, but working off generalizations of how the game was played when you played doesnt get it done. Our coaches know the game. They dont just coach on reputation, they coach the game and coach to improve the team forJune.
Of course all of this is only talk. It all comes down to our guys doingtheir jobs.Theydo whatever it takes to make our team better every day. They dont just show up and play because “they know how to play”. Hopefully it will win us a championship
No matter what your profession, if you arent busting ass to be prepared and to get better, you are falling behind. Im not sure the TNT guys understand that concept.
Its not personal, its just business advice.
thanx Ron, great minds think alike..
Comment by BANKS -
I fully concur with Banks’ post Nov 14, 2005, 8:14 PM ET. That’s a pretty good summation of the situation.
Comment by Ron -
Mark,
I really admire you, but there is no way you are winning this one. You state, “working off generalizations of how the game was played when you played doesnt get it done.” First, CB and Jet aren’t that many years removed from the game. Second, basketball is still basketball. Maybe somethings have changed, but there is no substitute for actually being a part of the NBA like Kenny and CB were. You were never a part of the NBA, and probably never played basketball. The truth is that you are just someone who has a lot of money that bought a team. Also, I can promise you that you will never win a championship because your teams really aren’t that good. It’s a bunch of guys that can score some points, and play soft defense. Never has a team won a championship based on that, and since that’s the main thing you value in players (since you don’t know anything about basketball compared to CB) then you will never win. Its not personal, just some business advice.
Comment by Mike Row -
In response to CraigP
What’s with all the references to player’s race? Everybody knows that everybody in the NBA are the best players out there – no matter what color or nationality. For instance, the Spurs could not have won the championship last season without the play of Manu. He’s one of the baddest players out there.
Give me a break. The refs didn’t give the Lakers 26 consective games worth of calls. If it were a handful of games, I’d agree. But, as many games as it was would have taken you back to before Shaq and Kobe ever played in L.A. Stop hating!
Comment by Ron -
I think the last couple of years the Mavs have made some strides. If you cut through the malarkey that announcers and ex-ballplayers look at it and focus on team defense/offense by possession (which is the only way to look at it fairly). The fundamental goal of defense is to prevent points when the opponent has the ball. So if you allow a bad FG%, it is a problem, but if you are collecting a lot of turnovers, that might be a value proposition worth dealing with. If you allow low FG% but are a lousy rebounding team, then you are negating your defense’s hard toil. And if you can accomplish all of the above, you screw the whole thing up if you start FOULING. So the Real Offense/Real Defense calcs I’ve been tinkering with the last few years basically tries to answer that question. How are you at scoring/preventing on a per possession basis.
The Mavericks this year are as of today’s games 8th overall in “Real Scoring Margin” at +3.45 points per game.
Their rankings offensively are what you expect … 8th, 100.11 real points per game (first place is Detroit at 105.63, last place is New York at 86.27) … defensively Dallas is 20th, which is a problem but not horrible yet at 96.66 real points per game (first place is Minnesota at 90.53, last place is Seattle at 108.59).
Comment by Sriram Krishnan -
craigp..im sorry, but you might be a little slow..i’m glad that you can at least admit to kobe bryant’s talents, 1st and foremost..but lets go back to the playoffs. Shaq IS a FREAK..the world knows it, but at the same time, what people like yourself don’t realize is that shaq probably get’s fouled THE MOST in the league!! they just DONT call it because he IS SO BIG and it HAS to be fair somehow, its the refs’ way of evening out the universe. granted, there might be some refs that give diesel some unnecessary calls, but overall, the truth of the matter is that he gets fouled damn near everytime he touches the ball (if not before he even gets it)..thanks for giving me the opportunity to correct u..
Comment by BANKS -
Mark Cuban isn’t a terrible guy, it’s just unfortunate that he hasn’t got the bball knowledge he’d need to even try to argue w/ Kenny and Charles. First of all, it’s a well known fact and has been among the NBA @ least for the past few years that teams like the Phx Suns and the Mavs DON’T PLAY DEFENSE. They instead rely on their high-octane offense and hope that they get just enough defense to win ball games, and they will win ball games, but not championships. Cuban shouldn’t take the comments made by Kenny and Charles personally. They weren’t even directed at him, rather the team he owns. I understand that under no circumstances does ANY owner want to be told what their team does and doesn’t do right, but suck it up. You’re the owner, through thick and thin. The Knicks, for example, are HORRENDOUS, and people do talk about them and how bad they are, probably moreso than they do about the Mavs, and Isiah Thomas isn’t out there firing off at commentators. So let’s keep this in persepective people. Kenny and Charles get paid to do that, and alot of what keeps viewers coming back is their color commentary and personal comments!! I know that’s true for me @ least. Mark Cuban has every right to defend his team, don’t get me wrong. But if he’s going to, he should at least be challenging a topic in which he might be right…and this isn’t one of them. SORRY Mr. Cuban, but your Mavs don’t play D. You do a better job defending them than they do defending the bucket..maybe you should throw on a uni and lace em up.
Comment by Banks -
Give me a job.
Comment by Brett -
Posted by Steve–
The TNT guys are idiots and it’s just rude people who like them. After Devin Harris got knocked down by Brad Miller last year, I think the Mavs showed a LOT of class in not starting something in the game and keeping it from growing to Pacers/Pistons status. Then here comes Mr. Genius, Charles Barkley, telling the world how the Mavs have to go start something, be men, go fight. This was in the same season that Pacers/Pistons fight happened. This is just an obvious Jock like reaction from a person with no class… Plus, how does TNT make revenue when all their commercials are for TNT shows???
— No disrespect to Mark Cuban or the way he’s run the Dallas Mavericks organization- quite frankly i think he’s done the most possible to change a league’s punch bag to a playoff dweller with his own feisty twist to it. It’s definitely a pleasure to see a Mark Cuban amongst the fossil, 3000-dollar suited owners of the league who really know nothing about basketball. BUT, i’m gonna have to be the millionth guy to say that calling the TNT duo idiots is completely ridiculous. Not only do they provide insightful commentary but they know what it takes to win championships– they’ve BEEN there. And Steve, maybe (just maybe…) all Mr. Genius Barkley was saying is that the Mavs need to play harder defense, and last time i checked that means nothing close to fighting or starting anything like the ridiculous brawl between 2 of the league’s most boring teams to watch (maybe a way for them to up the audience…). And as far as TNT goes man, maybe (again, just maybe…) they get enough audience from smart programming moves such as, oh let’s just say having Kenny and CB as their NBA analysts, that allows them revenue from things other than whoring their programming with product commercials, which is quite noble, actually. Perhaps your ass-kissing to Mr. Cuban just might earn you a spot on “The Benefactor 2”, that just might share some airtime with some infomercials at 3am. Then you could use your mill and buy some courtside tix to Spurs-Heat or an ever-boring Spurs-Pistons final, da? As much as I love watching the Mavs, what can I say, defense does win championships, you need at least SOME tough D stretches, more than just deflections. Rain stops pouring once in a while even in Seattle. And last but not least, letting Steve Nash go is more retarded than George Dubya, and not securing loyal Mike Finley is wang-slapping him in the face, then letting him go to the Spurs is losing your perimeter D AND giving them an extra horse and gun on their race to another championship.
Comment by Paladin20 -
I just wanted to apologize for some of my comments about the NBA shootaround guys ,
That was terible. and its not true, they are pretty good,
Also Dwayne Wade is pretty good, he is not Kobe or Tracy or Lebron but he is certainly pretty good, I will say I owuld like to see him pass it to Jason WIlliams a little bit more , Dwayne he’ll pass it back to you count on that
Oh and I cant wait for Luke Walton to get healthy so that him and Kobe can do beautiful things together.
I am rooting for Luke and Kobe to take the lakers all the way this year, but thats just me
God Bless
Comment by Craigp -
P.S. I am a Texan, not an Oklahoman, that was my first professional sporting event to ever see outside the DFW metroplex. GO MAVS!!!
Comment by Steve -
Hey, Mark, I love you to death and agree entirely. You are a great owner and last I checked, the Mavs get 50+ wins every season with you at the helm. The TNT guys are idiots and it’s just rude people who like them. After Devin Harris got knocked down by Brad Miller last year, I think the Mavs showed a LOT of class in not starting something in the game and keeping it from growing to Pacers/Pistons status. Then here comes Mr. Genius, Charles Barkley, telling the world how the Mavs have to go start something, be men, go fight. This was in the same season that Pacers/Pistons fight happened. This is just an obvious Jock like reaction from a person with no class. As for Kenny, I don’t have too many problems with him, but I do think the Mavs deserve way more respect than we get. I got to go see the Mavs play the Hornets in OKC tonight and thought they looked decent for a team with no rest. We started chants for defense and everything else and really had it going on the second to back row of the Ford Center. I agree with earlier comments to keep yourself open minded, because it is what makes several of us fans love you. Luckily when TNT’s contract with NASCAR expires, I won’t have any need to turn them on anymore. Plus, how does TNT make revenue when all their commercials are for TNT shows??? Anyways, thanks for everything you’ve done for this organization.
Comment by Steve -
Hey, Mark, I love you to death and agree entirely. You are a great owner and last I checked, the Mavs get 50+ wins every season with you at the helm. The TNT guys are idiots and it’s just rude people who like them. After Devin Harris got knocked down by Brad Miller last year, I think the Mavs showed a LOT of class in not starting something in the game and keeping it from growing to Pacers/Pistons status. Then here comes Mr. Genius, Charles Barkley, telling the world how the Mavs have to go start something, be men, go fight. This was in the same season that Pacers/Pistons fight happened. This is just an obvious Jock like reaction from a person with no class. As for Kenny, I don’t have too many problems with him, but I do think the Mavs deserve way more respect than we get. I got to go see the Mavs play the Hornets in OKC tonight and thought they looked decent for a team with no rest. We started chants for defense and everything else and really had it going on the second to back row of the Ford Center. I agree with earlier comments to keep yourself open minded, because it is what makes several of us fans love you. Luckily when TNT’s contract with NASCAR expires, I won’t have any need to turn them on anymore. Plus, how does TNT make revenue when all their commercials are for TNT shows??? Anyways, thanks for everything you’ve done for this organization.
Comment by Steve -
Mark, you’re a great owner but I have to say that calling those guys idiots was waaaaayyyy out of line. First of all, you forget these guys aren’t sports analysts. They are former NBA players and not just players but stars. Until you play the game and sustain the same kind of career they have, you calling them names is completely unacceptable, rude and plain ole classless. You have the right to be upset with their comments and well in your rights to blog that but to call them names, I really have lost a lot of respect for you.
Comment by AC -
Kenny and Charles are out of touch with today’s game. The other point people forget is they are entertainers first. The part that’s funny about Charles is that he keeps saying how soft the Mavericks are on defense. Yet during his playing days there were times when he never ran back to play defense. Kenny is still surviving on his sidekick status to the championships Hakeem led Houston to in the 90s. Surely TNT can come up with better basketball folks but they are in the business of entertainment not technical basketball analysis.
The Mavs will better on defense come playoff time. Avery has a defense first mentality unlike his predecessor. That alone will change the mental makeup of the team. They won’t need to score 110 to win a game as in years past.
Comment by Shake -
Mark…too bad but your arrogance of being a team owner is displaced! Kenny and Charles are not far removed the game and they know it quite well. Your team has not won a championship and has not come close. You trade your best player by far in Nash and the Mavericks will still can’t get no closer to the finals. If you are so much on top of things then you will have to answer the fans when they look up after all the bull and see no championsip!
Comment by Stan Howard -
and Magic Johnson is also honest
I did not mean to suggest he wasnt
Comment by Craigp -
Mark,
Your Mavs are really SOFT. It will be the Spurs again in the West……..your team will never win a championship. I’d rather watch the Warriors play.
Comment by Jose Montinola -
actually ya know what never mind
let me just close by saying
I like Charles Barkeley he is honest
And I like Kenny Smith he is honest
and I like Magic Johnson too
keep up the good work guys
THE TNT show with Charles Kenny Ernie and MAgic is the best thing on TV, even without highlights it would be good 🙂
God bless everyone.
Comment by Craigp -
nah I stand by the obvious to anyone with eyes that white players are getting a raw deal, and its a shame and its bad for the NBA. And I will continue to speak out agaisnt this grotesque injustice, probably, or I might just get bored of pointing it out.
Its comical listening to the annoucners trying to deny it, listening to reggie comment on the offensive called on JOhn Barry, that was hillarious? he was like huh uh maybe its a travel i guess.
anyway as for your nonsense
“The Los Angeles Lakers for twenty something games could read in Mr. Cuban’s players eyes that they knew they couldn’t beat a Shaq-Kobe Laker team.”
what nonsense
if they played on a playground without referees and called their own fouls
the mavericks would beat them by 40
OF course any team going agaisnt the the 2000-03 lakjers would not be confident knowing what kind of calls the lakers got,
they werent concerned about the lakers talent (except KObe who is great) thye just know Shaq is going to knock people down and then go the foul line, and the refs will just give him that
its not fair and moreover its not right,
but I dont see it changing anytime soon.
YOu go to a playground and you get real games. you dont have refs calling bull shit calls. YOu hve players calling their own fouls, you see white players playing jsut as good as and as fast as and as physical as black players, why?
no bull shit calls thats why.
and if one player is calling too many fouls, then no one plays with him anymore
maybe the NBA should have playres call their own fouls. or maybe have like 1000 referees on the internet on standby making the calls.
Comment by Craigp -
I will not stoop to name calling and all that silly stuff. The truth is that some of these new and younger owners have brought about some good changes to the NBA. The NBA and the owners had gotted complacent with its’ product and had not progressed into the new millenium. I’ll give the new guys that. Cuban goingto work at Dairy Queen was a real nice gesture after the Dairy Queen owner completely mistook Cuban’s analogy for an insult rather than the compliment that he was trying to give them. However, the game is about the players and the coaches – not the owners. So, the owners should go back to their luxury suites.
As far as the ridiculous comments that Mark Cuban has been making to Charles and Kenny, he is completely out of line. All the statistics in the world can not account for a player’s body language or just how much a nagging injury is affecting his play. These new owners seem to think that all that matters are the numbers – wrong.
What Cuban doesn’t understand is that Kenny and Charles have been on those courts scrapping and fighting with those players and know both physically and mentally the real intricacies of the game. You don’t have to be a coach to understand that. When you are out there on the floor with four other teammates, you can see who has fear in their eyes or who looks determined to win at all cause.
The Los Angeles Lakers for twenty something games could read in Mr. Cuban’s players eyes that they knew they couldn’t beat a Shaq-Kobe Laker team.
Mark Cuban needs to stick to paying the bills and let his real basketball people – the coach and GM – speak for how the team plays defensively, which for until Avery Johnson took over was very soft.
Comment by Ron -
you’d do everyone a big service if you just stopped watching.
Comment by Abraham -
and on that Heat pacer game last night. One of the typical lower life form NBA coaches Stan Van GUndy, ugh
Dwayne Wade is an average shooter on a good night.
What does the Miami Heat run in the second half?
Dwaynes Wade coming off a pick and taking fade away awkward jumpers like at least 10 and when he wasnt missing thsoe shots he was turning the ball over with retarded passes when a wide open Jason Williams is standing right next to him, meanwhile Jason passes him the ball all night.
Dwayne Wade is an average player. He is not a star, Its sickening to watch him act like he runs the team.
10 turnover for Dwayne wade last night
10
anyone that turns the ball over 10 times in a game should never play again as far as I am concerned
10 turnovers for Dwayne wade last night
10
all right,l later
oh and Austin rshere fouled out what a bunch of bull shit the NBA is
very very tough to watch these days very tough
Comment by Craigp -
Cuban:
Back to the good old adage “The truth hurts”. Defense wins championships Cuban, not 12 ballers that can heist the rock! Your team is soft, plain and simple. Like Kenny and Charles said, “your team is built for the regular season”. When are you going to learn Cuban that you cannot win a championship with a team of shooters? You have all that money to spend yet you just don’t seem to get it. Defense wins championships. No guts no glory Cuban. The truth hurts, thats the exact reason why you attacked Kenny and Charles. Kenny might be a sidekick now, but at least he’s a sidekick with ice on his hands to back it up.
Comment by Alexa -
Im watching the heat pacers game and I swear, this is about the third heat game I have watched
Dwayne Wade will not pass the ball to Jason WIlliams
He just refuses
Williams is wide open next to him all the time, and he prefers to throw cross court passes and have them intercepted rather than throw it to Jason Williams
I dont like Dwayne Wade at all
Comment by Craigp -
About time someone stands up against the TNT’s declining show. Mark, you said a lil’ too much about them when you called them “idiot”.. i think that was mean and rude.. but speaking on TNT’s analyst, i think the place would be better if they understand not to speak at the same time. When Miller was in, they would all talk ghetto at the same time… they gotta understand that their slangs are starting to turn off people. I would appreciate someone like peter vescy back in the analysis room, who can provide some solid analysis rather than the entertainment which only works sometimes.
On the whole, Props to you for bringing this out to the blogging world; i am sure you now know how many NBA fans live on the net.
TNT — I like the show but please hear me out…
-person at a time
-let earnie speak whenever he wants
-CB, please be less dominant even when u have a strong point (respect ur peers)
-kenny (keep up the good work) — try to encourage analysis.. u can lead from front.
-CB, try to provide personal references of players and bring in some talk of Michael Jordan back.. i heard you were his close buddy.. Also, keep up the GINOBILI chants 🙂
Mark, congratulations. You made your point; now plz apologize for calling them “idiots” and stand for everything else … I m with ya!
Comment by Khilari -
Mark,
I like the comment (He wouldn’t have put that little “soft cake” team together)
Comment by Amin -
I think dat Charles and Kenny are exactly right. The Dallas Mavericks are a soft, pathetic non-physical basketball team. They are not physical enough to contend in the Western Conference at all. Since Mark Cuban has all this money, maybe he should spend it on some players that presents a physical presence. Until then, the Dallas Mavericks will never contend or win a NBA championship. As far as Kenny and Charles goes, both of these guys are future Hall Of Famers in my eyesight.
Comment by Derrick -
” A lot of white players in this league get better treatment than black players ”
you are just simply on crack ,out of your mind ,crazy, nuts, loony, loopy blind, etc
thats just nonsense
nonsense I say
Comment by Craigp -
CraigP — are you one of Cuban’s offsprings? If so, it definitely looks like you inherited his basketball ignorance.
You claim that this is a black man’s league when, in fact, the majority of the fans are white because obviously blacks are a minority in this country. A lot of white players in this league get better treatment than black players because Stern wants white basketball stars to sell tickets. Granted, we will never see any white players athletically enough to be on the superstar status of Kobe, Tmac, MJ, etc. The league has made strides to maximize the public’s perceived value of some of these white players, by either placing them on good teams and give them playing time over similar black players and/or giving them room to make plays with the referees turning their heads or calling touch fouls whenever they look bad on the court.
Just my 2 cents.
Comment by JustANotherFan -
I gotta defend Charles though, cuz he is the least racist black announcer anylyst that I have ever seen
As I said he always busts props to Nash
and I forgot to mention he lawyas busts propos to Ginnobli too.
He screams out “Genoooobleeeee”
See to me that represents Charles internal struggle. Part of him is a little anti white (I mean after all he is on record saying thats why I dont like white people) but whatever I forive him
But at the same time he is alseo honest
Part of him wants to hate GInnoblie and think of him as a little punkass white man, but another part of him has to be honest and give credit where credit is due
and the honest part of Charles wins out, and it just comes out of him in the form of
“GINNNOOOBLEEEEEEE”
and in my view that is nice to see.
Comment by Craigp -
TNT’s “analysis” is terrible. I’m not sure I’d call them idiots (well, maybe Charles), but they really don’t do much more than make generalizations. You can’t look at one game against the best offense in the league and say Dallas plays poor defense. What happened with the Spurs? Are the Suns better than the Spurs according to TNT’s logic? No, I’ll bet the expert analysis there was that the Spurs were having an off night.
The Mavs are by no means an exceptional defensive squad, but they are better than years past and they score enough points that it won’t matter.
This is also the first season in a long time I’ve been able to watch a Mavs game and not wonder who #xx is, because the team is still intact. Team chemistry will make these guys a much better defensive team this season.
Comment by Tom -
I think the dumbest person on this blog is jenkins. First off he says that Kenny has rings whether it is because of hakeem or not and then he say Avery got ring because he played with Duncan you are contradicting yourself you numbnuts are you on crack. Well i think we showed how good we can be while playing aginst Spurs and may be you are day dreamin you knukle head and still thinking that you spurs have won. Why is it that most of the spurs fans are Morons.
Comment by Prasheel -
”
Not that these stats mean anything, but you’re obviously only showing the numbers that support your dumb theory. You know what you want to see and everything else is ignored.”
Its a tough case to make,
as you would imagine if you point to a game where a white guy didnt get a lot of fouls called on him I am going to say its becuse he played avoiding contact and therefore his opponent still had an advantage.
This is why Dirk gets the No D reputation,
again stats have a touhg time measureing it as all fouls are not the same. some fouls are just not callled some very ticky tack fouls are called
on the stat sheet a fould is a foul and they are all equal
in reality fouls differ in magnitude of severity and some sever contact is committed and not called
and then of course you have the difficult to interpret charge, versus was the defender moving
basketball is the hardest game to officiate by far. I like the players that have skills and try to avoid contact and not leave it up to the refs to determine the outcome
I say run run run and shoot.
the refs have too much influence on the outcome of the games and the best teams are not winning
I overstate the black white thing probably but its undenaible, if you odnt see it so be it, I know that others do perhaps thsoe like me are in a minority but that makes it no less true.
but whatever
hopefully my comments here reach NBA land and I will turn on some games and see a little more justice or not
If the injustice (not terribly severe but enough for me to have to say something) that I see continues perhaps I will turn off the NBA for good and I will hve to get into the NHL.
Comment by Craigp -
Craig, I’m all for changing the subject as each person is entitled to their opinion. I do want to answer your question about Georgetown Centers though. From Ewing, to Mourning, to Mutombo, it seems they all come into the league with a chip on their shoulder ans they become the players you love to hate. Remember how Mourning used too (still does) scowl and try to intimidate people? Ewing and MJ went face up a few times too along with Pippen, and then you have Mutombo and the ET finger. Anyway, those guys come in like they run things so I think they rub people the wrong way.
Comment by mj -
Craigp, you have to know all of those players picked up fouls because they suck, or because that’s how the game went, not because they are white. Why did you leave out that Marvin Williams, Kwame Brown, Lionel Roberts, Dahntay Jones and Derek Fisher, David Wesley, Tony Battie also all had 4 or more fouls tonight with playing time ranging from 12 to 25 minutes, and Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Hedo Turkoglu, Andrew Bogut, Peja Stojakovic, Mike Miller, Pau Gasol, Luke Ridnour, all played 30+ minutes while committing 2 or fewer fouls.
Not that these stats mean anything, but you’re obviously only showing the numbers that support your dumb theory. You know what you want to see and everything else is ignored.
You can go ahead and like crappy overrated white players like Jason Williams all you want, but maybe you should own up to the fact that instead of being discriminated against, they just aren’t that good.
Coaches are biased against bad players that don’t get results, so they put them on the bench. Refs call the most fouls on the players that commit the most fouls.
Comment by Abraham -
Mr S Bradley Dallas Mavs had more highlight dunks on him then any center playing now are in the past.
Comment by James -
and also speaking of dunks
I am wtill waiting for someone to dunk on Shaq I mean really right the hell on him
I havent seen it, maybe its happened and i missed it
I remeber in 1995-96 eastern conference semi finals Steve Smith of the Hawks sort of came over shaqs back on a follow up rebound and kind of sort of a little bit dunked on him partially but not really
some of the likely candidates to dunk on Shaq that
are Yao Ming I owuld love to see that, I was thinking Kenyon Martin was going to catch him with one in the 2001-02 finals but he didnt,
Martin always looks like he wants a piece of Shaq when he plays him so I like Kneyon Martin too
KObe he might do it
that would be really cool
hopefully it happens once before Shaq retires
that would be priceless
Comment by Craigp -
Couple of things, RDub, CraigP doesn’t know anything about playing the game of basketball I found that out days ago, but you have made some good points but this guy doesn’t look at the game he only looks at …..players. For you guys that watch TNT last year in the play offs Charles pick the Mavs to win and said why they could beat the other teams. But I guess you don’t watch every night only the nights the Mavs play. Several times last year Charles spoke about the Mavs young players and new coach but I guess you guys where watching the Mavs on another channel. They come down and praise alot of teams and I for one love it.
Comment by James -
Oh by the way to whomever said I dont like Big men
Patrick Ewing
that is how a big man should play
Ewing could shoot the ball
perhaps the best shooting center in NBA history
no check
Indisuptably Patrick Ewing the best shooting center in the NBA history
People dont know this but Ewing could actually hit threes if he wanted to, and sometimes did
Comment by Craigp -
speaking of dunks,
Carter on Mourning last night was one of the best I’ve seen in a while
poor Mourning
something about Georgetown centers.
its like every dunker in the league dunked on Ewing regularly
Mourning too
and Motumbo
He would wave his finger in the middle of the posession with the clock still running after a crappy block and then he would get dunked on 5 seconds later.
Ewing whom I love, but I’ve never seen a big man get dunked on more than PAtrick Ewing,
Jordan must have had at least 50 on him
remeber Grant Hill had at least 10
I remember Isaih JR Ryder when he was a rookie go into Madison Square and dunk on Ewing.
And oh man Shaq used to really get up for Ewing for some reaon and always let him have it
Shaq would often say he “didnt like Ewing”
I never understoodd where that was coming from, what did Ewing ever do to Shaq? An NBA unsolved mystery, why did Shaq not like Ewing, maybe one day Shaq will explain
Comment by Craigp -
craig, mihm is a very respectable player, but he is a big man which are def moe foul prone, esp. if you are over matched, and petro is a rookie from france, duh hes gona get fouls lol, though he will be a very good player in a few years i think. he has his ow website if i remember correctly and there are some highlighst of his dunks and such on it
Comment by taylor -
more numbers that you might want to take a look at or not
TOnight
Lakers/Hawks
4 fouls on the white Chris Mihm in 12 minutes
Grizzlies/Sonics
3 fouls on the white Johan Petro in 5 minutes
c mon now
c mon now
thats all i’m saying
Comment by Craigp -
dzirlio finally someone here that sees it my way a little
I like Charles though,
Charles is the only one that ever stood up to Shaq
Ill never forget that lakers houston game in 1999
http://dl2.rapidshare.de/files/1238774/37022486/
Basketball_Fights_-_Shaq___Barkley.avi
here is the video
greatest moment in sports hisotry in my opinion
Barkely is a badass and becuase of what he did standing up to Shaq
he gets lots of slack from me
Comment by Craigp -
TNT “studio analysis” is a running joke. Charles Barkley is the biggest racist employed as a commentator on any TV network (not counting “coach” John Thompson.) For the last four-five seasons all Charles does is denigrate Kings and Mavs because the best players on those teams are couple of white Europeans (and he can’t stand that). Every time Kings or Mavs win, he finds something bad in that. Every time Dirk and Peja score 30-40 pts. he gets stressed out of his pants. Every time “dream team USA” loses by 20 pts against overseas teams Charles graps for air.
Its personal to this guy. He is green with envy, on top of being arrogant, ignorant, uneducated and not too intelligent.
Comment by Dzirlo -
Kudos to Mark!!! Finally someone stepped up to these self proclaimed Basketball Analyst. Fat Boy Charles and Kenny has always been Maverick haters and they do not have the courage to admit to their mistakes and poor judgements. Mavericks did not get the credit when we lost in the western conf finals( we lost because Dirk got hurt). We didn’t even get the credit when we defied odds to come back from 2 games down and get those sorry Rockets in 7. They just ignored our play and blamed it on luck and poor execution by Rockets. Need I remind those chumps that we beat them by FOURTY POINTS!!!! No Mavericks will get the love from these “idiots” while still wearing our jersey. Nash only got love once he donned SUNS and FIN all of a sudden is a warrior at SPURS. Kenny and Charlie just step up to the plate and give the credit to MAVS when its due.
Once again Mark .. THANK YOU .. I think I’m speaking on behalf of thousands of MFFL when I’m saying that.. we have waited for this retaliation for a long long long time!!
Two last things.. Charles.. whats with the whole DEFENSE mantra.. you never played defense ever and thats why you never won ANYTHING in NBA.. and Kenny.. yeah you do have 2 rings.. but there is only on JET in D TOWN.. Jason The JET Terry!!
Comment by Soban -
Mark, I just wanted to say that I think it’s pretty funny that last year CB told everyone nationwide that the Spurs would win the title before the regular season even started. Those guys dont know anything about the game….
Stick to making websites
Comment by mike -
Mark you claim that your coaching staff looks at stats when making their decisions on the basketball court. You may even claim that your talent scouts look at the stats when scouting for talent around the NBA, Europe, and elsewhere. The reality of the game of basketball is every team… including the world champion spurs, past bulls, lakers, celtics, pistons teams have one or more glaring weaknesses in the operation that they run. That is why there are so many trades, free agent signings, waivers and retiries. Getting back to my first example with the spurs since it is the freshest in my mind and takes the least amount of research at this point in time, they added Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel to boost their offensive firepower because they recognized the fact that offensive firepower was one of their glaring weaknesses last year, even though they won the championship. So looking at stats can only take you so far and they at times can fool you. Any 100 level statistics professor at any college can tell you that. So before you criticize Charles and Kenny for not getting every statistic on every team in the league and with every player in the league, think of this, they have won on different levels in which you have never won on. The best thing they can go on is the general winning formulas instilled in them in the past
So before you criticize them for making their comments I suggest you win something……. ERR wait I mean like an MVP award for a mav, a championship, maybe even have an olympian.
Comment by Diane -
Mark,
Why bother with Kenny and Charles comments? You have built a really good, entertainment team, and unique team. In any game, it’s always offense versus defense. At the end whoever has more points WIN. Mavs is a high scoring team, and the philoshophy makes Mavs very unique. Honestly, most team on NBA concern too much on defense, so it’s nice to see team like MAvs and Suns to turn up the game tempo. My point is that, as good as your offense is, it can gets better. Why not concentrate more on offense and see you can stop you?
I can see that you feel the need for defense. That why your recent moves were trying to add more defensive presence. So, deep down you know that Charle and Kenny said were right. That your team needs needds to get better on the defensive part. I can see it is getting better too.
Anyway, my point is … NBA is a entertainment business. Most of the NBA playoff series, people would know the outcome, however with the Mavs you don’t really know. Watching the Mavs is fun, and I hope the team will not loose its identity when it tries to be a better defensive team. Honestly, what is the point of having a second Spur?
I guess my bottom line is .. Mavs is a good team with a unique identity, and while the defense is getting beter the fact remains that Mavs is not a better defensive team in NBA. A year or two in the future… yes… but.. as of right now.. No.
Comment by Hieu Nguyen -
Mark,
I think that you must respect and accept that comments from Sir Charles and K. Smith… First you have to hire the right players and so when the Mavs start to WIN.. “Do you know what it is?? ” You’ll be able to respond…
Regards
ps: Nothing personnal
Comment by Guilherme Faria -
Looks like Kenny’s latest comments posted on NBA.com put Cuban in his place. But when it comes down to it, who cares? Talk about the games, not about the personalities. Mark made a comment about the imposed dress code on “Off The Record” that it was poor timing by the NBA to make such an announcement, that the focus should be on the beginning of the season, not about some new rule. Instead of talking about hoops, the hot topic now is the Cuban-Kenny/Charles war of words. Someone here posted the question as to why TNT brought up the Mark’s blog post on their show in the first place. Exactly – why? Did this site need more traffic? Gotta love the power of the “media”.
Comment by Noah Buddy -
Hey Mr. Cuban. Sure is a pleasure reading your daily Blog. First I must say that Charles Barkley is probably the secong best PF of all time after Karl Malone of course. I bet you if Mr. Charles was on your team, I’m not even talking about Barkley at his prime, Barkley playing for Rockets is better, stronger and more intimidating then any player on that Soft team you have. Face it man that team is not that good. You guys were real smart when you let go of Nash, I guess you guys were holding him back. You rather keep Dirk then Nash. DIrk will never win a championship, you might as well put him in the same category of every other player that will ever play for the mavericks. Trust me Marky your team is not winning a championship anytime soon. I wacth all the games on TV, I have NBA TV man.
Call me if you need advice. Why the Heck is avery Johnson, the coach when you have Del Harris over thers.
Peace
DOnald Desilus
Comment by Donald Desilus -
I’ve been a long time Mavericks fan and I appreciate what you have done to and for the team since you acquired the team. With that said, the Mavs have always had the stigma of being a poor defensive team, and there are “stats” everyone can find online to prove it. It’s almost a fact that any team stepping inside of the AAC is going to score triple digits and out rebound offensively. You guys give up too many points and second-chance points. But, see, that’s what makes Maverick basketball fun and exciting. The shootouts with Sacramento, and now Phoenix, (by the way, two very poor defensive teams) are no doubt the most watched/enjoyed games. The style that the Mavs have developed will make me tune in every game (with my trustworthy League Pass) – however, I have no expectation of the Mavs ever actually winning it all. Remember the 02-03 season? I don’t think it’s coincidence that the closest the Mavs came to tasting the trophy, they got beat out by arguably the best defensive team in the league.
In any circumstance, as a Mavs fan, I can see where you can have a separate opinion from Kenny and Sir Charles, but I think the biggest problem with your argument is not that difference of opinion (which you are completely right to have) but that you had to take your stance in such an offensive manner. I watched that episode of Inside the NBA, and nowhere did I hear the analysts offend you as a person. They may have opinions, albeit negative, about your team, but they didn’t go about insulting your character. Sure, an argument back and forth about stats and basketball in general is fine, but to call them “idiots” is uncalled for. It’s seriously like Kenny and Charles saying, “The Mavericks have no defense, oh and plus owner Mark Cuban is a moron.” And knowing your outspoken behavior, which I at once admired, you would have much more to say then you already did. Even in their responses, they were only upset that you insulted them and challenged their intelligence, while respectfully giving you their opinions on the subject matter. But beyond Kenny and Charles, what triggered me to respond to your blog (which I never had before because I doubt you read responses) was how you were so patronizing to Reggie Miller, referring to him as “Rook” and questioning his staying power as an analyst; that, I have to say, is in bad character.
Mr. Cuban, if you actually do read this, I’ve been a long time fan and a long time supporter of you and your squad, and I have always felt that, though some of your decisions and/or opinions are questionable, the way you are outspoken and your way of being unlike any other owner are respectable traits. However, to blatantly insult three legendary figures in basketball history, which played prior to even your time in the NBA, is simply in poor taste.
Comment by Alice -
MARK MARK MARK,
HOW DARE YOU TALK BACK TO TWO OF THE NBA GREATS IN HISTORY WHEN YOUR TEAM HAS NEVER EVEN GOTTEN TO THE FINALS NOR HAS BEEN ABLE TO PLAY DEFENSE FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS…SO HOWS DID IT FEEL TO HAVE STEVE NASH DESTROY YOU GUYS LAST YEAR…BUT ANYWAYS LIKE KENNY AND CHARLES SAID…YOU DONT KNOW YOU BASKETBALL SO DONT DISRESPECT SOMEONE BECAUSE THEY SPEAK THE TRUTH AND YOU GUYS ARE “SOFT” AND YET WITH DAMPIER SCORIN AS MUCH AS THE NUMBER OF FEET I HAVE HE IS NOT YOUR DEFENSIVE CENTER AND FOR HIM TO SAY THAT HE IS UP THERE WITH THE LIKES OF SHAQ IS AN APRIL FOOL ITSELF…SO IF YOU WANT TO PROVE KENNY, CHARLES AND THE WORLD THAT YOUR TEAM CAN BE A THREAT AND THAT YOUR CAN WIN….WITHOUT PLAYING DEFENSE..THANK YOU
Comment by louis eve -
Sorry Mark, but those guys at TNT are right. I understand some don’t like the terms used or their style of commentary but regardless, the truth is the truth.
These guys are soft and don’t have that killer instinct to succeed. It’s partly your fault. I remember news reports of you outfitting the locker room with all kinds of amenities to keep the players happy. Well, happy people aren’t hungry people. You’ve fed them so much crap over the years, they think they’re champions.
As for your stats, relax there pal. I believe a lot in stats too. But, the question remains what stats are you looking at and most importantly how are you interpreting your data? You can have the best number crunchers in the world but if you don’t have someone who can distill that data into real information, it doesn’t make a difference.
Charles, to a degree, is right about what he said when it comes to the internet. The problem is that people rely so heavily on technology, they forget to pay attention to life. It’s like they’re all part of the Matrix or something. I love my laptop, pda, and cell phone but I still shut everything off once in a while to admire what man didn’t create.
In the long run, the Mavs problem isn’t its players. It’s the weak coaching the weak management. If the coaches have say in what players to get, they aren’t doing their job. If management is making the sole decision then management isn’t doing their job. Let the coaches pick the players and management worry about making the deals.
Last thing, pay attention to the NBA, not just Mavs.
Comment by Tony -
Jenkins is a moron who cant string together a coherent sentence and doesnt appear to know the difference between a trade and free agency. LOL!
Comment by edward -
ive been a big mavs fan, and i gotta say ive been disappointed with the direction of the team in the past couple years… nash and finley leaving and soft players coming in, van horn and dampier in particular… ive always respected you for putting a quality product out on the floor… but i wish you would trade dampier… the guy is a disgrace, i used to hate bradley but dampier made bradley seem like he was aggressive and dominent… im glad you are defending your team mark, but lets be real about this… we arent going far this year, as much as it hurts me to say that
p.s.
please try to get sprewell, he may have an attitude but he plays d and hes pretty damn clutch
Comment by edward -
Mark, it doesn’t make you right by calling Sir Charles and Kenny Smith “idiots”. Lets face it, the Mavs is a good team; but every team has its weakness…. taking other people’s opinion and prove them wrong is the key to open the door. Proving other people wrong with action is FAR better then proving them wrong with your mouth and try to be tough and STILL don’t solve your problem. And calling Reggie Miller a rook is total disrespect… he IS the legend after all. How about you get in the studio and I phone in and call you a rook? How do you feel? I know that you are not going to read and give a damn about this, but there is an old saying “if you want respect, respect other first”!! And I don’t think Sir Charles or Kenny Smith or Reggie Miller need to give you any apology!
TAKE THAT! YOU BILL GATE WANNABE!!
Comment by Calvin -
Hey Marky Mark,
Keep doing what you do, respect and props brudder.
That idiot thing sure must have stung tho.
Go Mavz! Go Cuban.
NBA needs guys and owners like you, who definitely have passion (even too much is good)
to incite u to call anybody dissing your piece as ‘idiots’
it doesn’t matter if i agree or not to your comments, i mean, who am i?
but with the new NBA wear a crap shit suit to work or go home you are what peeps need.
let them see a guy who wears a blue shirt who is a millionaire and take notice.
done- i’m out!
Comment by Stephen Currie -
my god…you got so many replies. Cuban, you’re the winner, we’re all losers.
Comment by Dude -
Mark, forget the championship this year man. If you don’t change your mentality, the Mavericks will always be a offensive team and not a defensive team. And as a NBA team owner, defensive skills should be the no.1 priority for a franchise. Charles and Kenny are definitly right. Wake up Mark, focus and get your defense on!!!
Comment by Jude -
Mark, forget the championship this year man. If you don’t change your mentality, the Mavericks will always be a offensive team and not a defensive team. And as a NBA team owner, defensive skills should be the no.1 priority for a franchise. Charles and Kenny are definitly right. Wake up Mark, focus and get your defense on!!!
Comment by Jude -
HAha, this shit is funny, ( i can curse can’t I? anyway who cares i’ll do it anyway. Everyone pretends alot about how america is such a free country and the real truth is people are giving up their personal freedoms and will for others employing them( like how the nba makes money of these youth who are from a hip hop culture then tells them not to represent it on the court )you’d expect NBA players who everyone wants to be like to take a stand publicly showing with their actions what they think about this.
Instead everyone rolls over, is afraid of stern (who seemingly has absolute power in the NBA) and all the higher powers like their GM or critisism through TV mediums ( see charles barkley – who of the topic I swore I saw him on an exercise bike in the studio )
Really everyone is complying because of fear for their job security and being imposed fines for something really NBA has no business fining for.It really is an unsubstatianted tax.So fast foward to everyone dressed up as corporate sissies for halloween no one stood up for hiphop and other sub cultures, no one bent the rules except kukoc, and everyone wants all nba players to dress up like this so black people on the street would also follow suit and give up their own unique style for a more european more sub-urban male look. I thought that show with charles Barkley and Kenny smith would suppport the players but I didnt realize how much they had sold out until now. I didn’t realize how much they weren’t part of the hip-hop culture. NBA no longer supports hiphop, treats it like a step child and is ashamed of it.The future looks plaid But who cares? I need free tickets to the dallas games.When are you gonna take it all? Some players have given too much to their franchises which have in return given nothing back (iverson and garnett) wouldnt it be cool if they joined the mavs? Whats your dream team like who would you pick? or is it not smart or against the rules to talk about it publicly
NOw back to dress code are we gonna have fun with this? I figure you read this stuff since this is your blog. Lets take suggestions as to what can be done, any ideas and what not. I see in the future games where watching the sidelines will be very funny. Cheerleaders in Business attire. Rodman moments from players or rodman himself (atleast he had balls- under the dress) mismatchaed bright colors within dress code. players not sitting in the bench area so they can wear regular attire as fans of the game and not as employees.
Meanwhile charles and em saying oh i think the dress code is good blah blah blah people are more comfortable with someone in a suit (because those people who are comfortable are closed minded – and should we make them more comfortable?) WE need a Rosa Parks moment and stay where we were on the bus and not let them take anything away any liberties from you.It’s about time it became a free country.
Comment by Geniusknowsnorules -
People who believe race has anything to do with calls are idiots and should be banned from living.
Go Spurs Go!!! ITS TO BAD SHAQ AND DUNCAN PLAY LIKE BIGMEN UNLIKE DIRK AND KG WHO PLAY LIKE GAURDS. WHICH WAY HAS BEEN WORKING?
DUNCAN 3 RINGS
DIRK NONE
SHAQ 3 RINGS
KG NONE
Comment by Steve Kunzer -
Wow real smart move you made by getting rid of a class person/player in Micheal Finley to get a washed up doug christie who is best known for being a Defensive stopper on another horrible defensive team Sacremento. Is it because he has a reality show coming up too or something. I hope your team does not expect to have a flukie comeback like you did in PHX to get them somewhere in the playoffs.
Comment by Steve Kunzer -
Wow 190 comments about what Mark Cuban said about the idiots on TNT, who the hell cares? How sad is it that Barkley and TNT had to bring up what was said about them on some internet blog? How sad is it that there are literally 100’s here posting about it?
It’s funny some of you people call Mark an idiot, why don’t you take a look in the mirror and ask yourself how brilliant you are? You went to some blog to defend Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith from being called an idiot……..
God how sad are you idiots? I can’t believe people say Cuban should have thicker skin, look at yourselves, look at who responded to be called “idiots”. Use your brain, if you have one.
Comment by Corey -
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?!?! Seriously, all you posting on here, who don’t like the Mavs. . . . What’s the point?! Hello, I think the owner is going to be pro-Mavs. Gah. I agree with Mr. Cuban, Charles & Kenny don’t need to nit-pick the Mavs every chance they get. Even when the Mavs aren’t playing they find some way to bring the conversation back to them. I’m sick of it. I also agree that basketball commentating should be more like football, being a former bball-er myself, it would be great to here about the different plays and defensive styles, who needs all this stinkin “chit-chat” about stuff I don’t really care about. . . . Just talk ball!
Comment by Meaghan -
CraigP you are misguided,whats all the crap about white athletes not getting the calls?.If you had commented just once it was ok,but you seem to repeat it .Let it go dude,there is no bias based on colour in the NBA.The best players are the selected and the refs do a fine job.Dont let your insecurities rule you.Your obvious bias removes all credibility from your comments.
Comment by lance -
“he skills Craigp likes in a player, who is biased towards ball handlers, outside shooters, and high-scoring swingmen, and terrible white players like Van Horn.”
No I am biased towards players that actually have skills, can shoot the basketball, cans pass the basketball, can run and jump and be creative,
that is what basketball is about
Shaq and Duncan belong in the NFL they are effective at plowing through people, but that is not basketball they are in the wrong sport
Comment by Craigp -
“I have heard just about the most stupid, most ignorant and most illiterate sentences put together on this page. First there is that pighead that thinks black people get all the calls. How can that be a valid statement when damn near all the refs that make those calls ARE NOT BLACK!”
surely this is not that difficult to grasp
How the fuck does the race of the refs have anything to do with whether or not black players get all the calls?
both white refs and black refs give the majority of the calls to black players, capice?
As an aside, completely unrelated to my points,
It seems to me at least 30 percent of the refs maybe 40% are black, but I dont have the exact stats maybe someone does?
Comment by Craigp -
Whats next?? Gonna get rid of dirk too?
Comment by terri truong -
Mark, I wanna see u try to do charles and kennys job. I mean, it’s not there fault that ur team isn’t anygood. Face it, Unless yall do some major improvements, like sign a good free agent or a good draft pick, you will only be a Playoff team.
Also, Lose the New Blue Jacket. Follow the dress code without lookin like an idiot.
Comment by Taylor -
I think this is pretty entertaining actually. Cuban sticking up for team, TNT making some good points (and some not soo good ones). But the fact is this…… barkley and smith are more there for comedy then basketball information. I think that Barkley and Smith have great basketball IQ as does Mark Cuban. I honestly laugh at 99 percent of the stuff sir charles says, i dont take much of it seriously at all. But it is true that your team has bad defense Mark. Defense wins championships.. look at the last few teams who have won…. Detriot and The Spurs, so until you get a Ben Wallace or Ron Artest type defender i highly doubt your teams will make it to the finals. The Spurs are just to good defensively.
I think Cuban has been a great addition to the NBA, he shows emotion and heart for his team and would die for them. I see that as somthing more owners should due. I would like to end by saying each party in this has made some good points and some bad points, the NBA is great and i want to keep it that way. I love Cubans loyalty to his team and at the same time i love Sir Charles as a basketball player and enjoy his and Smiths silly comedy in there analysis. Good luck this year Cuban (and email me if you ever need any help with anything in the Mavericks organization)
katalist420@hotmail.com
Comment by Kozzy -
Alright now guys, this bickering is very immature.
Mr. Cuban, my opinion is that Charles and Kenny Smith have hit a nerve in you and your team, defense. Dallas is a young outstanding team and I love what you’ve done with the organization, but it’s known League-wide that their defense is sluggish and has been for a number of years. It’s asinine to say they are “trading nonsensical barbs with the boys.” They are analysts, it’s there job to analyze teams and point out their weaknesses. Ever see the boys on ESPN Friday? They do the same thing. I’ve watched “Inside” for at least 5 years and I have to say a lot of what they say is true. I think they said something that you didn’t want to hear so you called them idiots. Why sould they be called idiots for disagreeing with you and doing their job? I must say you have behaved like a small child throwing a tantrum is making those comments.
-Michael David-
Comment by Michael D -
The bottom line here is that Mavs have 0 Championships under Cuban’s reign and once again this year have absolutely no shot at winning it all. Statistical analysis worked for the Red Sox and the Patriots because they actually put teams on the field capable of winning it all. If anyone here thinks the Mavs are more equipped to win a title than the Spurs or Pistons(or even the Heat and Pacers for that matter) they seriously need to put the pipe down and check into rehab ASAP.
Comment by Larry B. -
Mark,
You are coming off sounding like an egotistical jackass. Another case of you whining. If you would focus your energy on something else rather than solving announcers problems, whatever they may be or referee’s problems, whatever they may be, you would not be perceived as a rich arrogant douche bag. You have done a lot of great things for this organization but give it a rest already.
Comment by Scott Lawrence -
Mark,
If you do not like watching TNT halftime and post game commentators, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, perceiving it to be boring, you do not have to watch them. The same way if I do not like watching the Mavs, or any other team at that, I would not watch them as well. Do these men brag on wanting to coach, no. Plus if they were doing such a bad of a job, TNT execs would pull the plug on them, faster than you letting go of Michael Finley (bad move). Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith are one of the finest former-NBA players out there. Not only do they do a good job inside their workplace, but outside of it, by using basketball to help the community. Kenny Smith conducted a way to get a lot of popular players (from your squad- Jerry Stackhouse) and coaches (Avery Johnson). Charles Barkley is also the same, the reason why he’s too busy to use a computer compared to us, is because he is out there visiting children’s hospital- http://www.barons.com/nm/publish/barons10.shtml. Now Mark, there is a 85% chance you will be reading this comment of mine, and all I can say is, “It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.” -William G. McAdoo. Therefore, I know for a fact you will have an answer for my comment, and out debate me. It’s alright, I’ll be enjoying watching TNT’s Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, than a Mavs game, any day. After Steve Nash left, he’s better off without you guys, even if he doesn’t have Amare right now.
Comment by Jeff Tecson -
I’m a white american, all european heritage. Nash can’t create shots for himself inside, and he only gets to the line like twice a game.
The only other all star caliber white player is Peja, and all he does shoot, so he’s not going to get many shooting fouls. Quit changing the subject. The NBA is not racist against white people. That is so stupid.
Comment by Abraham -
Mark,
Frankly, i get struck by ur spontaneous outburst of immaturity. U r one rich, overly pampered kid who wanna act like the Emperor in the “Emperor’s New Robe”. If u really wanna put on the new robe, Charles and Kenny will gladly give a hand, just to let the public know how truly “puerile and naked” u R.
Remember, these guys fully merit the positions they now hold at TNT. They may say things you don’t accept; sometimes, they may color the facts; or they may even demagnify the truth. But, the entertaining element that accompanies their analysis is what attracts viewers to watching TNT. If anybody needs stats, they know where & how to get it…But,i believe viewers need real entertainment from watching Basketball, which, I think, the highly capable duo of Charles and Kenny can easily provide. I’m not trying to make them look perfect, but saying simply the truth as i see it.
I really feel so sorry 4 u since now u have chosen to put on the “Emperor’s new robe” in the face of a fast, approaching winter, because Charles and Kenny will make sure u do….One last thing, what ur problem with Reggie Miller really is about? I’m curious to know if he ever blocked ur team from clinching the NBA title? Pls, act up b4 ur rashness betrays the public image u’ve built. I’ve always been a Mav’s fan and will always be…
Comment by Alfred (Teddy Rahman) Kamara -
Mark, you are a moron. Kenny and Charles are right about the Mav’s being soft. You are simply and a-hole with a big bank and a big mouth.
Comment by Lona -
Several fallacies keep being repeated here, and they need correcting:
1. Cuban was a moron for trading “MVP” Nash. Yeah, because we all know it’s a great business decision to hand out a max contract to a 30-year-old PG with a history of breaking down at the end of the season, and who will barely be able to walk by the time his deal expires. MVP or not (and, c’mon… we all know he was the phoniest winner since Dave Cowens in 1973), it wouldn’t have been sound decision-making to re-sign Steve; Nash was, in actuality, only worth three more wins last season than Jason Terry, according to Win Shares!
2. Dallas is a poor defensive team. This was true pretty much every year except 2003 and 2005. In 2003 everybody played above their head, including Raef LaFrentz and Shawn Bradley. This was a fluke, and they dropped from 9th to 26th in 2004. However, last year’s 9th-place finish is less of a fluke, because it was a system-driven improvement, specifically thanks to Avery Johnson’s arrival (they were the NBA’s 2nd-best defense after AJ took over last season!) Christie is better than Finley defensively (if only slightly), but Finley was a middling offensive player last season, and Christie will not be that much worse. Christie makes $3 million, about the same as Finley, but Finley likely wouldn’t have taken the steep pay cut ($14 million to $3 million) for any other team than the Spurs, so the Mavericks would have been forced to overpay Finley had they retained his services. So the Finley decision was another sound business choice, like it or not.
3. Kenny Smith is a basketball authority because (or “becos”, as some members of the illiterati have typed here) he has two rings. Well, that’s logic… Why, Jud Buechler has three rings, so that must mean that he knows more than Charles and Kenny put together, right? Give me a break, guys.
4. Dallas “has made the dumbest decisions trade-wise”. No, that would be Billy King of Philadelphia, but thanks for playing.
Anyway, I know the facts have little bearing on these arguments (one clown even tried to bring race into the discussion!), but suffice it to say that the Cuban/Nelson/Johnson brain trust knows what it’s doing. Unlike most of the people posting comments here…
Comment by Goo -
Gasol, Nash, etc etc etc. Poor stupid abraham forgot the Mvp. Whites are Soft? You’re a racist piece of crap abraham. Go back to israel with the other worthless ball players. Tell ariel sharon, hello. There’s so many skinny stick lightweight blacks in the nba it’s laughable. You wanna talk weakness, look at some of their weights and boney biceps.
Comment by haywood jablomey -
I don’t understand what the flipping deal is here? They were doing their job by making their comments. We didn’t need Kenny and Charles to tell us. Who ever watches the Mav’s knows besides the die hard fans that are in denial.
Either you take it and push it aside or maybe you need to consider it. There is a reason why you haven’t won a championship yet. Everyone is a step a head of the Mav’s.
If I was going compare the Mav’s to another team of the NBA it be the Raptors. Dallas is just a place that no one wants to play in. It’s like a foreign country. If I wanted to choose a place in Texas I rather play in a city like Houston. It’s a great city and has the up rise of a possible dynasty. Then obvious choice that should be number one is San Antonio. I know I will have a better chance to win a championship before Dallas. I see Toronto winning a championship before Dallas or last years expansion team Charlotte making more noise in the playoffs.
Why do you care anyways Cuben? Along you have your fans fanning their dollar bills in your face you always willing charge them right out the ass for a seat why would you care? Just be like Mr. Ford of the Lions sit in your suite and do nothing then seeing you on TV doing your fake act drawing the attention to the Mav’s like you are doing now. I don’t want watch them on TV so I certainly do not want be reading your rich ass in the news attacking someone doing their job.
Comment by Aharon -
You know why Dirk, Ginobili, AK, Brad Miller, and Gasol are the only white players that get to the line? Because they are the only white players that can create shots for themselves within 10 feet of the basket. It’s not rocket science. Most white players are soft and shoot jumpers. Only idiots foul jump-shooters.
Duncan is one of the most-if not the most- skilled players in the league. He’s equally dominating on both defense and offense. He might not have the skills Craigp likes in a player, who is biased towards ball handlers, outside shooters, and high-scoring swingmen, and terrible white players like Van Horn. He’s still better than Dirk and everyone on that list.
Comment by Abraham -
And for the guy that thinks that AJ is a better player that CB bcos he has a ring (which he got from a 50 game NBA season with Duncan and Robinson), you must be out of your mind. AJ ran point guard on that team like he had two left feet.
And don’t give that excuse that the mavs need time to mesh as a team. That is straight BS. They had Nash, Finley, Dirk and Van Excel when they went to the West Conf Finals in 2003. Since then they have traded Van Excel, signed Stack, signed Walker and Jamison, traded Walker and Jamison, traded Nash, traded Finley, signed Dampier, and signed Christie. Just like the Suns saw last year, D wins championships. And Dallas isnt the only team people have been picking on about D. It was said all throughout last season about PHX that a run & gun team with no D cannot win a championship. The only reason Dallas is more talked about is that they have made the dumbest decisions trade-wise.
Comment by Jenkins -
And for the guy that thinks that AJ is a better player that CB bcos he has a ring (which he got from a 50 game NBA season with Duncan and Robinson), you must be out of your mind. AJ ran point guard on that team like he had two left feet.
And don’t give that excuse that the mavs need time to mesh as a team. That is straight BS. They had Nash, Finley, Dirk and Van Excel when they went to the West Conf Finals in 2003. Since then they have traded Van Excel, signed Stack, signed Walker and Jamison, traded Walker and Jamison, traded Nash, traded Finley, signed Dampier, and signed Christie. Just like the Suns saw last year, D wins championships. And Dallas isnt the only team people have been picking on about D. It was said all throughout last season about PHX that a run & gun team with no D cannot win a championship. The only reason Dallas is more talked about is that they have made the dumbest decisions trade-wise.
Comment by Jenkins -
I’m with you Cuban. Those guys at TNT are really IDIOTS.
They are always against Dallas and Sactown. We’re never right, always bad.
And no Kenny you don’t know that much basketball because if you did you would choose the Kings to win the Pacific. That there shows how much you know. You won 2 rings on Hakeem Olajuwon back. Just like Fisher did with Shaq and Kobe. Does he know anything? Yes, he’s not stupid, everyone knows something but to say you know everything about basketball shows that you’re an idiot and to diss a team (actually its dallas and sactown always) its idiotic.
Same thing with new guy you guys got that Reggie (cant do anything else but shoot threes) Miller who did nothing thursday but rep his team. Thats BS.
PEACE AND LONG LIVE CUBAN!!!!!
Comment by DUKG from realGM -
Mark Cuban, you don’t know nothing about basketball. You are just a rich owner and for some reason you believe you own the NBA. Why do you always seek attention? With all the money you have, you should be able to use your leisure time more effectively. Everybody knows that Dallas is soft and you know it too. That’s why you sign Erick Dampier. Charles Barkley is a Hall Of Famer and Kenny Smith has two championship rings. What basketball accomplishments do you have? Zero.
Comment by Marcus -
Wow, much adu about nothing. Kenny and Charles are paid to get ratings as much as they are to give analysis. Anyone looking for anything but cursory analysis from them should have their head examined. Also, if you haven’t played the game you don’t realize how physical the game really is. That’s why Mark Cuban has a hard time understanding what Kenny and Charles mean when they call his team soft. Until you take an elbow from Shaq’ or get walked out of the paint by Barkley or posted up by Carl Malone you don’t get it.
Also, I’ve read a lot of these comments and I’m sure a lot of you guys wore black socks in gym class – Cuban included.
And Craig, stop posting and go back to your Crystal Meth lab before your trailer blows up.
Comment by Don -
I have heard just about the most stupid, most ignorant and most illiterate sentences put together on this page. First there is that pighead that thinks black people get all the calls. How can that be a valid statement when damn near all the refs that make those calls ARE NOT BLACK!
And then there’s the other idiot prasheel who goes on dissing Kenny Charles and Reggie, saying the none of them except Kenny has a ring. Who on the Mavs has a ring? Numbers do not lie. Kenny has two rings (whether you believe it was becos of Hakeem or not), Charles too PHX to the finals in his first year on the team, Reggie is obviously the best shooter in the league for years to come. What can the Mavs say for themselves … 50+ wins every year with No Conf title, no finals appearance, not one solid player that can bang in the paint. And then they hire AJ as coach. Please… until some smart decisions are made from upstairs (and I mean Cubans brain) that team is never going to move up. (not like I really care for them).
Comment by Jenkins -
and just one more pealr or wisdom before I go for now, jsut to demonstrate my non-racism, not that I really give too much of a shit wheter any of you believe me
Best players in the NBA
1: Lebron James
2: Kobe Bryant
3: Tracy Mcgrady*
4: Steve Nash
*Mcgrady barely deserves this number 3 spot, he is ridiculously talented but his attitude sucks. If he gets his attitude right, he could very well be the best in the league.
Comment by Craigp -
Hey Mark-
What do you think of the Hornets being in OKC? Are you looking forward to taking your team there? They sold out that game already!!
Comment by Katie -
While Charles and Kennys Ideas on the Mav’s may be accurate, I dont like either of their antics on the tnt show. Charles is confused a black republican who plays golf but doesnt like the internet. His jokes are about as corny as a stuffy politician, and his bully attitude he carried off the the court to tnt has no place on tv. Kenny is simply Charles Barkleys puppet I really wish they would move the desk so we could see CB’s hand go up his A@#. Mr Cuban of all the owners of pro teams i think you have tem most enthusiam over your teams performance, and create within them a will to win. I think that you have shown that you want your team to improve and win, and look at your team as what they are a pro NBA team, not a business venture like some other owners..
Comment by DRRDEE -
Mark,
Kenny and Charles was dissappointed last year because Houston Rockets lost in first round playoff. That what the Mavs show their defense
Comment by Kirch -
Wow Cubes you’re already in your Playoffs war stance and it’s only.. erm Opening week.
As much as I respect CB and the Jet as players and as much as I think you’re much of an attention whore, I must admit that I agree with you on how stupid CB and Kenny are as analysts sometimes. (CBs comments about people on computers though border on idiotic ignorance-it wasn’t even funny) But fact of the matter is, it’s a TV show. They’re entertaining. Yeah CB may present himself as a dumb homer bum most of the time but hey, you come across as an irritating lunatic to some people too. SHOWBIZ; You know how it is. As long as people watch and the Pigs get their dough, the circus is here to stay.
To brag about accomplishments here and there just reduces all parties involved into kindergarten kids comparing baseball cards. To each his own. But at the end of the day, cheap shots are cheap shots. You just got what you deserved Cubes.
Comment by Dennis Guillermo -
I believe all Mark is saying is there are people that talk and people that do. The TNT staff talks… Granted its what they’re paid to do. But Mark is upset that they are passing to the general public as if they were as knowledgable as coaches….when in fact they are nothing ore than ex-players who are entertaining us.
Everyone ripping on you in these comments is no different than the TNT people you are mocking. I believe Henr Rollins said it best when he said “there is no lower life form than a critic.” Talkers talk….doers do.
Mark, just hire a few guys to do real analysis and talk about x’s and o’s, and then stream it on the web….google video can even get incorporated to make it more easily found. I’d watch both your show and TNT so I can learn about bb and be entertained by CB and Kenny.
Problem solves.
Comment by Greg -
by the way, you sound a little like Spurrier, should we all just sit down and say, “all NBA teams are great.”, pat everybody in the back, and have a cup o tea together? Get real. If your team is having problems, why the hell are you blaming guys like Sir Charles for pointing it out? You should quit whining like a baby and spend a little more time addressing issues. No team is perfect, and if you are spending more time whining about somebody who’s paid to break down and analyze, and critize your team, than helping your team perform better, well, that’s not really helping anybody, is it? I didn’t hear your coach complain about it, not dirk, not eric, not terry…JUST YOU, quit your whining, spurrier, i mean, cuban
Comment by eugene -
I think the owner doth protest too much.
Comment by Jason -
blahblahblah, mark, did you even play basketball in hs?, varsity?
if not, then you don’t own a lick of respect when it comes to playing basketball, hell, i’ll play you, and i’d probly take you to school. If yall can’t guard the pick and roll, you can’t defend it, or at least, well enough to win. You’re an owner, not a player, not a coach, if you knew so much about basketball, you’d be a coach yourself. As a matter of fact, you’re a more annoying owner than George Steinbrener
Comment by eugene -
Hi Mark,
It sounds like you need a “LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD” iron-on to add to that snazzy, blue sportcoat of yours….
Perhaps you should challenge Kenny & “The ChuNkster” to a three-point shootout on the TNT set….
Basketball matters should be settled with “balls”…..Can I get a “rim shot” please?
Jim Parham
Yuba City, CA
Comment by StockMaverick -
All I have to say is if you people know so much about basketball then where’s the championship ring, or at least the conference trophy? Thanks.
Also, I recognize that Dallas is a very talented team, and as with every team, they have their flaws. They have never been known for defense though. Nearly for the past 5 years, they have had very very weak defense. If they didn’t have Dirk and Jason Terry running offense and making shots like they do, they wouldn’t be much of a contender.
No disrespect to the Mavs team, but Cuban’s comments are ignorant. I love seeing him do his thing and respect the fact that he is a young person in a high position, very successful finiancially, but he can be such a cry baby. People in the spotlight are gonna get criticized, he should just be a man and learn that you get criticized. The TNT squad critiques every team, don’t be a baby and lash out against them cause they hurt your feelings.
Comment by Carl -
Mark, keep up the good work, man. I think if someone’s attacking (or commenting negatively) about the team, you can absolutely respond to that criticism – especially if they are talking in generalities or simply don’t know what they’re talking about.
I wouldn’t be able “to just deal with it” like some other commenters suggested, and I say speak your mind, man!
to #15 – Duncan’s game is SO not like Shaq’s. Duncan’s game is all about finesse. he doesn’t rely on his giant “rear-end” to get to the basket like The Diesel.
Comment by Tom Ford -
I agree with you Mark, it is easy to sit back and talk a lot of negative noise when you don’t have all the facts.
I’m a Huge Mavs fan now and I think we have a great shot of winning a championship this year. Do we need to work hard and make some improvements? Yes. But we are making them and I was impressed with the Mavs at all of the pre-season games I attended.
At least now Dallas can be proud of our basketball team instead of quickly changing the subject like we had to in the past.
Go Mavs!
Comment by Eddo -
I especially like CB’s “no life” comment. I do not think he realizes how much commerce, advertising, marketing, sales, research and sheer business is conducted online in some capacity. I say this as I sit at my desk where I manage online advertising for a Internet company. CB is an idiot, as always, and is still living in the 90’s.
Comment by Scott Griffith -
What’s the deal, Mark? If anyone says anything critical about your team, you start sounding like a little crybaby… You are bigger and better than that, so suck it up and show it!
Comment by David Adamson -
Add one more idiot to the Tnt broadcast. Welcome aboard Reggie Miller. I haven’t heard such a one sided announcer in a very long time. Reggie could you have made your pro pacers comments any more obvious during the pacers and heat game? I was under the impression that announcers were supposed to be impartial. I guess that dosen’t apply to the great reggie miller, please let us all bow in reverence to to #1 pacer fan aka Reggie Miller.
Comment by Ron -
I might be a fool here, but maybe you guys didn’t read what he was writing either. He was pretty much just saying Barkley doesn’t know everything, which he doesn’t. Most of CB’s opinions tend to be what he thinks is right, and what he thinks must always be right.
I mean Cuban said it best with, “Of course all of this is only talk. It all comes down to our guys doing their jobs. They do whatever it takes to make our team better every day. They dont just show up and play because “they know how to play”. Hopefully it will win us a championship”
At the end of the day, no matter what team has the most heart or character will win. If Dirk shows tenacity and the heart of a champion along with the other 11 players on the bench (or 14 if you count Injured list, I guess there’s no more IR who the hell knows), then the Mavericks have as much as a shot as anyone else to win.
Who would have expected Detroit to win in 2004, and who would have expected San Antonio to win it in 1999.
Comment by Gabriel -
“Barkely doesn’t have it out for the Mavs and Dirk,”
Oh I think he does. Dirk Dunked on him in a friendly game when the dream team was in germany. Not too mention that Charles made some nasty comments well before this criticising the mavs and dirk(even though dirk had a monster game). Dirk then called charles a “Moron”. Charles couldn’t handle it and kept to his fu(kwitted ways. Those goons give zero respect.
“he’s just calling things as he sees them, which is what his job entails.”
If that were the case, people wouldn’t have a problem with them.
Comment by jack torso -
The Tnt crew is a clown setup(espn is no picnic either). Barkley and kenny are their to act like useless twits and only give their favorite brothas the credit. It’s bloody obvious. Only an inane and base mental patient would deny that. Someone mentioned, Doug Collins. He sounds like a girl. Terrible, worst announcer ever. He had no business doing the olympic games. He can’t even announce names properly. Rick kambla can at least pronounce names correctly. Collins is boring and is the stupid white guy syndrome.
IQ wise kenny and the fat guy(charles) would likely be lower than Mr Cuban. So essentially, what is the point arguing with such defectives? It’s not even worth discussing. Although I do have to pit some criticism….
Mark your team are severely lacking in a Consistant center, a decent backup for howard, a quality playmaker at pg and some quality backup centers. Have you considered looking to europe instead of wasting your time on nba fodder?
I sincerely ask you to have a look at these all star players. I want my mavs to be successful but we need players that compliment dirk and fill the void of where we lack as a team. I don’t think you can trade for great players in the nba so it would be best to work with europa.
robert javtokas(uleb finals mvp. blocked marion, duncan, stoudamire and odom in one olympic game).
nikola vujcic(had 22 against toronto, hahaha. just had a tripple double in euroleague.)
robert gulyas(solid huge guy 7’1 340 lbs.),
eurelijus zukauskas(the spider man, blocks a lot of shots, plays good D),
kaspars kambala(total beast/stud in college and europe, would kill most inside or one on one. would be great as an inside prescence on the 2nd squad to throw it into.)
for backup sf i’d grab a saulius stombergas or someone with experience.
we could of had any number of pg’s that actually know how to create and penetrate.
diamantidis(sic defender as well as play maker, driver, scorer),
juan carlos navarro,
pozzecco,
marko popovic,
hamman(german cup mvp).
To be honest ANY of those guys would run the point better than terry. I like terry as a shooter but he is deplorable as a playmaker.
Mark, please take some positive steps to imporve the team. I feel my team has become worse and the holes need to be filled by “very good” players.
Comment by haywood jablomey -
What exactly did Smith and CB say? I know it’s weird but some of us are college students with tons of homework and no cable. Anyway I’m a Bulls fan but I really appreciate the Mavericks organization. It’s great to see a team owner with in a constant dialogue with the public and even better that I can identify with you Mark. Not to mention that you wrote one of the few insightful pieces out there on the NBA dress code. Switching gears a little it disappoints me that I just started reading your blog and I’m constantly reading comments that try to make basketball issues personal issues and racial issues.
Maybe we’ll see a Bulls v Mavs finals.
Comment by Andrew Ritchie -
In the game I was watching, Nash pretty much had Dirk at his mercy every time the switch was made. It wasn’t at all fair for Cuban or anyone to call Barkely and Kenny idiots just because they made this observation. And you’re uber high-tech “tracking” probably shows that switching in that situation is a bad idea.
The only reason the Mavs didn’t lose in regulation was because Dirk was shooting the lights out at the end and because Nash can’t guard Jason Terry.
(and as a footnote to the conspicuously racist moron Craigp, Duncan’s Spurs have three three rings because his team doesn’t have to count on things like that. Not because he has an “Ugly Shaq-Lite game” and “Get’s all the calls.” I might be kicking a dead horse, but somebody had to say something, you dumbass.)
Barkely doesn’t have it out for the Mavs and Dirk, he’s just calling things as he sees them, which is what his job entails. He might not be a strategic genius like Phil or Larry, but I think a former MVP of the league who’s only 6’5” but managed to grab 13 boards a night over seven footers might have a little better basketball instinct than you Mavs fanatics.
Comment by Abraham -
Barkley isn’t there just for his basketball analysis, he’s also funny. I guess you were on the receiving end of his comments, don’t take it so personally.
If you really want to get the TNT boys back then send Christie’s wife up there and tell her they were hitting on Doug.
For the record, i’d have my money on the Mavs not getting rings anytime soon, salary cap. The backcourt isn’t elite, Damp is soft and Dirk is the main thing keeping the team together. Still a 1st/2nd round playoff team and will be for a while with the cap situation
Comment by Adam -
^^^ look at all the fakeboys,trolls,and Cuban-bashers
but really your absolutely right. They have been bashing the Mavericks for 4 years.They never say anything positive about them, they always negate their win,spread FUD when we lose,knock the team while ignoring what we did right or the ever so popular “say a something and you get a free pass on BS analysis”.
ESPN does the same thing. After the suns game I never saw so much damage control by ESPN.
I personally don’t think CB actually watches the games. Maybe the cherrypicked highlights but not the game.
His insane comment on defense was BS.Example of CB’s biased routine…
First:Say a negative biased cliche` and dress it up with basketball jargon Second: [insert biased incorrect statement]Third: make a snide joke and bling up negative biased cliche
Fourth:repeat Step 1-4 when someone brings up dallas.
CB is biased agianst the Mavs and Dirk.Its just reality.ESPN is also biased but not nearly as much(more pandering to fans).
AJ has won more championships than CB has.So he need to cut that “basketball knowledge” crap out.
This team is fully equiped to win a title. Its just how long will it take for our players to mess together. Our Defense is great. But Our Offense is showing progress be it only in spurts. I think when its said and done we will look like an odd cross of the Pistons and Spurs.Only with more depth.
Just beat SA this weekend I want to see CB aka”The Tool” shut his M4v3R1c|<$ 4r3 t3# D0o/V\z0R$ propaganda up.
Comment by Jim -
MC,
I love what you have done with the Mavs, but the TNT guys are dead on in regards to your team. They have and will continue to be soft, which is why they haven’t been to the finals under your tenure. No 2-ways or blog posts needed for that analyst. I feel you’re far off base taking personal shots at CB and Kenny. I don’t how much in-depth analysis you need, but I really don’t see much difference between them and the guys on ESPN. Matter of fact any true basketball fan can breakdown a game without the help of TNT or ESPN.
Never call out anyone in the media! You will always lose. How can you call them out anyway? Won any titles lately?
Comment by Chizzle -
This paraphrase/quote sums up the stupid TNT commentary… This is the part of the game where the mavericks need to start stopping a team like phoenix … This being said when we are down by double digits in the fourth quarter? even shaq could do commentary like that. Mark i was reading one of your earlier blogs about strickland. He is hands down my favorite maverick of all time. Do you remember that dunk where he was in the restricted area with three people over him and he just flew straight up to the rim and dunked? that was the most amazing thing i’ve ever seen in all of my days! I miss that kind of maverick basketball. The stuff that just makes you smile every time you think back to it. When i saw we signed him again this year. I was so excited but then we dropped him… one of the last players left in the NBA from the old mavericks teams that would light up REUNION
Comment by Al -
Mark,
I agree with you. Between Bill Walton and Barkley, I would rather turn the TV down and just watch the action.
MC, keep up the efforts. We all get tired of the commentary from CB. He’s off the mark and seems to throw out contraversy just to have it out there. He doesn’t give any insight to the game and thinks his is the only opinion that matters.
I gotta run. I spend days and days on my computer. I have no life.
Comment by Russell -
mark, thx for the candor in your posts.
just linked to you at parksouth.blogspot.com, and because i liked it so much, i quoted a lot of your piece comparing NBA & NFL in-game color commentary.
while i’m a full time trader and $mgr, my blog posts are not confined to stocks.. some current event smack talk & fun stuff there also.
please tell me if you object to my quoting.
Comment by Buck Woodford -
Marketing genius.
Comment by Brian -
Mr. Cuban, I love reading your blog. Thanks for the free business advice too! The quote about “busting your ass to be prepared and get better” was well needed as I have spent the last hour and a half re-inventing myself as it relates to my work.
Keep up the posts and I’m glad you take jabs at people. I think it keeps everyone on their toes.
Comment by Mike C -
Rockets Fan,
Dude, I’m sure Kenny’s a great guy. What’s that have to do with his basketball analysis?
I don’t mean to downplay Kenny’s off-the-court works. I’m just saying that’s not the side of Kenny that Mark is criticizing.
Comment by Daniel -
Cuban I love listening to you because you are so opinionated which is the exact same reason why I love listening to Barkley on TNT. You both provide great entertainment but c’mon keep it fun don’t go make it sour by making it personal.
You were completely out of line by attacking Kenny’s and Barkley’s knowledge of the game. That is like them starting their own website and saying you don’t know anything about computers because they don’t like what you have to say about IMing.
Oh, and I am still waiting for that glowing blog of last nights game from you Cuban!!! I think Dirk threw more overhand forearms than your entire team had deflections. Talk about your white guys never getting any calls, a black player would have been ejected for that garbage.
GO JAZZ!!!!!!! I believe AK-47 had more blocks than Dirk had field goals made.
And Dallas fans quit crying about those two shots. I almost threw up after listening to your two great analysts keep on crying about two prayers that went in. Maybe you should look at your own analysts Cuban cuz I lost count how many times they called their own players by the wrong name.
Typical season for the Mavs any team that plays any type of defense will beat them.
Comment by James -
Rockets Fan – Kenny may be able to get them on the phone, but can he figure out which of them is the best? Or which of them will be the best over the next 4 years? Or how well they complement each other?
I don’t know the answer to any of those questions, and the fact he organized the post-Katrina game doesn’t help me answer them.
Comment by MattR -
Don’t take it personal Mark, these guys from TNT are in the entertainment business now, the analysis should be secondary. So I think they ARE doing their job. And I have to admit, listening to them talk pre/half-time/ and post-game is the highlight for me of any game by far. Your dialog back and forth with them even makes it better. Charles is a rare talent, but it’s scary how right he is about basketball. I’ve played recorded shows from years past and his predictions are uncanny. Sometimes the truth hurts. These guys are doing off the court what Jordan did on the court. Bring people to the game!
Comment by Barry Tegel -
Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Antawn Jamison and Nick Van Exel have been replaced with Keith Van Horn, Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier and Doug Christie. Cuban, before you criticize anybody else’s basketball knowledge you seriously need to take a close look at your own. With moves like that I wouldn’t let you run a fantasy league team. The only thing worse than your roster choices is the way you tried to capitalize on the success of Trump and The Apprentice with your own pathetic attmept at a TV show. Take some of your money and buy a little class because your act is wearing thin.
Comment by J.T. -
Daniel, you weren’t in Houston. All the players said Kenny called them personally. Kenny organizing the hurricane game helped the League’s image much more than Cuban has ever done. Kenny the GM can pick up the phone and call any of these players.
Comment by Rockets Fan -
Van Horn is amazing, another white player with amazing talent, who gets better every year, that gets no calls, in this what Larry Bird had the guts to call “a black man’s league”
Micheal Redd wanted to take every shot in Milwaukee so Van Horn had to go,
too bad Nash is not still with the Mavs I would love to see Nash Dirk and Keith, together.
Comment by Craigp -
Mark,
You are paying Keith Van Crap $15 million. How smart can you and your staff be?
Also, great job with “The Benefactor”!
Mark
Comment by Mark M -
Hey Mark, I have been a really big fan of yours since you came in the league. I love your enthusiasm and your support for your team. But you need to cool it with talking bad about Kenny Smith and Charles. Don’t be so sensitive about what they have to say. They are just giving there opinions and your team hasn’t proven them wrong. They are obviously not trying to become coaches, it is a lot of work and not everyone wants to do that. Your team is as soft as cotton. Anyone with church league basketball knowledge could see that. Doesn’t look like this year will be any different. So how about you dont badmouth the TNT guys because i would rather listen to them before you anyday.
Comment by MaxCorbin -
Rockets Fan,
I don’t think Mark at any point in his blog said Kenny Smith was a horrible human being, so bringing up Smith’s work to help Katrina victims is a little misplaced. What was being criticized was Smith and Barkley’s analyses, and the manner in which they’re conveying their thoughts on basketball. Smith’s generosity has nothing to do with that.
I tend to agree with Mark here. Alright, so Smith and Barkley work for TNT because they’re entertaining. I’m sure they’re full of basketball knowledge, too. That doesn’t mean they’re good at conveying that knowledge, which is what I think Mark is criticizing.
I don’t understand why so many of the people who’ve commented today are willing to give Kenny and Charles a pass just because they’re funny guys. Yeah, they’re funny, but they’re also trying to pass themselves off as legit analysts. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in order to be an analyst, you have to analyze, not just say what you think happened.
Comment by Daniel -
You are paying KIETH VAN HORN 15 million dollars you are not very smart. But i did love the jacket.
Comment by Rhett Malpass -
“I’m happy you can brag about your number crunchers Mark. How about crunching these numbers: 0 division championships + 0 conference championships = 0 NBA championships. But hey, keep on tracking those “deflections”. I’m sure they will not translate into anything for your Mavs.”
Oh SNAP!
Comment by Cory -
Get real. Covering up your blatant and childish criticisms and claiming it as ‘business advice’, a practice I’d expect in a High School debate club, only shows how foolish you really are. They’re analysts. They analyzed your team. Suck it up like a true owner and don’t go whining to your blog for all your Cuban ass-kissers to agree with you. By the way, Chuck got it right on the dot: your team is built for the regular season and regular season only. “You’ll win your 55 games and get knocked out in the playoffs.”
By the way:
DERON WILLIAMS – ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.
Comment by Cory -
Get real. Covering up your blatant and childish criticisms and claiming it as ‘business advice’, a practice I’d expect in a High School debate club, only shows how foolish you really are. They’re analysts. They analyzed your team. Suck it up like a true owner and don’t go whining to your blog for all your Cuban ass-kissers to agree with you. By the way, Chuck got it right on the dot: your team is built for the regular season and regular season only. “You’ll win your 55 games and get knocked out in the playoffs.”
By the way:
DERON WILLIAMS – ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.
Comment by Cory -
Mark, it’s their job to give their opinion on your team. Dont’ like it? Big deal. You’re not gonna have everybody saying positive things about your team all the time, live with it. Just take a step back and look at the situation man. They’re just stating their opinion, no need to get bitchy about it. Simmer down my man.
Comment by Casey Jacobson -
Mr. Cuban, if you are going to call Kenny an idiot then you should blog about his incredible effort organizing the game in Houston to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. How many players came for the event? LeBron, KG, DWade, Kobe. Maybe Kenny isn’t your type of coach, but you should hire him for General Manager. You underestimate him. Severely.
Comment by Rockets Fan -
“CB, get a two way with internet access…get that 2 way CB” that’s too funny hearing a billionaire speak like that. I normally hate highly opinionated people such as yourself but I hang on every word you say. My interest in basketball is zero and I’m barley a computer geek. What’s interesting is your continuous kicks at the knees of complacency.
Comment by Tom Kisthart -
The Cuban sandwich, also known as the cubano, is a popular meal in south Florida where many Cubans have settled since the early 20th century. These tasty, toasted Cuban sandwiches are definitely Tampa and Miami, Florida’s favorite snack. These treats can be found in most restaurants in these cities, but the best places to buy them are from the street corner-snack bars, called loncherias.
Hey, this blogging thing is quite fun. War Eagle!
Comment by Sir Charles -
My 2 cents-
Study what happened to the Cubs and Steve Stone. It was ugly, and it hurt the organization.
Take my advice. You might hate what the broadcasters say, but trying to fight with them is a lose-lose situation.
A lot of people love CB. You attack him, and by extension, your attacking everyone who welcomes CB in their homes. I hated CB as a player (I thought he was a drunken arrogant SOB), but I love him as a broadcaster. He has a very entertaining personality, he loves the game, and he has more insight than the average fan.
Comment by tom -
This site and the aggressive words written on it are nothing more than a ploy for media attention that Cuban enjoys.
But since I’m here, I’ll give my two cents.
You claim that comparing their basketball knowledge to yours is not apples to apples. Well, considering YOU WERE THE ONE CRITICIZING THEM, I’m pretty sure they made the correct comparison.
They are the best analyst the sport has to offer. Just because they do not subscribe to the school of kissing ass that the ABC and ESPN crews do not make them a bad at what they do. They tell it like it is, like it or not (which obviously you do not).
I’m happy you can brag about your number crunchers Mark. How about crunching these numbers: 0 division championships + 0 conference championships = 0 NBA championships. But hey, keep on tracking those “deflections”. I’m sure they will not translate into anything for your Mavs.
Comment by Anthony -
Mark, It sounds like the NBA is about a decade behind Major League Baseball when it comes to statistical analysis. And it sounds like there will be the kind of backlash that the baseball sabremetricians have faced. For the most part, those who have always relied on their observations to evaluate players (ie scouts, commentators) neither understand nor want to understand how statistical analysis can add to their evaluations.
Do other basketball teams do similar types of statistical evaluations that you do? Or do you think you are ahead of the game with this kind of thing? Have you given any thought to contacting Paul Depodesta and/or Theo Epstein no w that they are available?
Comment by MattR -
to the moron that said black players only get calls, check this out, how many refs are white?, how many are black?, case closed.
Comment by eugene -
I’m calling this one the Cuban Missle Crisis – but you’re coming with nothing. TNT has superior game analysts in Doug Collins and Steve Kerr, Mark. So they talk about deflections. Charles and Kenny are GENIUS in understanding we want to be entertained. Yeah, there are some generalities. But once or twice a night each will say something basketball related that blows away anything you write.
Comment by calvin booth -
Mr. Cuban, you’re stating that these men could be better at what they do if they used more statistics and technology. Odd. From a pragmatic standpoint, these two individuals played for major college teams. It stands to reason that Kenny picked up some knowledge from Dean Smith while he was a Tar Heel. Both of these individuals also played in an NBA Finals. Their knowledge, personality, and experience have landed them the jobs that they have in which they are paid to talk about basketball. Most people would call that successful, even without technology. I’m unsure why you’re criticizing the job that they do when you purchased a Maverick team, pumped a ton of money into it, blew it up, repeated the process thrice, and still have no Championships or Finals appearances to show for it. From this vantage it would appear that one party has had more success in this than the other, and I doubt you’ll find a championship ring in an instant messenging program or statistics database. Let us know when you do.
Comment by B. Neal -
“Duncan and his ugly Shaq-lite game”, huh? Sounds like a real educated Mavs fan talking smack about a guy with 3 rings while his team can’t even make it to the NBA Finals. Actually, that sounds about as smart as most of the stuff that comes out of Cuban’s mouth.
Comment by Brad M. -
Mark I have never gone to TNT’s message board or any other message board before but with Reggie now on TNT that just put me over the limit, I have been blasting Charles and the rest of the TNT crew for the last half hour on their board and our opinions of TNT are the majority. I was so pleased when I saw them air your blog, you are so right…they suck!
Comment by David -
Mark, you should challenge Barkley to a boxing match… all in the name of charity. It would be a pay per view bonanza… or better yet, let your friends at TNT broadcast the match… with Kenny as the referee. AJ, Del, Joe and Larry can keep stats at ringside.
Comment by max -
Cuban,
Shut up. It’s time to start acting like a real owner (or player or coach for that matter) and worry about your own business. Stop talking smack about the guys on TV and start worrying about how to get the right personnel in to actually win big in this league. If you don’t like the TV guys, don’t watch them. Obviously they are making money for TNT or they wouldn’t be there anymore.
But Chuck is right about one thing. Your team is and has always been softcakes since you took over. Dirk is a great player but I don’t see a true winning instinct in him (as in championship leader). Dampier is a joke. The rest of your team isn’t too bad but you’ll never win a title with those two at PF and C. You have a long way to go to catch the Spurs and Rockets (trust me, they’re the second best in the West no matter what seed they end up this year). And whoever that is that is saying that the Mavs don’t get the calls because their stars aren’t black is an idiot. Dirk easily got the benefit with the refs during the playoffs last year, especially in the first round series.
Comment by Mike -
Ha, gotta love Cuban and his mouth. Thats why I read this blog in the first place. In the past, the Mavs have been a weak defensive team. This is a new season, and anything can change. I don’t think the Mavs will play good defense this season, but who knows. I personally love TNT’s coverage more than ESPN’s and find CB and Kenny hilarious. For my own entertaiment, keep up the talk.
Comment by cto -
GO JAZZ!
Molly
http://www.mollyzine.com
Comment by Phillip Molly Malone -
WHy is it that the fat out of shape old ANtoine Walker is still getting 40 minutes per night,
and Luke Walton cant get off the bench.
Comment by Craigp -
I don’t think that a person who can grab 23 rebounds in front of Shaq is a soft center.
Houston has the top front line in the league. so what? They were beaten by Mavs for 40 points. It’s not important that a team need super big guys. All we need is to have team work, that can make the players(you call them soft?) play tough game.
Comment by Anthony -
Just got through listening to comments from “The Jet” and “Sir Charles'” on TNT. They sure do lack articulation, especially Charles. In my opinion, Barkley is a great example of someone who claims to know it all, but the truth be known, he knows nothing. Though I am Canadian and can’t forgive Vince Carter for tanking it up north here in Toronto, I agree with his mom , Michelle Carter-Robinson, wholeheartedly when she said that as a school teacher for many years, she was appalled at the level of reading comprehension and speaking ability of the great Sir Charles.
Update: When they panned away for a commercial at halftime, you could hear one of them(Charles or Kenny) mudder under their breath that someone (maybe you) are idiots!
Well Charles, in my opinion, the only idiot is you. Period.
So please do us a big favour and stay out of politics. I couldn’t handle another Jesse Ventura type governor. Especially one that doesn’t even respect the state he wants to run.
Comment by Scott Mackay -
”
Just let it go, Mark… it doesn’t show a whole lot of class to start a war of words with TNT. You’re in the business. Deal with the criticism.”
Dont let it go Mark, The NBA community needs to understand that there are tons of fans out there that disagree with 90% of what they say. Mark CUban is the bridge, hopefully Kenny Charles and everyone in NBA land will start HEARING.
We dont want to see Shaq knock people down and Dunk, and have the refs call fouls on the defender
We dont want to see Duncan with his similarly ugly Shaq-lite game,
We dont want to see Iverson and his weak garbage go to the foul line 15 times a game.
We are tired of IT!!
Comment by Craigp -
The TNT crew have never put forth the notion they were there for serious analysis, they’re there mostly for entertainment and that’s what they do, which is fine.
Kenny and Charles are known to you because of the work they’ve done in the basketball world. A world you -bought- your way into. You have no skills or credentials at all regarding basketball other then being a rich fan. I could go buy a gun, but that doesn’t make me a Marine.
Comment by Jason -
Why does Chuck think he knows more about basketball just because he played in the NBA? Did this guy ever play a lick of defense? Did he do anything other than use his fat behind to back down his opponent slowly and score, and then grab some boards in the process? Yeah Chuck, just because you were blessed with superior DNA to the rest of us means you know more about basketball. Why you’ve been sitting around patting yourself on the back the rest of have been keeping tabs on the latest basketball commentary (using the internet, gasp!) and learning about new techniques of analysis. Get on board Chuck, us armchair fans have passed you up.
Comment by Mateo -
Mark,
I agree with you that CB and Kenny do not conduct much in-depth game and team analysis. But at the same time, their job is to provide commentary and entertain between the game breaks. I wouldn’t fault them entirely; they are part entertainers (esp. CB).
I think its more a matter of circumstance of how the NBA is viewed as a super-star sport and thus we as the viewer and consumer have become accustomed to watching the play-makers and the personas, much like a WWE wrestling match. Yes, there is real wrestling, they do it in the Olympics and in high schools and colleges and there are techniques and skills. And yes, there is real basketball with plays and techniques and team strategy. But all of this has been dumbed over for years for the average viewer.
If I was watching TNT and saw Kenny and CB talking about all of the stuff that you say they should be commenting on, I would be overwhelmed and somewhat uninterested b/c of all the jargon.
However, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in learning more about the game and team strategy…but a little at a time.
If you look at the NFL, it’s an easier game to commentate and analyze because it is at a much slower pace, and you can get the play-by-play and then the commentary. Madden is one of the all time greats because he not only understands the game but can also inform the viewer about different techniques and plays when pertinent.
If they started doing that with the NBA, I think it could advance the game tremendously. True, many people may just want to watch for the crazy playmaking (maybe they should just watch Street Ball), but I’m sure many fans would love to learn more about the game and become more educated. However, they rely on the TV commentators for this information, because few fans if any would go buy books on professional basketball strategy and statistics just to gain better knowledge of the game – they don’t have time for this.
Sorry for the long rant, but in short, I agree with you, but I think you are a little too harsh on Kenny and CB because it’s not all their fault, it’s the way the NBA is, and I think it’s part of what David Stern is trying to fix – the integrity of the game as sport and not just merely an entertainment outlet (and if he isn’t, then he needs to be!)
P.S. Loved the game 1 outfit!
Comment by Kevin -
Mark… grow a thicker skin, my friend.
Last time I checked Kenny Smith had two rings and you and your Mavs have zero. And yes, I think that’s a relevant comment to make given that Kenny knows plenty about basketball. I have a lot of respect for you as an owner, Mark, but taking cheap shots at Kenny Smith is so highschool.
Until the Mavs go deep into the playoffs and contend I think Kenny and Charles have made some good points.
And this is coming from someone who likes you and the Mavericks.
Just let it go, Mark… it doesn’t show a whole lot of class to start a war of words with TNT. You’re in the business. Deal with the criticism.
Paul
Tiburon, CA.
Comment by Paul -
Mark,
I agree with you that CB and Kenny do not conduct much in-depth game and team analysis. But at the same time, their job is to provide commentary and entertain between the game breaks. I wouldn’t fault them entirely; they are part entertainers (esp. CB).
I think its more a matter of circumstance of how the NBA is viewed as a super-star sport and thus we as the viewer and consumer have become accustomed to watching the play-makers and the personas, much like a WWE wrestling match. Yes, there is real wrestling, they do it in the Olympics and in high schools and colleges and there are techniques and skills. And yes, there is real basketball with plays and techniques and team strategy. But all of this has been dumbed over for years for the average viewer.
If I was watching TNT and saw Kenny and CB talking about all of the stuff that you say they should be commenting on, I would be overwhelmed and somewhat uninterested b/c of all the jargon.
However, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in learning more about the game and team strategy…but a little at a time.
If you look at the NFL, it’s an easier game to commentate and analyze because it is at a much slower pace, and you can get the play-by-play and then the commentary. Madden is one of the all time greats because he not only understands the game but can also inform the viewer about different techniques and plays when pertinent.
If they started doing that with the NBA, I think it could advance the game tremendously. True, many people may just want to watch for the crazy playmaking (maybe they should just watch Street Ball), but I’m sure many fans would love to learn more about the game and become more educated. However, they rely on the TV commentators for this information, because few fans if any would go buy books on professional basketball strategy and statistics just to gain better knowledge of the game – they don’t have time for this.
Sorry for the long rant, but in short, I agree with you, but I think you are a little too harsh on Kenny and CB because it’s not all their fault, it’s the way the NBA is, and I think it’s part of what David Stern is trying to fix – the integrity of the game as sport and not just merely an entertainment outlet (and if he isn’t, then he needs to be!)
P.S. Loved the game 1 outfit!
Comment by Kevin -
I don’t watch the TNT crew for anything other than Charles’s comments (which are hilarious). It’s more of a circus than real sports commentary. ESPN does a better job for information/commentary, even if Steven A Smith gets on my nerves. 🙂
Comment by Victor -
oH if Nowistski and Nash ever got half the calls that black players get, the Mavericks would have at least 3 championships by now
I am so sick of hearing the mavs are soft stuff. I really am.
Mark you are innovative and you are one of the few positive things about the NBA these days. Keep raising hell.
Comment by Craigp -
Roxs will own the Mavs this season
Comment by Etikid -
Roxs will own the Mavs this season
Comment by Etikid -
Mr. Cuban,
I am a great admirer of what you have accomplished. With that said, your comments are ridiculous and out of line. As always, you are just looking for media attention. Congratulations, you got it. I assume you will read this post and think “Another stupid fan. I state what I believe, not because I crave attention.” Then you will come up with some cheap insult directed at me and move on. While I do not care if you do, it is my opinion that as a public figure you need to act more maturely andthink about the effect of your comments before just throwing them on to a blog. Kenny and Charles possess two of the best basketball minds on the planet and your calling them “idiots” is truly idiotic. Your team IS soft. Dirk is a tremendous talent but he is not a hard-nosed defender by any stretch of the imagination. Dampier is not good enough to be starting on an NBA team. Diop is not good enough to be playing in a rotation. When those are your three primary big men, your team is soft. Good luck finding a tough big man.
Zack
Comment by Angry Fan -
Excuse me Michael, did this Blog refer to the game last night at all? I don’t think so…Do you realize they played a double OT game the night before and got in in the middle of the night? I bet you’d be really in shape for that one with higher altitudes eh? – what a stupid comment…Mavs will wipe Utah next time around. I guess you also missed that garbage they put up that went in?
Comment by Brandon -
oH if Nowistski and Nash ever got half the calls that black players get, the Mavericks would have at least 3 championships by now
I am so sick of hearing the mavs are soft stuff. I really am.
Mark you are innovative and you are one of the few positive things about the NBA these days. Keep raising hell.
Comment by Craigp -
You’re a piece of work, Cubes. You’d probably say Michael Jordan didn’t have any basketball knowledge if he dared to say a negative word about your precious Mavs. The bottom line is that Charles and Kenny are right. You have a soft, regular season team that has ZERO chance of winning a championship. You sound like a spoiled little brat in his sandbox when you call the TNT crew “idiots” and say a bunch of negative things about them just because they called your team out. Truth hurts, huh?
Comment by Brent -
Unfortunately, I have to agree with some of what Barkley and Smith have said. I have been watching the Mavericks since they stunk it up back in the nineties. While they have made tremendous improvements over the years thanks to Mark Cuban, the facts still remain that every year they are just a nice team to watch, without ever being a true contender for the title.
I am not a basketball expert or NBA financial whiz, but I do know that for the last couple of years, the Maverick team has not changed in its core composition. It has primarily been an offensively minded team that has trouble stopping other teams when it counted. With all the offensive players that have gone through the Mavericks, I’ll never understand why a trade was never made for a defensive specialist or some type of banger. Until the Mavericks become a good defensive team, they will never win a championship and you don’t have to be an NBA analyst, a head coach, or a multi-billionaire to realize that.
Comment by Fola Akinyemi -
I stand by my comments I made in your last blog…
Mark you are a really rich idiot that is lucky enough to be able to own a NBA team. Everything they say is true, and the truth cuts deep! Like I said before I’m sure you will get to the play-offs but then your team will all be at home watching the Spurs win it again on your plasma TV’s…
Comment by Shane Guymon -
Mark– You’re on crack… Bottom line is that the Mavs have been notoriously soft and a horrible defense team. A rather inadequate Doug Christie is not going to help either. The way the Mavs failed to respond to the P&R last night along with fatigue are the reasons that Utah owned the second half last night–and that’s pretty sad because fatigue should not be an issue the second game into the season. Maybe you should have some of those stat boys work up a pre season ‘player in shape’ program.
Comment by Michael -
I am not alleging a conspriaacy against white players,
well not really
i jsut think they are being treated a little unfairly
not obscenely unfairly, they get some calls no doubt
but they need to get some more for it to be fair, or some african americans need to get less calls for it to be fair.
Its a tough case to make
it cant even really be done by looking at fouls
its about jsut being honest and looking and reality and telling like it is.
And on Jerry Sloan, eh hes OK
I think its funny when he gets pissed and the assistant coaches have to hold him back, I wonder if he would actually do something if he was not being held back. I would love to see Sloan unleashed
He always seeems to get really pissed about something that is not even that big of a deal,
its really funny
Comment by Craigp -
Mark…
Not sure if anyone touched on this particular aspect of what you had to say about Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, but you can’t call them “idiots”, then throw the names of your coaching staff out there in YOUR defense. If you’re going to question someone’s intelligence (basketball IQ”, or otherwise), you need to make your case based on your OWN knowledge of the game. Don’t you realize that if it was a matter of using an NBA lifeline, so to speak, for help, that Kenny and Charles would have the ultimate All-Star team (past and present) at their disposal?! Get a grip…
Comment by Kato -
Wow, reading all this bs from whiny mav fans is funny especially from craigp. 75-7? HAH! in 02-03? HAH! I think Mark Cuban needs to take a page from the spurs oraganization on how to build a team to win, not just to entertain which has been the case since he has been there. Even when they had nash(parker owns him) and nowitzki(duncan is his daddy)together, they still couldn’t get past LA or SA. And I don’t see this trend of putting soft-defensive teams stopping anytime soon. It is also sad that you mav fans argue like your team has actually accomplished something which is hilarious. Hey, at least you can look forward to 2010 when most of the spurs contracts expire(ginobili,duncan,and parker(2011). Boy is it good to be a spurs fan and I can only imagine what it feels like to root for a team you know deep down they aren’t tough enough for the long haul(mavericks). Peace.
P.S. : For all you Duncan haters, heres a stat for you dumbasses to consider; has had the most double-doubles since entering the league in ’97 (445) and back-back MVP’s (’02 and ’03).
Comment by dblock -
I can’t believe you can’t think of a coach who doesnt make you wanna vomit. You mean not even Jerry Sloan????? What did Jerry ever do to you? LOL Come on man, give it up for Jerry.
Comment by mj -
Sorry, final post.
CraigP – you claim I can’t call someone a racist without having an argument. What the heck do you think my past two posts have been? That’s an argument, pal.
Maybe you are unsure how to recognize an argument because none of your posts present one. You don’t present any assertions actually based on RELEVANT facts. Again, the number of fouls slow white guys pick up in a game is not proof of a conspiracy against white players and instead is proof that those players need to learn how to play defense, stay in front of their man, and not commit dumb fouls.
Comment by RDub -
It’s clear as day rdub, its clear as day.
I go back to the great Larry Joe Bird who last year said it best
“It’s a black man’s league”
now if you wnat to say
well so what if it is? they are the ones that built this leauge, they should get a little mroe respect from the refs
OK fine, thats true to an extent.
BUt still, all I’m saying is it would be nice if white players got a
little respect from the officials too, and if players like Luke Walton, and
that young European center/forward dude on the Pistons that cant get off the bench. These guys deserve an opportunity to get some more playing time.
OOH
heewa an idea!!!!
Listen up all
how about they make the game 60 minutes long like football and Hockey.
****15 minute quarters.****
This way lots of players would have to get more playing time
IN addition to the injustice that I see in terms of fouls
I also see injustice in terms of playing time and opportunities.
This is largely due to the lower life form known as the NBA coach.
Lawyers are bad but I think NBA coaches are even lower.
I think they purposely look for tiny little -sucking up to the star
player – weasel men like say Mike Fratello who let Earl Watson the back up
point guard last year get like 18 mintues per game while Jason Williams
was only getting like 29 mintues a game.
I cant think of one NBA coach that doesnt make me want to vomit
Actually no wait Avery JOhnson hes cool you have to love Avery Johnson
I love the way he kicked the chair “for effect” during that playoff
agaisnt Houston last year when he was tryying to motivate his team
Comment by Craigp -
CraigP – as I stated in my previous post, the fact that white players are getting fouls called on them does not demonstrate some sort of bias against white players. Instead, it likely demonstrates that those players are simply not good defenders and, instead of moving their feet and staying in front of their man, they reach and get whistled for fouls.
Your “evidence” consists of the fact that Jason Kapono got 4 fouls called on him in 22 minutes. I don’t think Kapono has ever been considered much of a defender (probably the reason his playing time has been very minimal since getting to the league), so isn’t it much more likely that these fouls were the result of him getting beat on defense and not some conspiracy against white players?
I actually find this argument ironic, since we are posting on the website of the Mavericks owner – a team well known for being lackadasical on defense. But, again, the fact the Mavs have given up 100+ points per game for each of the past five years CLEARLY is a result of too many fouls being claled on their white guys and not a lack of defensive intensity. Please.
Comment by RDub -
oh and ome more thing
jason Terry
hes good
the guy can score
perhaps the most under rated scorer in the game
I dont know how natural he is as a point
but the guy can puts ball in the basket
and the guy can shoot the lights out
and thats what its about
Comment by Craigp -
CraigP – as I stated in my previous post, the fact that white players are getting fouls called on them does not demonstrate some sort of bias against white players. Instead, it likely demonstrates that those players are simply not good defenders and, instead of moving their feet and staying in front of their man, they reach and get whistled for fouls.
Your “evidence” consists of the fact that Jason Kapono got 4 fouls called on him in 22 minutes. I don’t think Kapono has ever been considered much of a defender (probably the reason his playing time has been very minimal since getting to the league), so isn’t it much more likely that these fouls were the result of him getting beat on defense and not some conspiracy against white players?
I actually find this argument ironic, since we are posting on the website of the Mavericks owner – a team well known for being lackadasical on defense. But, again, the fact the Mavs have given up 100+ points per game for each of the past five years CLEARLY is a result of too many fouls being claled on their white guys and not a lack of defensive intensity. Please.
Comment by RDub -
oh and you know who else I like a lot
Sam Cassell
CLippers are gonna win around 46 games this year if he stays healthy
Sam Cassell is awesome he can shoot he can pass hes creative hes intelligent,
I LOVE Sam Cassell
I really do
Comment by Craigp -
“That 60-22 team was excellent. San Antonio was very fortunate Dirk wasn’t 100%, as that mix of players was NBA enjoyable!”
and what makes them the best team in NBA history is that they did it getiing NO calls whatsoever.
The entire NBA comunity was hostile towards them and they still kicked ass every night and then they wore out a bit at the end.
If they got and kind of calls that year, the 2002-03 mavericks would have been 75-7
and that the truth
Comment by Craigp -
I wish we could stop all the nonsense and just give credit where credit is due. Not build up players to be more than they are. If that’s the case, Rick Brunson is getting a raw deal.
Comment by mj -
I could argue that your reaction proves he is hitting a nerve in you.
Comment by mj -
the evidence is easy to find
lets look a the heat nets game last ngiht
4 fouls on Kapono in 22 minutes
5 fouls on Kristic in 22 minutes
I am sure I can go to every game and find it
I mean no ill will towards anyone
i just want it to stop
one more time
Lebron James is my favorite player hes the best
Comment by Craigp -
screw you rdub
trhis isnt 1992,
you cnat just call someone a racist if you dont have an argument
those days are over pal
i dont have a klan rally to go to, so stop the shit
this is 2005, its a day
and your reaction proves to me that I am DEFEINTELY touching on a nerve that needs to be touched on.
Again you encourage me further
Maybe i will make a webiste montoring the racism in the NBA agaisnt white players hmmm.
I am not the racist
I am pointing racism, see the difference?
or are you one of thsoe people that thinks racism can only occurr in one direction?
news flash
it can and does occurr in many directions
Comment by Craigp -
CraigP – don’t you have a Klan rally to go to?
I’ve just read all your posts and it is clear that you are not “exploding myths,” but instead making incredibly outrageous, unfair and RACIST generalizations about the NBA.
Including:
1. Black players yell and intimidate officials, thus the officials are scared and give them calls
2. Praising players like Luke Walton (LUKE WALTON??) while claiming Tim Duncan (excuse me, multiple MVP award winner and champion Tim Duncan) is not talented and gets the calls? Of course you make a point to mention how great Manu is.
3. Complaining about how many fouls Dirk and Manu pick up – perhaps this is a result of their failure to move their feet and stay in good defensive position? Hmmm…nah, must be a racial thing.
Your praising of Lebron James doesn’t change the fact that nearly every post you’ve had on this board contains at least one unfair generalization against black athletes and in favor of white athletes.
You claim you’re 29, but your comprehension of the NBA is that of a 12 year old. Oh yeah, and you write with the eloquence and spelling of a 10 year old.
Despite what you might believe, you’re not providing any insight to Mr. Cuban or any of the other individuals who have posted on this board. All you’ve done is make us collectively dumber by having to read your baseless claims that you attempt to substantiate through racist generalizations.
Get a job, get an education, get a clue.
Comment by RDub -
I have to agree with Mark Cuban. Kenny and Charles are always biased and negative against the Mavericks. They both do make a lot of
dumb comments about strategies of the game that
either they have not researched or are not that
knowledgeable about. Just because you were a
pro athlete does not qualify you to basically
criticise a great Maverick coaching staff by
questioning and down grading everything they
are doing. The Mavericks just destroyed the
Spurs without Jerry Stackhouse. The defense I
saw was phenomenal. What will they have to
criticise about that effort.
Comment by Tommy Aldridge -
I’m not writing to attack or defend your position on this one, just to say that I love that we live in an age where anyone can just click on a button and say things like “Mark– You’re on crack…” and “Mark you are a really rich idiot” to a billionaire who is running an NBA team. Keep up the good work and I’m rooting for you to take over the Pirates!
Comment by Steve -
“That 60-22 team was excellent. San Antonio was very fortunate Dirk wasn’t 100%, as that mix of players was NBA enjoyable!”
and what makes them the best team in NBA history is that they did it getiing NO calls whatsoever.
The entire NBA comunity was hostile towards them and they still kicked ass every night and then they wore out a bit at the end.
If they got and kind of calls that year, the 2002-03 mavericks would have been 75-7
and that the truth
Comment by Craigp -
Mark,
I can say as one logical person to another that I completely agree with your opinion of Charles and Kenny. I often watch them and the same question usually arises “what the hell are they talking about”. I understand what charles and Kenny are saying, but they make comments when it is convenient to make them, so they end up being generalities. It is frustrating because just playing basketball doesn’t make you an expert. It offers a basketball players view of what is occuring in the game that is it.
Comment by Drew -
If Nick Anderson makes his free throws, the Magic win that game. But the series, I don’t know. All speculation aside, the reason they play the game is because things never go according to “prediction”. Well, sometimes never.
Comment by mj -
That 60-22 team was excellent. San Antonio was very fortunate Dirk wasn’t 100%, as that mix of players was NBA enjoyable!!
Comment by UTOPIA -
Greg Anthony and Tim Legler are way too formal and boring. Even if they have good content, they present it in a way that they are just regurgitating information that they either memorized or are reading from a cue.
Almost all of the writers and analysts at ESPN suck, with the notable exception of Stephen H. Smith and John Hollinger.
Stephen might be ackward at times because he always talks with that loud, intense tone, but he has good info and is generally correct and takes the job seriously.
Mark Stein is such a douchebag.
And the Lakers were wonderful in Shaq’s MVP season. Some people might not like the way Shaq gets his points but, based on results, he’s a top 5 NBA player of all time. It’s an injustice that Shaq is too big and strong for people to guard in the post? That he gives an irreconcilable advantage to his team? No, the injustice is that he doesn’t have at least two or three more MVPs.
Comment by Abraham -
“TNT needs to take some notes from ESPN, apart from Stepen A. Smith, they’re analysts are always accurate.”
I hope your not talking about Greg Anthony and Legler
those guys are pure garbage.
Yeah Legler is a white guy that is garbage.
I said it.
I dont like Steve SMith either, I cant believe he got his own show.
Charles and Kenny are orders of magnitude better then ESPN shootaround.
and Kenny SMith was a really good shooter, if he doesnt make that game tying 3 pointer in game 1 of the 1994-95 finals (what did he have 7 in that game?) I think the Magic may have won that series with the confidence and momentum they would have had
If you are referrring to ESPNs Bill Walton then you are correct as Bill Walton is the best announcer is the history of annoucners. and thats not opinion thats fact.:)
Comment by Craigp -
Mark Cuban, I respect you for speaking out against the TNT ‘analysts’ for their nonchalant generalizations. It’s about time someone stood up and said something, I usually turn off the TV after the game to avoid their monotonous ‘opinions’. You have a right to defend your team being belittled on national television, especially without justice considering the Mavs have had 5 consecutive 50+ win seasons, thats gotta be some kinda record. CB doesn’t even care to make an educated unbiased opinion, he even admits sometimes he doesn’t even watch the game he’s paid to analyze. Just because you were a great NBA player, doesn’t mean your opinion is the will of God, nor does it mean that you are qualified to analyze these games on TV. TNT needs to take some notes from ESPN, apart from Stepen A. Smith, they’re analysts are always accurate. Mark Cuban, good luck to the Mavs this season, and forget those wannabe analysts
Comment by Lenneal McKudu -
Taylor- Thanks very good comments!!some will agree others want but the NBA is now what it was 20 years ago, either run and keep up or get off.
Comment by James -
all right taylor, I’m convinced you are cool
I will consider what you say,
I still cnat deny what I see
perhaps I am overstating it a bit
but its definetely there,
hopefully it will change
the nba still rocks though
and so do Charles and Kenny, they rock too and so does Bill Walton 🙂
Comment by Craigp -
if they didnt deserve it they wouldn’t have won. the blazers never were really talented enough, the kings on the other hand very much were. if they all had the heart of mike bibby rather than cwebb they would have won it once if not twice, but then not all can be warriors. the sixers were obviously over matched, though a.i. did all one could. i say fish wasnt so much dirty, but he WAS a flopper. believe me, i couldnt stand watching him or fox, but rob made big shots, dirty or not. whether stockton was ditry is very ebatable. he was tough and could set a pick like noother point guard and he was unselfish almost to a fault. he should have never deferred to malone, who is the epitome of a choker and over rated flopper. but you have to be unbiased in your assessment of players, look at the heart, not the color of the skin. though i can tell you look at the heart and drive of a player, you pay far to much attention to whether or not they are white.
you know more than most about this wonderful sport, and im sure it pisses you of as much as it does me and other nba fans when they say the nba is a boring game, it is so much more amazing and thrilling to watch than any other sport, pro or college. that being said we have to access and judge fairly, and color cant be an issue. i think i have sounded as though i am calling you racist and i am not by any means bc u have not been deragatory in any way, shape or form, but we have to jusge a player by his performance and perforance alone. i see and respect you hav a vast knowledge and i wish more ppl did. i jut wanted to clarify how i have been adressing your comments, i have not been implieing anything other than a disagrement with a view tyou have. this is what sports is all about, not just watching an playing them, but it is great to discuss them even when we disagree.
Comment by taylor -
your nuts taylor buts I say
I do agree with you that the Marbury led knicks are pathetic, Nad I root against them.
Marbury has had numerous chances as a point guard and he doesnt get it doesent get it done,
He’s better as a 2, but he is a selfish player and gets bored if he doenst have the ball, so I hope they trade him soon,
speaking of selfish cancerous players Cuban needs to get rid of Stackhouse, yeah I said it
again Vlade was not a flopper Sotckton was not dirty you are just flat out nuts and or crazy or whatever,
I do have anger with the lakers who wouldnt?
what fair minded basketballl loving human being wouldnt hate the Phil Jackson lakers that three-peated,
they sucked
KObe is good, but that a bunch of dirty assholes that got every call
What honest person could sit here and tell me they were a good team
none I say
The kings should have won in 2001-02 that was their year,
Blazers should have won in 1999-2000
maybe just maybe the lakers deserved the 2000-01 championship
but thats it
Its not anger with the lakers
its anger with unfairness and dirty basketball
thats all man
Comment by Craigp -
You say–the coaches are getting you ready for June–I say when was the last time the Mavericks actually played a basketball game in the month of June!!! June basketball is only for winners–GO PISTONS!!!
Comment by Rob McNally -
where does getting laid comeinto this? i hate to say it but that was funny, to bad it didnt apply to this, but what ever. craigp you didnt “explode” any myths you just disagreed with the obviouse. stockton was both dirty and tough, but vlade FLOPPED!! derek fisher would touch him and he would go flying like some one threw a grinade at him, and hes HUGE. fish isnt makeing him go any where at that size. and it seems to me you have a little anger at the lakers lol, they did get calls when they were winning bc stern wanted them to win, bc lets face it, rateing are high when la and ny are winning, but all the calls in the world cant help the pittiful, stephon marbury led knicks.
get over your notion that white people have it hard in the NBA. they dont! a player gets what he earns and when he earns calls he’ll get em. u have exploded a grand total of ZERO myths as u call them. a player gets what he earns. PERIOD. white or black or anything else.
Comment by taylor -
Mark, you’re a good owner, but I don’t see how the hell you are so rich. You put a lot of money into your team which is nice, but you don’t seem very intelligent. Your grammar, punctuation and spelling is void of skills that any self-respecting 8th grader should have. How the fuck did you get all your money?
Comment by David Paris -
Is this the NBA or the WWE? Get a life people. Cuban, be quiet! Just because you’re rich enough to buy a team doesn’t make you an expert when it comes to basketball. Put all that energy and effort that you put towards blogs, arguing, and playing video games to actually getting laid.
Comment by Cristo Konte -
speaking of Phil Jackson I blame him a lot for the problems of the NBA
He popularized bitching to the refs.
Jordan wasw great but man Bulls got a lot of calls
and so did the lakers when he coached them
Jackson took bitching to the refs to a new level, and he cuased everyone in the league to have to start bithcing to the refs more.
BOOOO!! on Phil Jackson I say
Comment by Craigp -
and of course there were dirty white players too
Phil Jackson, (I’ve seen old footage, IM 29)
Phil Jackson when he played was dirty like you wouldn’t believe
Comment by Craigp -
“CraigP,
John Stockton was one of the dirtiest”
two words,
bull shit.
He was not dirty at all, He was tough as they come .
Thats such a filthy myth, ugh it makes me sick
You know who is Dirty Derek Fisher.
Robert Horry
um
Rick Fox,
uh who else, thats dirty
Stockton wassnt dirty at all, he wasnt afraid of anyone, and he fought through picks instead of avoiding the contact but he wastnn dirty at all
Thats scuh an annoying myth
it remindds ome of the other annoying yth that Vlade Divac flops,
No he doesnt
Shaq would beat the shit out of him and you got John Thomspon talking about how Vlade flops,is he freaking blind,
Stockton was not drity at all
Vlade Divac was not a flopper at all
lets see got any other myths i can explode?
Comment by Craigp -
CraigP,
John Stockton was one of the dirtiest / most effective defenders I’ve ever seen, and he got the benefit of the doubt on more calls than any other ball player I’ve seen besides Jordan. He should have fouled out of every game, but I rarely saw him getting benched for reaching. Race has very, very little to do with the calls you get in the NBA.
Cuban,
Tracking stats about deflections and pick-and-roll coverage is a great thing. I’m sure it helps the coaching staff keep track of the deficiencies of the team and their defensive tendencies over time, but 2 facts remain:
1.) You can tell a bad defender why he’s getting burned every night, but the best result you can ever hope for is to get a better version of that same bad defender. You don’t have a good defensive team because you don’t have good defensive players, and until you make that change, your team will never win in the playoffs.
2.) How many seasons in a row can you trot out the same soft team and expect a different result? For years now, the Mavs have been a 50-60 win team that has NEVER threatened to win an NBA championship. You can have the best informed coaching staff on earth, but putting out the same kind of team over and over and expecting a different result every time is insane.
Comment by Maine -
craigp, i understand what you are ytrying to get across, but there is a reason there are more blacks in the nba. it is bc they are more talented as a whole. it is a fast paced, not just any person can play in the nba obviousy. nba-ers are the most talented and skillfull athletes in the world, football and baseball dont even come close, with maybe hocky and soccer somewhere in the vicinity. but there are more black players in the nba bc they are better as a whole. pau gasol i one of my favorite players, but he is not an all-star bc he doesnt rebound enough for some one 7 feet tall and so athletic, and he has never quite shown the heart playing for the grizz as he does playing for the spanish national team, and the when he does he’ll become an all-star. ak-47 is as athletic as they come, but there are few other white people able to match that athleticism, and alot of black ppl in the nba can. he is a lock down defender, he is one of mayb 2 or 3 that can guard dirk, and he lead the league in blocks last year, when you are a shot blocker you are def more prone to haveing fouls called on you and ak was not above the norm foul commited wise. he is an excellent defender. period. white, black, whatever, and nothing would have been any different if his skin was a different color. larry bird was extremely protected during his career, just lik mj. they were the number one and two players in the L and they were treated by the ref’s as so. mj got more fould drawn only bc he was a slasher and LB was a shooter, not bc he was black. i ove it when i see a white guy that can jump with the black guy, but im pereftly fine when i dont see that either. basketball is basketball, and its fun to watch no matter wha color ou or the players are.
Comment by taylor -
Kenny Smith was not one of the most successful players in the nba, not even in the top 100. he played behind one of the most talented center’s in the history of the nba ( olajuwon). he won bc olajuwon won, he was along for the ride. i like aj, but he won to bc he had duncan, and robinson, and it was in a 50 game season, alot changes in those other 32. barkley was good, but he never won a title, he can’t say anuthing about nowitzki who is still in his TWENTIES!!!! alot of years left in a player that is unlike anyone we have ever seen before.
it’s team work and leadership that matters, not just haveing a big man (where has yao gotten the rcokets, i recall the mavs beating the asolute piss out of them in the play-offs by 40 pts) damp aint shaq and i wish he’d quit saying he was the 2nd best center in the league (bc he isnt) but he is not the reason we do or dont win a title, its a team sport and we loose bc the team lost, no just bc of one player.
would i like td or kg, hell yeah, but we dont and cant get either one of those guys, so we have to get the mav’s have to deal woth the best they can get, and leave it all out on the floor and know that at the end of the night, win or loose, they gave it all they got. thats all cb ever did at the most, bc he never won, and the same would go for kenny if it werent for a certain dream.
Comment by taylor -
I’m inclined to side with Cuban on this one. Think of players as the assets owned by a business, each with its own set of attributes and a corresponding acquisition cost. The Mavs allocate their budget to assets they believe are efficiently priced. If their research says that defensive specialits are overpriced – or more accurately that the relatively cheaper to “buy points” than it is to “buy point prevention” – their in-game offensive and defensive strategies are just expressions of the team’s investment patterns. In other words, the Mavs are “long on points.”
I think that everyone needs to realize that the “Moneyball” culture of baseball is going to play an increasing role in the NBA – both strategically (see the stolen base and sacrifice bunt in baseball) and talent-wise (see the recent surge in college-trained pitchers). The traditionalist argument hasn’t been a part of the basketball culture in the same way it has been in baseball, but this is just a high-profile example of the old failing to comprehend the new. (Of course, we don’t know how successful the new can be. This stats-based analysis isn’t nearly as old as the league. As a stats fiend, I’ll concede that I wish Cuban were more like Billy Beane and less like P.T. Barnum, but that is another story for anothe day.) As Cuban implicitly points out (and as he’ll remind every interviewer who asks for his take on “the league”), basketball is just a business. Only in this market, there are just 82 opportunities to assess your investment strategy.
Comment by Brian Langan -
Does Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley even have money to buy computers?
Go Mark.
Go Dallas.
Go Dirk & Co.
Comment by Raido -
I know sometimes the truth hurts mark, your team is soft defensively, Kenny and Charles do know more. Here’s a blog for you.
You’re just a rich brat with a ton of money and a big mouth they proved on TNT that they know their stuff. When have you proved that, you sure as hell don’t prove that with the crappy team you put together. Just cause your a bad name in basketball doesn’t mean you have to try to bring down the good ones. Also remember why you’re in basketball, any clue? $$$$ <--- that’s the only reason. Charles and Kenny contributed to the game; they were there cause of the talent. So before you type in your blog and blabber some stupid comments again remember who the real idiot is. PS Someone needs to talk to Stern about the dress code and have it apply for owners and make your ugly blazer not acceptable.
Comment by Mike -
Hey Mark: The blog is always an interesting read to say the least. However, instead of worrying about what Kenny & Charles say about your team and talking about thier lack of basketball knowledge, you need to win something first, which you have never done and which both of them have. They are analysts, paid to analyze. You are an NBA team owner, there to put a winner on the floor and win a championship. Defense wins championships, if you play none, you are just like any other team. Win something then you can criticize others who have as well…until then you need to worry about your team stopping the other team, not what two analysts say about it.
Comment by Scott -
I wrote to TNT and asked them what the hell they were thinking when they got Barkley in there…hes crass, rude, not funny…and talks basketball, but has nothing to back it up. Just because you played the game doesn’t mean you have insight into other teams or games. I wondered how long he sits up at night thinking about what to say the next day? Then I think, wait…hes prob up eating, not thinking…and we all know he can’t do both…There is a reason you didn’t get your ring chuck…and you can’t blame anyone other than yourself for that…and it’s nothing TNT will prove to the rest of the world for you. You are a lazy show boat and likes attention, thats something in childhood you missed. That cost you a ring. You will do or say anything to feel like you fit in and it will never fill the void you never fofilled. It’s time to let it go. Just cause you blocked shots and slamed the ball and passed behind your back once in while and got lucky, doesn’t make you a professional analyst of the game. TNT did you a favor, don’t repay them by talking, just shake your head and smile, thats the best thing you could do for TNT and the NBA!
Comment by Dave -
Looks as though under Avery Jhonson the Mavs have a very good defensive team.
I was very surprised to see how well they shut down the Spurs the other night. They had around 10 more steals than San Antonio.
Don’t listen to the repetitive TNT crew; if they just did their homework and looked at the stats then they would see that the Mavericks are playing very good defense this season.
Comment by An NBA fan -
How low rent can you get? Cuban, you should be ashamed of yourself. I know you’re an internet geek. But c’mon, taking cheap shots at other peoples jobs and careers in your blog is something I would expect from an 18 year old. They said nothing that wasn’t true. Your team is soft and has always been that way. Go read any columnists breakdown of the Mavs. Year after year they question when your team will learn how to play defense. If not learn, give the effort that it takes to actually do it.
Don’t take cheapshots at people who know far more about the game than you EVER will simply because they gave their opinion about your team and you didn’t like it. Act like a man and the business man you are supposed to be. Not a childish net geek.
Comment by Jason -
Good job MARK!! Kenny and Charles spoke the truth, you took it personal. Now I want to know
has your team taken it personal?
SURE HOPE SO!
NOW WILL WE SEE A BETTER MAV’S DEFENSIVE TEAM?
Comment by MC -
I believe that tnt has made a poor and ignorant choice putting CB on the tnt panel. I think that that their angle is “marketing” thinking that negative publicity is good publicity, which is CB’s forte. The truth is that millions of viewers are a “captive audience” to CB’s deep (choke) analysis, which is selecting a best team or best player mentality. Its so painful for me to see this deep thinker pick the spurs to win that I write thank you letters to Tivo for enabling me to navigate past the CB analysis and get to the game. (By the way I think the spurs are a great team)
With Kenny you at least get some real contribution to consider, although I disagree with it often. I feel he is a good analysts that would if given the right setting, talk on real dynamics of players and basketball. However I also think that he is many times influenced by CB to operate on a shallow level of vain communication that only sends a message of negativity throughout the league that leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
Last year Magic was the only decent example in my opinion that knew how to bring to light the positive and best attributes of ANY team but at the same time also knew how to be objective.
Overall, I don’t think this panel understands STATISTICS that reflect real defensive improvement for the Mavs (demonstrated against the spurs). They still remember the mavs from 3 years ago under nellie. Most analysts are reactive anyway, and only start stereo-typing teams months after that team has shown considerable tendencies to behave a certain way. They obviously have not paid attention to the mavs under Avery.
TNT should ask themselves a question. Which is better? A panel that is objective but gives notice and attention to excellence, OR a panel that is inundated with negativity and condescending remarks?
The only one in this whole scenario that is doing good is CB. The NBA as an organization, NBA teams, NBA players, NBA coaches and the CAPTIVE audience are all getting beat down with negative comment after comment!
If there was ANYWAY I could watch the TNT highlighted games on another channel I would, and not because I don’t like TNT but because of their choice of analysts, mostly because of CB.
Comment by Maurice -
and further more I am not alledgin that there is some “conspiracy” as to why white players are not getting a fair shake.
I think it is a function of a number of things.
namely
Black players are more likely to yell and scream right in the face of officials, where as white players are more likely to just quietly go about their business if a foul is called on them. So the refs being human beings they would not deal with an angry screaming Shaq in their face who would. so he’ll call the foul on the mild-mannered Todd Mccullough, ya know what I am saying.
Its a courage issue, and most refs are weasels. with the ex exception of a few. Dick BavettA imo is the only decent ref.
Yes I know Dirk bitches to the refs a lot, that is probably the reason why he does go the line more than any white player.
I personally would like to see less fouls called. I hate foul shots its ugly to watch it slows down the game, but its only fair if some players are going to get calls all players should get calls.
Ideally there would be few calls and the game would be about RUNNING up and down kind of like the way the Phoenix Suns play. That is what basketball is about.
IT is not tossing it into some 300 pound bully pounding someone and leaving it to the refs to decide the outcome of the games based on fouls called.
Comment by Craigp -
“on’t quote Larry Bird when anybody that watch back then knew he was the most protected player doing his playing days.”
you are either crazy or just a dirtyl liar,
ANything you is now garbage to me,
regards
“Ginobili, Gasol, and Kirilenko are all very good(in the case of Kirilenko, outstanding) defensive players that keep the pressure on throughout the game. They don’t foul out more than averag”
even if they dont foul out more than average it is they are forced to play trying to avoid contact, so that the refs dont call fouls, This is clear as day to anyone that is honest enough to admit and I am tired of it. Tired of I say.
All right I think I made my point, I’ll stop beating this drum for now, probably…
It is annoying that some people dont have the guts to admit it. It hurts the NBA it really does. If you are a fan of the NBA you come out and admit it.
Comment by Craigp -
I think you meant to say, “busting your ass” to get ahead instead of “busting ass.” That can cause serious work issues.
Comment by Jon -
103-84
Man, our “weak defense” obviously had a hard time with those spurs. Cant wait til thursday to see what Fatty and Smith have to say about the Mavs “weak defense”.
Comment by Mike -
Ginobili, Gasol, and Kirilenko are all very good(in the case of Kirilenko, outstanding) defensive players that keep the pressure on throughout the game. They don’t foul out more than average. They don’t have some lame-ass “conspiracy” excuse to not play defense.
Neither does Dirk. He’s a bad defender because he is weak, he’s slow changing directions, and he has poor anticipation. He can’t keep a limping Chris Webber in front of him. Also he’s far from relentless. Once he thinks he’s beat he’ll just let it happen. He’s getting better, (and to his credit he’s 100X better than Van Horn), but not good enough that he has something to fall back on when his shot isn’t falling on the other end.
Comment by Abraham -
Mister Cuban the big public doesn’t understand the value of the new statistical analysis. They don’t understand that you can’t remember everything of every player that happened on a court and than put it in the correct perspecitive. You need help. They don’t understand that the current stats the nba uses ignore the circomstances in which the stats were produced and therefore don’t give an accurate picture of the value of players. If I were you, I would’t bother, how more people ignore this how bigger the advantage becomes for teams like the Sonics and the Mavs. Good luck this season.
Comment by Joël -
Kris as long as you get the message and I see that you did. That’s all that counts this is not a English Class this is Blog!!!!!!
Comment by James -
Mark, I know you have been notorious for arguments and controversial subjects, but Im gonna put all that aside. You seem to think very highly of yourself, and you seem to know what your doing down in Big “D”. But tell me this Mark. How many championships has Big “D” won with you in the office?? Ya, thats what I thought.
Comment by Josh -
James go to english class
Comment by Kris -
Mr. Cuban:
While I understand your point of view, I am not too sure that I absolutely agree with your stance. You yourself are comparing apples and oranges, yes these color analyze individuals played the game yester-year and yes the game has changed since some of them last hit the court, but what do you purpose. That we tell Phil Jackson, “We know the Lakers on a three game skid, but we would like Kobe Bryant to come in and do color commentary because Mr. Cuban wants someone with current practical knowledge of the game to come add his two cents in because Mark Cuban doesn’t want to hear what people who played the game five years ago has to say?”
Maybe if we try hard enough, we can get Mike Brown to loan LeBron James over to TNT forget that the man is responsible for approximately one third of the teams total offense.
Now before you write off these suggestions as being absolutely absurd, this is what your point of view is alluding to.
Comment by Bill Matherly -
Look Mark the dallas are not going anywhere any time soon sooyou may as well retire now because this team stinks , you got big people for nothing.
Dirk every season sucks even more than the last one. I hope i don’t have to see you again in the games.
Comment by Junior -
Just to comment about the internet stuff…Mark you are right.
I do 100% of my work on the internet. Plus I have lots of acquiantances and friends over the world wide web. I use it to talk with relatives in far away lands that would’ve cost me hundreds of dollars if I just relied on ordinary landline phone calls. It is also a vehicle for me to share my faith.
You see Charles the internet is full of life right now. I hope someday you’ll check it out.
Comment by easter -
Mark Cuban, I do not know if you will read this or not, but I just want you to know that I love you for what you have done for the Mavericks. I do not get why people believe that a team has not achieved anything because it has not won a championship, yes, that is the ultimate, but our Mavs are up there contending every season, and putting out great seasons every year. Fifty eight wins last season was incredible, and I am hoping for sixty or more this year. Peace!
Comment by Joel Moore -
I stopped watching TNT halftime because of Charles Barkley. He is a clown and an entertainer, not an NBA analyst. Too bad he was in MJ’s era otherwise he would’ve won a championship, then I would have a little respect for him, much like the little respect I have for Kenny when he rode Olajuwon’s back during those championship years.
As for you Mr. Cuban, just buy TNT and replace those two clowns with Mav fans.
Comment by Norm -
and just one more pealr or wisdom before I go for now, jsut to demonstrate my non-racism, not that I really give too much of a shit wheter any of you believe me
Best players in the NBA
1: Lebron James
2: Kobe Bryant
3: Tracy Mcgrady*
4: Steve Nash
*Mcgrady barely deserves this number 3 spot, he is ridiculously talented but his attitude sucks. If he gets his attitude right, he could very well be the best in the league.
Comment by Craigp -
You’re right Mark! Charles and Kenny working off generalizations of how the game was played when they played doesn’t get it done…. but wait, there’s a certain former basketball player named Joe Dumars who put together a squad based off his knowledge from being a player (and correct me if I’m wrong, but that team has done a lot better then the Mavs). Sure Kenny abuses photo shop, and Charles jokes around in the studio, but that has nothing to do with the fact that they both are very knowlegeable when it comes to basketball. Not everyone has to be a Dave Bing and move on to the non-basketball business ventures after retirement, and not everyone has to be a Byron Scott and become a coach. I don’t think you can really criticize Charles or Kenny unil you prove you can bring a team to championship status (excuse me, until AJ, Del, and co. prove for you)! If your coaching crew was really all that with it, they would have been screaming “TRADE FOR SHAQ NOW!” when he was campaigning to go to Dallas. Give the lakers Dirk… he’s a great player, but he’s not going to lead a team to a title!
As a basketball fan I have a lot of respect for you. I think you’ve done a great job turning around a fallen organization, but next time lay off Charles and Kenny. Maybe you’re mistaking them for Tom Tolbert?
Comment by Yashar Alexander -
hey mark,
i think you have to confess the truth that your team is soft – big reason? dirk. he can put up points like the best of them in the league, but he hates contact. i remember was it 2 years ago, when they were playing the kings. Someone drove into the lane, right beside him. Dirk reached over with his hand, leaned in, and then just let him by. That’s just a speck of many realities that are true about your team. Detroit has defense. Dallas has D only in your name. You can score points like mad, but you’re really ‘allas’ b/c you have no ‘D’.
Comment by Rodney -
Most of the guys leaving comments on here are right. I live in Dallas and trust me there are alot if not more people here who dislike you then like you. I know you probably don’t care, but comments like you had TNT are the reason why. You’re right, the game is not the same as when Charles and Kenny played, its worse. Charles went to the NBA finals, could have won if not for john paxson, and Kenny was a solid contributor on a team that won twice. The mavs have never gotten close to the NBA finals, I don’t count 2003. People talk all the time what if Dirk didn’t go down in the spurs series that season, but what if webber doesnt go down in the one before that? and that still went 7 games.
Comment by Jeff -
Hey Mark,
Can you win a championship with Doug Christie as a starting SG? That’s not exactly Kobe or Vince IS IT?!
Good luck,
Z.W.
Comment by Zhi Wong -
Totally agree vinnie. Good call.
Mark get some new players in their man. Trade diop, dampier, didier, and any stiffs that aren’t cutting it, man. Get some scorers from europe if you can’t get any in the nba. Get some atheletic big men that can play sic D and score, like a,
Robert javtokas, nikola vujcic, Robert Gulyas, Kaspars Kambala, Eurelejus Zukauskas, etc.
Get some extra scoring and playmaking pg’s that can spread the floor like, Diamantidis(plays great D too), Juan Carlos Navarro, Gianmarco Pozzecco, Stefan Hamman, Marko Popovic, etc.
i.e.
Get somed new blood that can compliment the team in Defense and scoring!
PaYcE
Comment by haywood jablomey -
Frank is still a racist,
(i can call people racist too its easy)
you played college ball?
Frank sounds like a white name?
are you white?
an if so were able to get off the bench?
COngrats, you must have been pretty good
Most white college players have a tough time even getting off the bench.
Comment by Craigp -
The great thing about America is that every individual has the freedom to voice their personal opinion. Having said that, I think some people are taking this war of words a bit too far/seriously….
On the lighter side, check out these ‘then and now’ photos of Steve Nash….
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0355097/HH/0355097/JackieEarleHaley2_picts.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0074174
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0355097/HH/0355097/JackieEarleHaleywWalterMatthau.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0074174
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/steve_nash/index.html
Jim Parham
Yuba City, CA
Comment by StockMaverick -
“that said black players only get calls, check this out, how many refs are white?, how many are black?, case closed.”
Hey retard, there are more black, mixed, and jewish refs in the league than white-euro-american refs.
jews aren’t white-europids, they’re semetic peoples.
the league is ran by these types. stern and crew all the way down to “most” refs.
cuban is an exception in that he dosen’t play for his tribe. it’s resfreshing actually.
is there racism against white-euros and regular euro-americans, yes of course. why ignore that? the reason is because this country’s media is ran by egalitarian/liberal
retards who say everyone is equal and that we are all americans. that we should forget our european/western civilization and great, unique, incredible cultrures. Fu(k that noise. i’ll support my boys ginobili and any other person of italian descent to the death. equally i’ll support my german relatives and any players of german heritage, brad miller, nowitzki, chris kaman, etc etc. forget being an apologist and feeling bad for your culture. it’s war now. fu(k all the haters. you can have pride, so can we. fu(k off!
but thanks to the net people can get real news and truth and info outside of the egalitarian/shiney happy people/P.C. owned media lying machine. tnt and espn are included in that lying machine.
vinnie
from brooklyn
Comment by italian sausage -
Mr. Cuban, you are an absolute genious. You got 10 minutes of airtime on national TV talking about you and the Mavericks. What great FREE publicity! You are the reason NBA is going to gain more fans.
Comment by Jeff McCann -
Im a fan of sir charles, but he has a tendency to trash talk the mavs ALOT. Theres nothing wrong with Mark Cuban speaking his mind, its nothing that all the rest of the mavericks fans out there wernt thinking. We have a good squad and a good coach, i hope the mavs play on the court will prove that. And maybe the guy two post above me can define the word “Short” because his post is anything but.
MFFL
Jonathan Gonzales
Comment by Jonathan Gonzales -
Cuban, you are an idiot. Charles and Kenny know way more basketball then you. If you knew basketball you’d spend your money on something more worth pathetic players like Erick Dampier and the once-Maverick Calvin Booth. In case you haven’t noticed, just buying “good” players doesn’t win championships. Thats why you haven’t gotten anywhere in the last 5, 10, years…matter of fact EVER. The Mavs are a “cupcake” team in the words of THe Round Mound, who even now, can dominate any of your weak players. You better hold on to J-Terry, Howard, and Daniels…because they are legit. Dallas is not going anywhere AGAIN this year…
Comment by Kevin -
Mark,
CB and Kenny were criticising the Mavericks choice of switching on screens everytime. But the Lakers game against the Suns yesterday vindicated Dallas’ decision. By switching on screens, Dallas forced Nash to take the shots instead of creating assists. The Lakers strategy to “show” on screen and then get back proved disastrous as Nash, time and again, passed to the screen player rolling in for a dunk or layup. With the Phoenix offense, it is always better to make Nash shoot rather than allowing him to create assists.
I’m glad you took up the issue of how poor the analysis of the so-called “experts” on TNT and ESPN are (with the exception of Doug Collins). A lot of times, their analysis makes you wonder if they are watching the same game ! Compared to the NFL, the “expert” analysis of NBA games is down right poor.
Comment by Anand -
Hey Mark, nice work getting destroyed on national television. How does it feel? I bet you feel really proud about your cup cake team now, haha.
But it’s OK man, don’t be sour your Mavs always lack on defense. Plus, we all know Offensive minded teams don’t win championships. Cheers!
Comment by Brad Williams -
You said everything correct, MC. Keep it going !!!
Comment by UTOPIA -
Mark Cuban…
Im gonna keep this short. I’ve gone through almost all of these blogs and clearly the most entertaining is this Craig person who thinks that Dirk gets no calls and that Keith Van Horn is good. Wow. I knew racists were ignorant but I would’ve thought they had some common sense. Dirk gets every call a jump shooter could ask for. KVH injures himself just blowing his nose. And Bird’s comment about it being a black mans game was meant to say that because of the way that..oh forget it, trash.
Charles and Kenny were right. I don’t understand why Mark got so angry anyway. The Mavs weren’t able to cover the s/r when Shaq was a laker and the Kings were actually good. Even with Nash, yes Racist-Craig, Nash, the Mavs s/r d was terrible. EVERYONE knew that.
Yes you’ve done a wonderful job at contructing a profitable, respectable team. But that’s it, you don’t even pick the guys who plays for you. Ur GM and 8 million strong coaching squad does. Which reminds me, with so many ass’t coaches, you’d think one of em would be able to teach decent defense. Lil General Avery Johnson used to play d. So, hmmm, maybe its those “soft as puppy poop” players ya got.
Cuban is the definition of a spoiled rich kid. From running onto the court during a fight (what the hell he’s gonna do, I have no clue) to this trying to match wits with one of the NBA’s top 50, and the point guard from Chapel Hill who won two rings, Rubix Cube will do anything for attention.
David Stern loves Mark Cuban like Mr. Cleaver likes Eddie Hascle. He just kind of puts up with him because he’s a likable character. But in the end, that’s all he is; a character.
So, dont cry Mark. Dry your eyes. Use a 100 dollar bill if its really that painful. And have some of those number crunchers teach your big men how to hedge on the screen.
p.s. if you don’t know what “hedging” is:
a) you REALLY don’t know basketball
b) you’re team is in much more trouble than Chuck or Kenny realized.
Comment by shaun -
Blog Party: Charles and Kenny Respond to Cuban
Responding to Mark Cuban’s Blog in which he suggests Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith do some statistical research to back up their analysis, the Inside the NBA analysts point out that their basketball knowledge is far superior than the Mavs owner. Below is the on-air discussion these two former NBA stars had with Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson on Thursday:
Ernie Johnson: “Now do you know what a blog is?”
Charles Barkley: “No, but I know it’s got something to do with the internet. You know, I don’t use internet. Anybody who can sit around and thumb a keyboard all day just has no life.”
Ernie Johnson: “I know, but that’s good. Well, Mark Cuban has a blog. He writes down a lot of his thoughts and he, well I guess on opening night he said (Ernie Johnson reads a FSG verbatim)
(FSG with headshot of Mark Cuban) Mark Cuban in his blog yesterday: “The only downer of the night was listening to the idiots on TNT after the game…They haven’t gotten any better…There is a reason why Kenny and Charles haven’t gotten head coaching jobs… Charles has earned the right to be the comedian who has some insights… Kenny wants to coach, but won’t do the work, so never will be more than a sidekick”
Kenny Smith (while Ernie is reading the blog graphic): “Why do we have to be idiots?”
Charles Barkley (while Ernie is reading the blog graphic): “Because we don’t want any!”
Charles Barkley: “Oh, that ain’t right. He’s taking everything personally.”
Kenny Smith: “Well, what did we say that was wrong?”
Ernie Johnson: “The discussion I guess was about the pick and roll that Dallas could not prevent, correct?”
Charles Barkley: “Well Phoenix does the same thing. I think that any team that switches every pick and roll, it always creates mismatches and destroys your defense. That means their not a good defensive team. And obviously Dallas and Phoenix aren’t good defensive teams. It’s not personal. You know, I love Mark, but I don’t think he should be taking shots here. First of all, I don’t want to be a head coach…
Kenny Smith: “Second of all…”
Ernie Johnson: “You want to be a head coach?”
Kenny Smith: “No, I don’t want to be a head coach, because I wouldn’t be sitting here if I wanted to be. The other thing I’m saying is, if you know basketball, you know basketball. If you don’t know basketball, you don’t, it’s obvious. And right now it’s obvious that there’s really nothing that’s gone on in a game that these two guys sitting here haven’t been part of. (points to himself and Charles). He’s won MVP’s, All-Star Events. (Ernie interjects with “Olympic Gold medals, twice) I’ve been a champion, on championship teams, I’ve been an All-American in HS and college. There’s nothing… We’re covering the gamut right here, so if there’s some idiot around here, it’s not sitting in this studio right here.”
Charles Barkley: “Hey first of all, I love Mark Cuban. He ain’t never gonna know more about basketball than me. I ain’t never gonna have as much money as him, I’ll never know more about computers, but he’ll live to be 1000, and he’ll never know more than us two about basketball. If he knew that, he wouldn’t have put that little “soft cake” team together.”
Kenny Smith: “But lastly…”
Charles Barkley: “They need to get some toughness out there. Bunch of little cupcakes out there… They’re built for the regular season, they’re just built for the regular season. And he knows that, he’s just sensitive.”
Kenny Smith: “If the team ran, I heard 67 pick and rolls…you know they don’t think you can defend it”
Charles Barkley: “Blog this!!!
Ernie Johnson: “What kind of party is it Charles?”
Charles and Kenny: “It’s a Blog Party!”
Comment by NaNa -
Hey Cuban its a great thing you did to those two idiots, unlike all the jerks who are against it and who are bashing you in this blog[stop it knuckle heads]. Every one knows barkly and Jet are idiots with their stupid show and horrible analysis. I got a huge respect for you after what you did.
I got no respect for barkely and jet and they are now joined by another idiot in miller. Of the 3 two dont even have a ring and jet only got it because of Hakeem, may be they should have a screening test or something for analysts too, just because he is an NBA player does’nt necessarily make him a good analyst. I stand by your comments and its great that you speak your mind.
Comment by Prasheel -
Hey Cuban its a great thing you did to those two idiots, unlike all the jerks who are against it and who are bashing you in this blog[stop it knuckle heads]. Every one knows barkly and Jet are idiots with their stupid show and horrible analysis. I got a huge respect for you after what you did.
I got no respect for barkely and jet and they are now joined by another idiot in miller. Of the 3 two dont even have a ring and jet only got it because of Hakeem, may be they should have a screening test or something for analysts too, just because he is an NBA player does’nt necessarily make him a good analyst. I stand by your comments and its great that you speak your mind.
Comment by Prasheel -
Craigp is still a racist….and it seems to me you dont know the game. I played college ball and you definately learn alot from playing and being in situations, but you also learn a heck of alot from the coaches as far as plays,strategies,opposing players and teams, shooting, rebounding…all this you learn from coaches but confidence, toughness, competiveness mainly comes from within…I know that ex players can see and feel when someone has all these things. This is where Kenny and Charles are coming from, they can sense more than anyone when a team is soft and doesnt have the stuff to win it all. Its an instinct they have.That is why you feed the ball to someone who is in a zone no matter what his stats for the year or plays are called….its all about winning gentlemen… and the Mavs have high ecpectations and if they dont win the championship, they should live with the criticism…including Cubes.
Comment by Frank -
some suggestions for change.
The NBA shoulkd make all fouls be a one-and one situation.
PLayes taller than 6 foot 6 should get 10 fouls per game.
In this way the shoddy officiating would have less of an impact on the game.
IN this way the best teams would start winning.
Not the players with the biggest bullies.
The Detroit Pistons of the late 1980’s I blame mostly for this. They changed basketball for the worse in my opinion
Comment by Craigp -
“Charlie Brown” ….CB
The Coasters
Fe-fe, fi-fi, fo-fo, fum
I smell smoke in the auditorium
Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown
He’s a clown, that Charlie Brown
He’s gonna get caught
Just you wait and see
(Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me)
That’s him on his knees
I know that’s him
Yeah, from 7 come 11
Down in the boys’ gym
Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown
He’s a clown, that Charlie Brown
He’s gonna get caught
Just you wait and see
(Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me)
Who’s always writing on the wall
Who’s always goofing in the hall
Who’s always throwing spit balls
Guess who (who, me) yeah, you
Who walks in the classroom, cool and slow
Who calls the English teacher, Daddy-O
Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown
He’s a clown, that Charlie Brown
He’s gonna get caught
Just you wait and see
(Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me)
Jim Parham
Yuba City, CA
Comment by StockMaverick -
also again Duncan gets double teamed and he passes out of it.
If Duncan did not get double teamed he would go to the line 15 times per game, He would jsut lower his head and bull forward skill-lessly like he always does.
Comment by Craigp -
*I meant to say white guys are NOT getting the calls, or not nearly enough for it to be fair
Comment by Craigp -
Mark, why would you say such a stupid thing like this? Charles and Kenny are so much smarter than you will ever be basketball wise. They are 100 percent right with there comments about your team struggling to guard the pick and roll. Do you take any medicine? You kind of lost it there…and by the way, your Mavs ARE A BAD DEFENSIVE TEAM and until they can make it past the first and the second round of the playoffs they won’t be considered one of the elite teams in the NBA.I like Avery Johnson and Dirk is a great player and the teams core is pretty good, but no D. Trade old Jerry Stackhouse and find a defensive minded player for a change. I admire you and your wackiness, but it was uncalled for you to call Charles and Kenny “idiots” and for your Mavs, probably a 4 or 5 seed losing in the first round. Have fun with your slacking Mavs
Comment by Nick -
Duncan attempted 6.9 free throws per game last year and Dirk got 9.1 attempts. And Dirk plays half the game on the perimeter. Yeah, Timmy is certainly “getting all the calls.
Yeah last year, Dirks attempts went up
Of course the problem with this analysis is that it equates all fouls
FOuls are a subjective interpretation by officials.
Dirk taps someone with his pinky, foul gets called on him.
Dirk gets clothes lined going to basket before he gets a call.
Its a touhg case to prove, I ask that people jsut look at reality and be honest.
White guys are getting the calls.
How often does Dirk just have to allow people to get layups lest thye call a foul on him. He backs off in order to be able to stay in the game.
IF you dont see that so be it.
I trust that enough honest people see that.
Also I think you have to go far down the list to find the next white guy that goes to the line at all.
I think Ginnobli went to the line 5.4 times a game.
Again the free throw attempt analysis is flawed as it equates all fouls. but perhaps it says something
Comment by Craigp -
Mark, why would you say such a stupid thing like this? Charles and Kenny are so much smarter than you will ever be basketball wise. They are 100 percent right with there comments about your team struggling to guard the pick and roll. Do you take any medicine? You kind of lost it there…and by the way, your Mavs ARE A BAD DEFENSIVE TEAM and until they can make it past the first and the second round of the playoffs they won’t be considered one of the elite teams in the NBA.I like Avery Johnson and Dirk is a great player and the teams core is pretty good, but no D. Trade old Jerry Stackhouse and find a defensive minded player for a change. I admire you and your wackiness, but it was uncalled for you to call Charles and Kenny “idiots” and for your Mavs, probably a 4 or 5 seed losing in the first round. Have fun with your slacking Mavs
Comment by Nick -
Barkley is a fat blowhard whoes idea of analysis is to talk about Kenny’s suite then make some stupid quip about the teams playing in the current game. I am actually surprised he even knows which teams are playing.
I lost respect for Barkley years ago when he said the Mavs had no chance against the Kings a few years ago. Then when Dirk said he was a “moron”, Barkley actually wanted to fight him.
I am happy some of you are entertained by the TNT crew but I change the channel the moment that group of biased idiots start talking.
I guess if your one of thier buddies you are the greatest thing ever but if you are not then they have nothing but bad things to say about you or your team.
I swear if Reggie Miller came to a sudden halt Charles’ head would go straight up his ass. I loved the commentary about how the Pacers did not have chance anymore because they no longer had Reggie. Now there’s analysis for you.
Comment by jp -
I like the Mavs team this year, but why was the team not a high bidder in the sweepstakes for Stromile Swift? That’s exactly the kind of player they need. A young athletic big man that has the tools to be the next Ben Wallace.
Considering the Mavs are almost destined to meet the Rockets in the first round due to the new playoff format, I think that might be the deciding factor giving Houston the edge this year.
Comment by Abraham -
Craigp, the NBA has always been physical in the paint, and finesse in the perimeter. Duncan, Shaq, Dirk, and KG get bullied in there as much as they bully. It just so happens that Shaq is a bully’s bully, and nobody can stop him without hacking. Duncan’s game in no way resembles Shaq’s.
You’re trying to mask your ridiculous point of view under alleged basketball knowledge. Duncan attempted 6.9 free throws per game last year and Dirk got 9.1 attempts. And Dirk plays half the game on the perimeter. Yeah, Timmy is certainly “getting all the calls.”
And Van Horn? Please.
Comment by Abraham -
Improve the team to play in June???
When the hell was the last time you guys played in June?!?
Comment by Dave -
Huge Mavs fan here–last year I watched about 70 of the games on TV and went to four. But it would be ludicrous to try to say that we are getting better, or to berate Charles (or anyone, for that matter) for showing:
“no respect for what the Mavs have done over the past few years”
as 92bDad ranted. What have they done? They have gone from really, really sucking (which was several years in the rear-view at this point) to becoming a perienial 1st-round loser. We have only gotten worse since our trip to the Western Conference Finals–NOT better. No national reporter needs to kiss our ass or “respect” us, or coddle our owner and pretend that the Mavs are one of the elite and that Dirk is one of the leauge’s premiere superstars.
No, Charles and Kenny are just telling it like it is. We are not a good defensive team, unless you mean how defensive we get about our ‘right’ to be called one of the West’s elite teams. Dirk is not the superstar that Cuban and the local media and the Mavs groupies think he is. He can’t carry this team, and he has proven that time and again. He doesn’t have the mental stamina and or physical dominance–and he doesn’t want it badly enough. It shows on TV, it shows at the games, with his confused looks, his tendency to get into his little funks of depression, and how easily he gets frustrated and de-railed.
No, Charles, Kenny and the gang (read = rest of the sporting world outside of Dallas) aren’t taking potshots or saying the sky is green. If anything, they are going easy on us.
Comment by Jon -
craig you need to get laid
Comment by Tony -
Eugene,
So I’m sure CB knows more about hoops than say a Jeff Van Gundy? There are plenty of people that didn’t actually play that know 100x more about the game than CB.
Van Gundy played 2 yrs of DIII basketball which is about equal to a good high school team. Who would you rather have calling plays?
Comment by Blake -
is that how you spell moran?
Comment by Tony -
Yes Tim Duncan has no game, he lowers his head and plows to the rum and gets calls just like Shaq,
Sometimes the opposing team double teams him and then the spurs hit wide open jumpers.
He is one of the many star black players that lower their head and charge forward and then go the foul line and then get big COntracts.
Now I will say that I believe that Lebron James is the best player in the league and is perhaps my favorite player and he is certainly a breath of fresh air,
But there are far to many talent less skill less “stars’ like Duncan and Shaq, that yes have NO GAME.
And I dont appreciate beiong called a racist, but if you think that is going to make me stop speaking out against the bull crap that in the NBA you are mistaken, in fact that only encourages me
Comment by Craigp -
cuban your the man, seriously charles and kenny are bunch of morans, first they go out and that the win was nothing big, i dont care what team it is but coming back from 17 down is fucken impressive as hell.!
i love how you back up the team way to go
Comment by robz -
the point is, Cuban got mad at WHAT charles said, which was that the mavs couldn’t stop the pick and roll, and that spurred mr cuban here to say that charles didn’t know squat about bastketball, well, that coming from Cuban, who’s probably never even played hs ball, is pretty stupid, in my opinion, and to me, that’s the bottom line. Ring or no ring, you honestly think the Cuban knows more about basketball than a person who’s actually ran the pick and roll in a real NBA game?
Comment by eugene -
You sir, are a moron. You made idiotic remarks and finally got called out on it. Now you’re going to respond once again since you’re all butt-hurt that you look like the jackass you are to the general public.
Barkley was right, get a life… tool.
Comment by Ryan -
ok lets get off Charles jock….the issue is does he know basket ball..the answer is yes…its like saying hey I work for mcdonalds for 15 years and doesn’t know whats inside a big mac. common people…bottom line is you guys just don’t like CB..boo freaken who..me personaly I think he is an a**hole..but What he said about dallas is right on
Comment by Tony -
I think the mavs have an excellent chance of winning the title…..if they were in the nbdl! With the current roster of players in place, there is no chance in hell that Dallas can win a championship. From Dirk to Van Horn, the players just dont have the skill that will allow them to get past a team like the spurs come june. And until they can get past a team like the spurs in june, any criticism will be warranted and constant. Plus, should you meet the spurs in June, finley and nick at nite will have something to show you!
Comment by j-dilla -
You say your not mad but you title the blog “Right back at you Charles and Kenny” that doesnt exactly prove you’re not mad. Stop acting childish everyone has an opionion and you freak out about theirs.
Comment by Kris -
Mff Lewis/Craigp
You guys, Dirk had his teeth knock out 1 time, the other times he grabes his face, head, nose and when you see the replay it is not as bad has we thought. He gets hit just like anyone else that wants to play down low with the Big Boys. Please watch other games and you will se the same thing happening to other players regarless of race. Don’t quote Larry Bird when anybody that watch back then knew he was the most protected player doing his playing days. Dirk was the most protected last year but who cares you have to learn to play the game. Note Shaq gets fouled more then any player, but because he is so big he want get touch foul calls you have to foul him hard and this has been going on since his college days, that’s why he left college early but who cares play the game they want get all the calls right.
I am a sports fan not a team fan so I don’t ge hung up on one Team.
Comment by James -
Hey Mark,
You are the stupidest owner in the whole league. To call two of the most successful NBA players of all time “idiots” was the craziest thing i ever heard in a blog.
I think the reason you hatin’ on them is cuz the Suns (CBs Former Team) and The Rockets (kenny’s former team) Own Your Weak, Small and Pathetic Fruitcake Mavericks.
Maybe You should consentrate on making your team better instead of taking unneeded cheap shots at people doing their job.
Everyone makes fun of the clippers, Hawks, Hornets and Knicks…etc but you dont hear Issah Thomas making a blog saying “Charles barkley and Kenny Smith are idiots for Making a true analysis.
Comment by Ameen -
Mark
You have turned a franchise around that was going nowhere very fast. You have created a buzz for a team that could not get a fanbase if it gave out tickets for free. Kenny and Charles are there for pure entertainment and have no relevant insight to the game. Segments such as “Kenny’s Pictures” serve no purpose and are more than likely put together by a statistician and Kenny reads his “insight” from a teleprompter. Inside the NBA is a joke to the game and CB is just mad because he never could get past Jordan. For someone that has been a Mavs season ticket holder since ’80 I have gone through the ups and downs of this franchise and have watched you build a formidable team in recent years. All the naysayers that say Dirk is soft don’t realize that he takes more shots to the face than most big men. The guy has had his teeth knocked out countless times and returns the game unphased. We are still a very young team and we will get our championship. After we win you should make Kenny and Charles wear the blue Mavs sportcoat to the show for the entire season while the Mavs are champions and make frequent guest appearances to rub it in Charles’ fat face how you were right and built the Mavs into a champion
Comment by MFFLewis -
Mark,
No offense, I’m a Mav’s lover, always will be. But you ain’t getting out of the West unless you become a great, not good offensive team. Or a good or marginally great defensive team. Thats just how it is. Right now, the 2005 Mav’s are neither. That’s obvious. However, that being said, Charles can talk, but what does he know about going all the way? No Nba championships, and I could have won a gold medal on the olympic teams he won them on. Kenny is junk, a one dimentional player lucky to be on Hakeems team, plain and simple, so he can shove that basketball IQ you know where.
Comment by Tyler -
Mark and all Mavericks fans,
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WIN, and that will silence all your critics. No matter what people say, they cannot deny the evidence of a championship title, and the bottom line is – YOU DON’T HAVE ONE.
All GOOD teams are cricized, but GREAT teams win despite criticism. The Pistons were criticized for their lack of offense before they won the title two years ago. The Lakers were criticized for their lack of defense, chemistry and depth before they went on their three title run. Even Michael Jordan was criticized for his selfish play before he brought his first of six championships to the city of Chicago. Hindsight is 20/20. Rings will silence the critics, but nothing else will, and Until you get that elusive NBA championship under your belt, you have not earned the right to NOT be criticized. Kenny and Charles are just calling it like they see it. You can say whatever you want, but you won’t be convincing anyone until we see the proof.
Comment by Joe -
Taylor or are you Mark incognito you took the Jackass thing personal. I love the way people put their own foot in their own mouths. Kinda like what you just did. I said I was in the Bay area never said how long, visiting, if the Warriors were my team or not. I from the City Of Champions Baby LA! 14 Championship Titles (we will catch Boston), 28 Conference Titles, NBA first Dynasty to win Back to Back titles 4 Championships in 5 years including the BAA, 5 titles in 6 years with Mikan. Those boys were bad! 7 Season MVP, 10 Final MVP and if the Title MVP existed back when Mikan played I’m sure he would have received 4 or 5 himself. From Mikan to Baylor to West (Mr. NBA) to Chamberlain, Jabbar, Magic, Big Game James, COOOOOOP, Silk, Riley, Shaq, Kobe, Phil. Our only question is how long before that next ring. Do I care if BDiddy turns GS around hey if he can it’s only good for Basketball and isn’t that the bottom line Taylor. What’s good for the game. “Come strong or don’t come at all”
Comment by Darryl -
I gotta stop with these typoes cuz this a very important message to get out there, spread the word
now without typoes
“Craigp ( post #9 and #19) dont pull the race card, i am white and the fact that Nowitzki is white has nothing to do with any lack of calls he may or may not be getting. come up with something more educated next time big guy.”
See the reaction that I get from this, proves to me to that what I say is valid. I will continue to point out the obvious, I actually cant believe some people here will actually dispute the obvious to anyone with eyes that white guys are not getting a fair shake in the NBA.
one more time
Larry Bird said it best
“Its a black man’s league”
I think he took heat for that, but its no less true.
I would like the NBA to be a league for everyone. Black AND white and Asian and everyone else.
thats all
no racism here
just a hunger for fairness
And Lebron James is so damn awesome, I’ll say that again, he could shoot the threes now. I predict the Cavs win 50 games this year, and they get a 4 seed in the playoffs and go the second round
Comment by Craigp -
“Craigp ( post #9 and #19) dont pull the race card, i am white and the fact that Nowitzki is white has nothing to do with any lack of calls he may or may not be getting. come up with something more educated next time big guy.”
See the raction that I get from it proves me to that there is somethig to it. I will continue to point out the obvious, I cant believe will actually deny that whtie guys are not getting a fair shake in the NB
one more time
Larry Bird said
“Its a balck mans league”
and I owuld like be a league for everyone.
thats all
no racism here
just a hunger for fairness
Comment by Craigp -
hey darryl, at least the mav’s are in the playoffs every year, unlike the warriors, see how far 15 million dollar, fat, injury prone Baron Davis takes ya’ll. JACKASS!!!
Comment by taylor -
Craigp ( post #9 and #19) dont pull the race card, i am white and the fact that Nowitzki is white has nothing to do with any lack of calls he may or may not be getting. come up with something more educated next time big guy.
Comment by taylor -
mark you have some great players on your team and for those people out there who said dirk is a soft player his not ask some of the other NBA players how hard is for them to score when dirk is guarding them, i know mavs dont have a big man but they will continue to improve and they will win the championship this year
Comment by Durim -
60-22, best team in history of NBA?? Stop the trash now!!!
They didn’t win, and they don’t have the best overall record in the history of the NBA. That goes to the Bulls with a record of 72-10.
If you’re a true fan of the NBA, you will stop disrespecting the true winners therein.
Comment by mj -
The greatest team in the history of the NBA was not, repeat, NOT a team that had a record of 60-22 and included Lafrentz. An asinine comment like that takes away from the Bulls team that ran the board in the NBA for 6 years, one of which included a record of 72-10 which is still the best in the history of the NBA. You don’t get to write your own history about stuff like this. Its why the statisticians have the jobs, and you are restricted to spewing your trash on this site. PLEASE STOP!!
Comment by mj -
Mark with all of your computer skills and knowledge I’m sure you can navigate to “> and lookup the word ‘idiot” better yet I’ll paste in the definition pay real close attention to number 2:
A foolish or stupid person.
A person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years and generally being unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
I have another word for you: Jackass
A male ass or donkey.
A foolish or stupid person; a blockhead:
Before you tell someone to cleanup their room make sure your bed is made. I’m in the Bay Area and I always felt my now 12 year old daughter could back Dampier down into the lane and shot over him. HE’S WEAK!!!!!!!! and you paid him all that money. Jackass!!!! You picked him up after his contract year with the Warriors and he played hard knowing he was on the trading block. We all knew in the Bay area that season was an aberration. With all of your wisdom, money and stat people none of you could figure that one out? It’s called Historical Data. Historically HE’S WEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark you like stats and for those that turned this into a racial thing (how I don’t know) but here’s a few stats: Keith Van Horn ok player, pretty good skills while with NJN but injury prone mentally and physically. Is it the Blackman’s fault he can’t play a full season due to injuries or he gets benched because he’s in a mental fog and can’t get out? Prior to DAL picking him up from MIL, 04-05 season he only played 33 games, started 13 and only played 818 minutes. Then came to DAL and only played 29 games. 2 out of 5 seasons with NJ he had 40 game seasons. Career wise you can count on him to miss upwards to 20 + games a season. Oh yeah and he’s getting older too harder to come back from injuries. Was this a guy I would pay $15 Mil for? I don’t think so. Jackass!!!!!!
To refute this raciest myth that white players don’t get the fouls called like blacks. Have you ever looked at the game and the way the game is played? You cut, slash and attack the basket you draw fouls generally your basic black player (Kobe, Iverson, Magic, Jordan and so on and so on) They all use the jump shot to open up the driving lane. Pure jump shooters generally don’t get the fouls called on them your basic white player ( Larry, Dirk, Nash and so on and so on ). What do coaches teach “Don’t foul a jump shooter” and if someone takes it to the hole “Foul hard and don’t let them get the and 1” make them make the free throws. Is this racism or philosophy Jackass!!!! Dirk don’t be afraid to turn your back to the basket it’s still going to be there when you turn around.
Comment by Darryl -
lol @ marc and the mavs getting blasted on their own blog…funny stuff.
Pretty hilarious when Chuck and Kenny bring up the obvious, Marc gets mad…
Marc you’re rich…go screw some hoes or something. You should have a thicker skin by now.
Comment by m1ke -
Yeah that Mavs win was sweet.
Not to stir up anything but I couldnt help but notice that 2 white players Van Horn had 5 fouls called on him in 20 minutes, and Ginnobli had 5 fouls called on him in 29 minutes.
Yeah I kknow they went to the line 6 and 10 times respectively but still.
later
Comment by Craigp -
OK… FOR ALL THOSE HATERS OUT THERE…”THE MAVERICKS CAN’T PLAY DEFENSE”- any of u watch the sa vs. dallas game today????pretty bad defense the mavs played hunh?? Shut the hell up about how the mavs can’t play defense, they play defense when they need too.. cb and kenny whatever happened to the top notch sa defense huh???DIRK NOWITZKI = MVP
Comment by Ash -
Craigp== You have problems, Dirk backs off because he doesn’t whant a file called on him. Stupid, HE CAN’T PLAY DEFENSE!!!! He is a good shooter, but he can’t carry this team wake up, watch the game—
You know they have COLOR Sets NOW!!!!!
Comment by James -
Mark the only problem that I have with you is that, you told your radio guys not to mention contract information on air and now since you don’t controll TNT you are trying to put these guys done. Well I like these guys because if you watch each night they point out things about all teams and you may not like the way they do it but we love it. I wish we had 1 radio/tv sports guy around here that had some Balls but I guess they may think that you would get them fired and so they all stowe the Company Line How Sad. Free them Mark to talk.
Comment by James -
“I also agree that the Mavericks in the 2002-03 season were really good, but saying it was Raef, Dirk, and Nash and leaving out ”
yeah yer right I forgot about Bradley, and Eduardo Najara,
heh just kidding.
yeah Nick is great I love left-handed outside shooters, it just looks cool, and FInley was eh
he never used to like to pass it to Dirk, and he forced shots a lot, somwtimes he would get double temaed and you would hear the whole mavericks arena scream at him to pass it to Dirk and FInley still would just force some shot and have it blocked or something, meanwhile Dirk was always trying to pass it to FInely he would go out of his way to get FInley involved, I never liked that about Finely, but he was still good
Comment by Craigp -
Mark,
You are just a bitch-ass fool!!!!!! FUCK OFF!!!!!!1
Comment by Aleksandar -
I also agree that the Mavericks in the 2002-03 season were really good, but saying it was Raef, Dirk, and Nash and leaving out Nick the Quick and Finley is plain ignorance. Dirk and Van Exel carried the team when it counted. And then it was Nick and Finley when Dirk went down. Nash is a fine player but he’s overrated, can’t guard anybody, and is only dangerous on a team that can spread the defense. And it’s questionable whether Raef should even start in the NBA.
Comment by Abraham -
Cuban you’re an idiot. Your team cheats (aka you pay off refs in playoffs against the rockets) and now you talk bad about people who are 10x smarter than you. Get a life loser. Your money doesn’t give you the right to say whatever the hell you want.
Comment by Bob Jones -
“ut whats with all of this racism?”
yeah I ma just trying to raise awareness of what I see as an injustice thats all.
I have said it enough alreay, perhaps some in NBA land hear me and will take note, thats all I was trying to do.
I have to imagine maybe some white NAB players are reading this and are like
“thank you ,thank you, someones gotta say it”
I’ll stop mentioning it now,
later all
Comment by Craigp -
your right that was a VERY good team, I dont know if they were better than the bull championship teams or the lakers from the 80’s,but they were an excellent team and they probably would have beaten the spurs that year if Dirk was still healthy, but whats with all of this racism?
Comment by spike -
Mark Cuban my friend, big mistake those comments about CB an Kenny Smith!
instead of writting IM NOT MAD!
you should write IM SORRY!
Comment by Bob -
“The organization has made great improvement over the last years ”
your crazy
the team they had a few years ago with Lafretnz that started out 14-0 and finsihed at 60-22 was the best team in the history of the NBA, but ya know the racism thing prevented them from going all the way.
Its a shame, Dirk is older and slower now, as is Nash and as is Lafrentz, that was their year, and they wre robbed
oh well
IN my book they won the championship that year what was it 2002-03? I think so, yeah they got eliminated by Duncan in 6 games that year when Dirk got hurt,
Comment by Craigp -
You know what is the dumbest thing about all of this? The fact that you have the owner of an organization and two multi millionaires that are on tv every week acting like five year olds. I dont think Saturday night live could script this better. And the publicity that both sides are getting off of this…..They should be thanking each other.
Cuban talks statistics, but statistics arent everything. How are statistics going to help Dirk, Dampier, Diop, and Powell stop a player like Tim Duncan or Shawn Marion, or even Troy Murphy, who last year had more double doubles than Amare, C-web, and Lebron? Like it or not, while Dallas has made great strides in defense, they still have alot of work to do. However, if anybody can get them there, it would be Avery Johnson. He’s a great coach and Mr. Cuban should be given great credit for naming him the head coach. And as for trading Steve Nash, which people seem to complain about alot, he would never have won the MVP on this squad, because the teams have different philosophies on the game they play.
The TNT squad says that the Mavericks are soft, And in certain regards they are right. Dirk, as great as he is, needs to improve his leadership abilities, but he has gotten alot better. Maybe he can light a fire under Dampiers ass now that Dampier is making the big bucks. But in alot of ways the TNT group is wrong. To go six games with the suns last year is a feat that shouldnt be overlooked, and the overtime win against the suns showed alot of heart. The organization has made great improvement over the last years in every aspect, especially defense, and should recieve alot of credit for this.
With that said, Both sides need to grow up. When your in the public spotlight there is a responsibility to conduct yourself in a professional manner, and both parties have failed miserably. It amazes me that with all of the things going on in this world, three people can bitch and complain about something as stupid as the words “your team is soft.” The true winner in this argument will be the first one to say “Things got carried away, and i apologize.” Those words would be the biggest smack in the face to the other party, because that would show that the side has more class, thus garnering respect from everyone. Hopefully Mr. Cuban, you will be the first to take this step, showing yourself to be the bigger man and set a positive example for your team to follow, thus allowing them to focus solely on basketball instead of the war thier owner is currently in. With that, congratulations on your win over Pheonix and best wishes for the season ahead of you.
Comment by spike -
Chuck and Kenny are dummies. But..
..so are NBA fans.
The problem is that the NBA media outlets have been giving the fans what they want for so long, and not what they NEED.
Comment by Nick -
You are basically a moron cuban. To get into a words battle with Smith and Barkley shows the lack of class and proffesionalism you have(like that time you idiotically ran out onto the floor during an in game fight). Why don’t you put a cork in it and grow up!
Comment by Ryan -
there’s a reason why he’s called Big Fundamental…
yes there is a reason its becuase there are a lot idiots there like you.
Lefrentz Nowitski, Okur, Sabonis, and a bunch of others are 10x better fundamentally, and get this they can actually shoot? what a concept players that can actually shoot the ball.
Duncan has an average to below average jump shot, he is slow, he is not very clever. He does pass out of his double and triple teams, so I will give him that, but the only reason he gets doubkle and triple teamed is becuase when one guy plays him they will foul out dude to bull shit calls. so after he passes out of the double and triple teams parker hits open threes, and or Ginnobli does something amazing, and thats how the SPurs win.
and I never said I was a Cuban fan but I do like anyone that is innovative and creative which he seems to be.
I like the fact that more european players and even Asian players are coming into the league, and I think CUban is a major reason why that is the case and I think that is a good thing.
and as for Dirk playing defense, Dirk just happens to be smart enough to realize that if he tried to play defense he would foul out as most white people that try to play defense do. So he has to try to minimize contact in order to stay on the court.
IOF the refs reffed fairly and allowed him to play defense perhaps he would.
Comment by Craigp -
I love how Cuban’s biggest fan “CraigP” just keeps talking about how white players get robbed. Gotta love the Maverick racism! HBO had a great segment a couple years back talking about why owners always have a few token white players… to satisfy a few racist fans. Teams like Utah and Dallas do go a little overboard. Surely, the load Cuban blew on Shawn Bradley wasn’t to placate Dallas suburbia… but wait, it couldn’t have been for his playing value, either. Perplexed.
As for CraigP thinking TD belongs in the NFL… there’s a reason why he’s called Big Fundamental… he has fundamentally sound skills. He doesn’t power his way through games at all. What are fundamentally sound skills, you ask (never having seen Dirk illustrate them)? They include things like rotating, getting ur hands up, getting position.. you know, defense. Every year some Mavs talking heads claim they findly figured out how to play defense. And every year, when it matters, they get totally outplayed.
Cuban, improving your defense takes more than signing overrated bigmen after they have decent contract years. It takes more than bringing in formerly decent defensive players (christie) to replace icons like Mike Finley. It takes more than adding bodies like Van Horn or Walker before him to a front line that continues to have one of the worst individual defenders in the NBA: Dirk. And as for Cuban retreating to stats… a few blocks that Dirk gets off the ball do not mean he can play D. He’s as soft as it gets.. half the time not even back on defense because he’s whining about a call from the other end of the court.
You like talking good business right Cuban? Read up on ‘corporate culture’. It starts at the top, and when you whine constantly.. don’t be surprised that your team does the same. I love how every year when the Mavs drop in the playoffs, Dirk starts talking about how theyre taking responsibility and how “we” need to play better D. The “We” is YOU, Dirk. And what happened to the whole “I’m going to improve my post game this offseason.” The first move to the basket you made against Phoenix was your typical I-CANT-CONTROL-MY-BODY drive to the hoop in which the ball flies 50 feet into the air even though you didn’t even get touched. The Mavericks don’t need new players. They need a new culture.. one that takes responsibility. It was nice when Cuban admitted he hasn’t known what he’s doing the last few years and that teams like San Antonio and Detroit are far better managed. But forced gestures aside, this TNT episode reveals Cuban’s stripes once again.
Comment by stephen babb -
Does buying a basketball team make you an expert on basketball? Well, I just bought a new hammer and saw. I now know everything there is to know about building highrise office buildings. Just ask me, I will tell you I know it all.
Comment by Haazen -
and as far as basketball knoweldge.
they are solid, a little too pro-black player and anti-white layer for my taste but they are solid.
Barkely always busts props to Nash and he has always had praise for Matt Harpring so he is pretty fair.
My favorite sports announcer of all of course is Bill Walton. he should the crew instead of Regie
Comment by Craigp -
Ernie Kenny and Charles have the best sports show I hve ever seen, but they do say stupid things sometimes, and good For Cuban for criticizing their sometimes stupid comments.
Again thouhg their show is the best sports show and arguably the best thing on TV in my opinion.
Barkely is good for at least 3 hillarious comments a night, and they all have good chemistry.
I dont know about the Reggie addition, I hope he doesnt mess it up, cuz the the three of them have something good going.
Comment by Craigp -
Mark,
I agree with Charles and Kenny. The Dallas Mavericks are a soft team. Mavericks has no chance of winning a championship any time soon. If you know basketball you would listen rather than acting outrageous. San Antonio Spurs will repeat and two of your former players Findley and Nick will laugh all the way to the bank.
Comment by Stan -
Barkley does NOT expect Nowitzki to carry his team to a championship, and I’ve never heard him criticize Nowitzki, or any player for that matter– it’s the coaching decisions that he and Jet were debating. He repeatedly on the air praises Nowitzki and Dampiere for their talents. But Barkley is no fool; when everyone tends to get technical and lose focus, he keeps it real. Barkley probably knows that one player cannot lift an entire team to a championship, and that a team cannot win a championship if they simply DON’T PLAY DEFENSE. It’s just like he said on air, and if you ignore this fact then you are delluding yourself, which is that Yes the Mavericks won, but it took them two extra quarters to do so– and that’s without Stoudamire, Johnson and Richardson. Then consider simply how high the scores were and ask yourself, if Mavs defense really was a priority, how did Phoenix score triple digits?
The Mavs are a great team, and Avery Johnson is a great coach. But they’ve got their problems, just like every other team. You can’t get pissy every time someone points that out.
Comment by chad -
You know what…I am actually looking forward to winning some money and what dumbass would bet me that the Mavs will not win a champ this year….Mark Cuban will…..well…..this might not be much but I am willing to put down about 100g with you that your “soft cakes” Mavs will not win a champ this year….wanna put your money where you mouth is?
Comment by Ronald Cheng -
You know what…I am actually looking forward to winning some money and what dumbass would bet me that the Mavs will not win a champ this year….Mark Cuban will…..well…..this might not be much but I am willing to put down about 100g with you that your “soft cakes” Mavs will not win a champ this year….wanna put your money where you mouth is?
Comment by Ronald Cheng -
Thanks for pointing out the idiocy of the TNT guys. I laugh when I hear Kenny Smith talk about what it takes to win a championship. He won his two rings by getting in Hakeem’s hip pocket. Without Hakeem, Kenny is selling Volvos for a living some place. And Barkley never won a championship. Although he was one of the better “second bananas” ever, he never put a team on his back and made them champions. He certainly seems to expect more of Dirk than he was able to deliver himself.
I have no problems hearing criticism of the Mav’s, but I agree with you that much of the drivel that the TV guys spout is dated with no statistical basis. It’s not just the TNT guys. I heard Bill Laimbeer one night call the Mav’s team with Jamison and Walker an atrocious rebounding team at a time in the season when they were statistically #1 in offensive rebounding and #3 in overall rebounding.
Anyone who actually pays attention to league stats knows that most of what Barkley and Smith spew is nothing more than their own ill-informed opinions. And playing in the league may qualify you to be an analyst, but it doesn’t make you informed.
Statistically, there is no basis for the assertion that the Mav’s are a bad defensive team. They’re not great, but they are by no means bad. Simple points allowed is a horrible measure of defensive capability since it does not factor in the pace of the game. Points allowed per possession, opponent field goal percentage, deflections, defensive rebounding, steals, blocks, shot clock violations forced, etc are what tell the story of defensive effectiveness. Oh, yeah. Holding Phoenix below 100 pts in regulation is a pretty good measure too.
Barkley is entertaining, no doubt, but from a business point of view, that whole crew has to be bad for league. Their comments are so repetive and devoid of any insight that you could probably tape them once and replay the during and after every TNT broadcast all year. Unless it’s the Spurs, Pistons, Heat, or Pacers, all that’s ever said is “they’re pretty good, but they can’t win a championship.”
Although championships are the ultimate goal of every team, the TNT guys have a very bored, dismissive attitude toward the regular season which really doesn’t do anything to enhance the NBA. I’d just as soon they shut up until the playoffs, since that’s all that matters to them. I had much rather hear from ex coaches instead of ex players or for that matter anyone who will actually analyze the game, and explain why the Cav’s looked like world beaters in the first half and a rec league team in the second half. I know the Spurs are better and the world champions. I don’t need self-important ex players telling me that. I need someone to explain the nuts and bolts of in game adjustments of how it happened.
To be honest, TNT post game/half time show land for that matter the ESPN shootaround (Greg Anthony and that crew are almost as bad), really belong on Comedy Central and not on an NBA broadcast. They are entertaining, but I rarely watch them for basketball information or insight anymore. There’s just no substance there.
The networks should focus on hiring ex coaches instead of ex players. It’s much more important to building a fan base for the fans to understand the game than it is to know what Kenny and Charles think about some team’s chances to win a championship.
Comment by Lance Barnette -
I have read alot of the comments and the simple truth is get your team quietly deep into the playoffs and will see who is talking trash and who backs it up. This will remove the notion the mavs are soft, but you have to prove before you can talk.
Comment by David -
Mark,
i never thought u could be sooo funny….why do u get so angry b’coz somebody said unpleasant things about Mav’s performance. without criticism, we can’t get better–knowing our mistakes is an opportunity to get better. ur spontaneous outburst of anger reminds me of the Emperor in the “Emperor’s New Robe”. i’m sure u don’ wanna act the Emperor. Charles and Kenny merit what they’re doing. they’re not just any pick, otherwise the fun we get from watching TNT won’t be there…anyway, no hard feelings and let’z keep it real… u r such a wonderful guy who has done things that equally merit popular approval…do continue to be b’coz what u do serves as an inspiration to many growing kids…Pls, pls, let’z end the “war of words” and enjoy basketball…i luv the Mav’s and equally so i luv watching TNT especially when Charles and Kenny r there…wish u and ur team a successful year
Comment by Alfred (Teddy Rahman) Kamara -
The Charles and Kenny show is parallel to the Dumb and Dumber comedy — These “muddle mad mutts” are worthless, overrated and give superficial analysis…Why people buy into Barkley’s “nitwit, numb, nonsense”, is beyond belief –Charles, the Chump is as lame as it gets…Kenny is decent, but he’s not qualified to represent the position bestowed upon him…How can Ernie suffer these fools?
TNT, needs to butt-can these buffoons with their sad commentary and hire real analysis who can give interesting basketball insights opposed to illogical elementary “Sap, Sucker, Suckiness”.
Comment by JJJ -
Trade Dirk for Jalen Rose now!
You really want that first draft pick don’t you!
Comment by Zhi Wong -
Eugene,
I know that Jet has a ring but Charles does not. My point is only this…charles does a TON of talking about everything under the sun as though he is some sort of all knowing being. I find it humorous that someone who knows so much about the game never reached the ultimate goal. There is no doubt that he is entertaining however, if I was Mark, I would flaunt the ring, that he will get, all up in the TNT studio and love hearing Charles call me champion. That would be entertaining.
Comment by Matt -
Well, say what you want about TNT and the Mav’s not being able to stop the pick and roll. I see no mention here about the Mav’s losing to Utah who won the game in the 4th quarter with let’s see….5 pick and roll plays that the Mav’s couldn’t defend….hummmm.
Comment by Shelley -
wait, so are you telling me that the mavs DID do a good job on the pick and roll that night? Was what he said WRONG? Was he off his rocker?
Comment by eugene -
Mark,
Your blog and outtakes on TNT are priceless. As a long-time Mavs fan I found myself wanting to throw a brick through my television. CB shows and has no respect for what the Mavs have done over the past few years. It’s amazing how with Finley and Nash here they talked about the Mavs lack of defense, now with the moves that have seen Finley and Nash leave only to bring on a stronger defensive philosophy…the Mavs continue to get no respect.
By the way, kudos to Dirk…I was frustrated watching him get hacked over and over in that Utah game. I’ve got a bit of NHL in me and believe that it’s getting to be time to have a designated thug on the team. Someone who will dish out some physical punishment to opponents, especially when the officials are not protecting the players.
I am looking forward to tomorrow night. By the way, another National Personality that drives me up the wall is Steve Kerr. He is on that list with CB.
Comment by 92bDad -
Eugene,
I’ve seen Bark on every talkshow on TV and he always talks about gambling. He was on Leno just the other week and thats all he talked about.
Just b/c he played in the NBA and played at a high level does not mean he is some sort of basketball genius. If he knew what he was talking about why wouldn’t he be working with an NBA team in some capacity?
Charles is a funny guy, I will admit that, but is he a great NBA analyst, hell no, not even close.
Comment by Blake -
Dont criticize Charles and Kenny, they know more about basketball than you ever knew in your life. The mavs are SOFT!!! Face the facts their time has passed. I am surprised that Dirk hasnt demanded a trade yet. Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Antawn Jamison and Nick Van Exel have been replaced with Keith Van Horn, Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier and Doug Christie. I am not impressed. I hope you and Doug and Jackie have a fantastic marriage because you just inherited a headcase couple. Doug cant even dribble a basketball without the wifes permission. Since I am a purile NBA fan and I know what I like, I think that the Orlando magic made out pretty cheap by waiving Christie. 8 mil to get rid of that headache is worth it. Cuban, before you criticize anybody else’s basketball knowledge you seriously need to take a close look at your own. With moves like that I wouldn’t let you run a fantasy league team. Another thing… you signed Marquis Daniels and Erick Dampier to subsequent contracts and your lovely coaches havent used them to their abilities because all you ever try to do is run teams out of the gym. You say that you want to put your coaches knowledge up against Charles and Kenny, then why has every analyst’s rating of the Mavs not even made them contenders for a championship EVER!! The only thing worse than your roster choices is the way you tried to capitalize on the success of Trump and The Apprentice with your own pathetic attmept at a TV show. Take some of your money and buy a little class because your act is wearing thin. You could learn something about class from Charles and Kenny. The only thing I have ever seen out of you are kindergarten antics.
Comment by Diane -
blake and matt,
matt, Jet’s got a ring, what about that? Are you telling me Sir charles doesn’t know how to play basketball cause he doesn’t have a ring? Cause he’s only been the MVP of the L multiple years? When yall stop teams on D, then the Jet and Sir Charles will quit saying yall are soft on D.
Blake, never recall Charles mentioning anything about gambling on the show, maybe i’ve missed it, but i’ve been watching this TNT show for about 3 years, no, wait, 4 years now, maybe you’ve watched it once, maybe charles said something you didn’t like, maybe ur just another dallas groupie like the rest, but truth be told, when Dallas plays again and gets slaughtered on the pick and roll, are you going to tell me then that Charles STILL doesn’t know what he’s talking about?
Comment by eugene -
Your comments: Let me preface by saying that I am a big mavs homer…however, it seems that the mavs are making a big defensive effort. I loved Nellie and Nellieball but it never did win a championship. The TNT guys have been down on the mavs for as long as I can remember. I do think the best way to make them shut up is to win. Mark, how much fun will it be when you have a ring and CB is still sitting in his chair….ringless? Just my thoughts.
Comment by Matt -
dowood27,
if you believe that it’s not about BBIQ and your coaches are more important, then why the hell is this chump making such a fuss about what Charles and Kenny said? Johnson didn’t say squat.
Comment by eugene -
Let me preface by saying that I am a big mavs homer…however, it seems that the mavs are making a big defensive effort. I loved Nellie and Nellieball but it never did win a championship. The TNT guys have been down on the mavs for as long as I can remember. I do think the best way to make them shut up is to win. Mark, how much fun will it be when you have a ring and CB is still sitting in his chair….ringless? Just my thoughts.
Comment by Matt -
The only think CB knows better than Mark is how to be a degenerate gambler and how to kiss MJ’s ass.
Nobody wants to hear CB talking about gambling anymore, it got old after the first 50 interviews he did this year.
Has anyone else noticed how Barkley talks about gambling, Jordan, or how rich he is in every single interview he does? Sure, he played in the association for a while, made some nice Jack, but he will never be a player like Mark and he sure has hell will never get an easier gig than TNT.
Also, if you are going to be on TV all the time, you would think you might want to get in better shape. The only reason to watch TNT is to get inspired to go workout by looking at Bark’s man boobs.
Comment by Blake -
He he ….Cubes looks like the majority of your bloq party is against you….the only one that truly supports you is that racist Craigp which brought race into this matter when it has nothing to do with that. Cubes want respect? get a great team together and win some rings…then you will command respect because of the rings…ever hear winning cures everything?
Comment by Frank -
Mark, sitting at home the other night watch TNT and seeing KS and CB try to come back at your comment was funny. People are allowed opinions! They should have known that by responding on the air they would get another response from you.
I have to admit over the years the team of KS and CB have grown on me. They are a comedy team that occasionally make some good points. As far as their B-BALL IQ I definately side with them as they do have B-Ball knowledge compared to you, but then reading your point of your B-Ball IQ is not as important as your coaches makes perfect sense.
Comment by dowood27 -
This is just great!!! Here is the video if you missed it:
http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/nbatv/cuban_remarks_051103.asx
Man, craigp chill…you starting to remind me of the folks from down south. *shiver* And you are a believer!!! Man I hope Jesus isn’t black, if he is…man you gonna be like “Man forget this, God just send me to hell I don’t wanna be up here with this Savior!” Also man you got some pain to deal with apparently. If I can move pass what happened to me in NC I know you can grow out of your pain.
Mark I admire your ability to state your opinion no matter how wrong they may be :). Let’s keep it clean everyone! DING!! DING!! Round 3!!
Comment by Natdigga -
He he ….Cubes looks like the majority of your bloq party is against you….the only one that truly supports you is that racist Craigp which brought race into this matter when it has nothing to do with that. Cubes want respect? get a great team together and win some rings…then you will command respect because of the rings…ever hear winning cures everything?
Comment by Frank -
CraigP,
Maybe ur the racist one, apparently you have something against black power fowards/centers.
Comment by eugene -
Mark – I have a high tech, new solution for you and your basketball business. Instead of spewing all the crap you lay on us with the things your IT guys and basketball people toss on you to justify their own existence and ease their own pain in losing situations – Try listening for a change!
Listen to Chuck. Listen to Kenny.
Remember what that is? Listen.
Don’t over-react. Don’t take it personally. Don’t try to create buzz. Just listen.
Comment by Tony Ramone -
Craigp
do us a favor, if you don’t know what the hell ur talking about, zip it. I mean, seriously, Timmy’s got no game? Are you serious? So all the coaches and all the people that are in the MVP voting absolutely no idea what they’re talking about? Ur an absolute Maverick/Cuban groupie, are you putting dirk ahead of duncan? I mean, dirk is a great player, but you can’t tell me he’s better than Duncan. Did duncan win a championship by chance? Before they changed the rules? What about 99? No Manu back then, huh? Or are you just a bandwagon fan who knows zilch about basketball backing up your boys in blue? You ARE a moron, thanks for proving my point.
Comment by eugene -
First off Mark I am a big fan. I have checked this blog every once and a while but now it is getting pretty heated up. I personally always watch TNT and feel that sometimes one will say something I completely disagree with. And ususally It is Charles. I feel Kenny overall has a good head on his shoulders. And I think the reason Charles is on the show is because of his attitude and remarks, I love it even when I feel he is completely wrong. It will create a argument which is good for the show. Overall I bet you have a whole lot more of eyes on your blog now!! Which is good.
Comment by Adam Sushi -
Lets outline some points here.
1. Dallas is no defensive juggernaut.
2. The decision whether to switch on defense is often situational.
3. Dallas is a top flight team in the West.
4. Great offensive teams are usually considered soft.
That said, the NBA is marketed to the masses which generally means information needs to be dumbed down for risk of losing viewers.
Also, I don’t think Kenny or Charles could cover all of the situational switching statistics (even if they had the information) during a short television segment.
Final point: I’ve noticed two schools of thought develop on the internet and beyond in regards to NBA baskeball.
1. People who use statiscs to form opinions.
2. People who use statistics to support their opinions.
Often these two schools compete, debate, and disagree, mostly because they speak a different language.
There is certainly room for both in the game of basketball and often a blend of the two is the preferred choice.
Comment by Tony -
Mark Cuban, You’re doing everything Right. Keep it Going!!!!!
Comment by UTOPIA -
Question:
Since when has owning a 2way, or checking stats on the internet, or even using a computer in general ever helped anyone know more about basketball? This may be 2005, thanks for that. Technology does nothing to change the way basketball is played. What’s next? “Detroit didn’t win last season because Tayshaun Prince dind’t have his headset connected to his mobile”?
Mark, you can hide behind your money, technology, and you can hide behind the people you employ. You don’t know basketball Mark. It’s not personal. But last time I checked, you comparing basketball knowledge with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith (how many rings?) is like Spud Webb teaching Shaq a thing or two about post moves.
Mark, your team is soft, and they have (will have) one of the worst defences in the league. Deal with it.
note: craigp? who are you? Ever hear of “hack-a-shaq” – where they purposely foul him? Still alive. And you would much rather AI get raked as he drives and have nothing called? Or (my favorite part) would you rather TD changes his style of play? His rings would rather that he didn’t. What’s next? Is Dwayne Wade too “flashy” for you? Yao Ming too tall? (oh, and “racism” – nice touch)
Comment by rem -
I apologize Mark Cuban – here I thought you were the bonehead but now I read the comments of CraigP — TIm duncan has no game ? What is it like to live on that fantasy island all alone – I don’t think I have ever heard those words ? – tim duncan has no game ? Wow – I bet you all the money in the bank that if the Spurs called up Cuban today and offered TD for Dirk – there would be no hesitation – no pause – no second thought and Tim would be a Mav tomorrow. You might be — quite possibly – the dumbest person on the planet.
Comment by mark guymon -
Mark
Sir Charles and Kenny make those comments for 1 reason only. Your team is as soft as cotton balls man. I think you should check dallas vs phoenix and you will see what cotton balls are made off. Dirk is very good player offensively but he lacks hunger in defense, E. Damp. is aggressive sometimes but you can’t handle being sometimes while you battle shaq, timmy or yao inside. your guards are average at most. I felt sorry for the mavs when you release Steve Nash and now Mike Finley. I bet stevie and Mike are happy with their own teams now. You know what you need mark??? 1.) PG with a stockton or steve nash ability a PF with an Amare stoudamire style and a C who is willing to get rough and tough inside Suggestion Try “Dennis Rodman” he might help. But for now Go Charles and Kenny!
Comment by darkscheme -
“And comparing your basketball IQ to mine isnt quite apples to apples given that Im not the coach. Im willing to compare the basketball knowledge of AJ, Del Harris, Joe Prunty and Larry Riley to the two of you anytime. My guess, you guys are on the short end of the stick”
Theres more to being a coach then just knowing basketball. Yea I agree with you that Charle may come off as being an idiot with some of his comments that he makes, but he does know basket ball. Kenny can and should be a coach. With that being said…Charles comment about the internet being for people with no life can seem a little idiotic as you called him but hey he Charles.
Comment by Tony -
“Duncan’s Spurs have three three rings because his team doesn’t have to count on things like that. Not because he has an “Ugly Shaq-Lite game””
you are a true idiot. Duncan has no game, He get double teamded becuase the refs give him calls, the double teams and Ginnobli cause the SPurs to win,
ITs not even all that difficult of a thing to see, people like you enable the status quo and are part of the problem that is the NBA these days. I hope you open your eyes, before the NBA further degnerates into a league of Big Shaq-lite bullies going to the foul line, if it isnt that already
Comment by Craigp -
The thing with Charles is that a lot of things he says are for shock value.
He definitely knows the sport though. You don’t become an 11-time allstar for nothing.
Comment by Sudipta -
hey brent, Nash was NEVER, EVER an mpv in the mavs, he was a good PG that got ripped in the playoffs by Mike bibby and the sort, nash turned into an MVP in phoenix, where their style of play fitted his much better. if nash would have been an mvp in dallas, he would still be wearing that uniform. If you remember correclty (or have done any research), go look at how bad he got owned by mike bibby in those series against sacramento.
At that point nash was not worth the contract they gave him, you can also remember how EVERYBODY and i mean EVERYBODY thought the suns were complete dumbasses, because they overpaid an “decent”, but ageing PG.
Comment by Alex -
(and as a footnote to the conspicuously racist moron Craigp, )
no you fool, I am saying that it is the NBA that is racist, you have it backwards.
racism occurrs in many different directions.
Comment by Craigp -
“And comparing your basketball IQ to mine isnt quite apples to apples given that Im not the coach. Im willing to compare the basketball knowledge of AJ, Del Harris, Joe Prunty and Larry Riley to the two of you anytime. My guess, you guys are on the short end of the stick”
Theres more to being a coach then just knowing basketball. Yea I agree with you that Charle may come off as being an idiot with some of his comments that he makes, but he does know basket ball. Kenny can and should be a coach. With that being said…Charles comment about the internet being for people with no life can seem a little idiotic as you called him but hey he Charles.
Comment by Tony -
hey brent, Nash was NEVER, EVER an mpv in the mavs, he was a good PG that got ripped in the playoffs by Mike bibby and the sort, nash turned into an MVP in phoenix, where their style of play fitted his much better. if nash would have been an mvp in dallas, he would still be wearing that uniform. If you remember correclty (or have done any research), go look at how bad he got owned by mike bibby in those series against sacramento.
At that point nash was not worth the contract they gave him, you can also remember how EVERYBODY and i mean EVERYBODY thought the suns were complete dumbasses, because they overpaid an “decent”, but ageing PG.
Comment by Alex -
Mark, I have tremendous respect for you and I think you are among the best owners in Sports.
That being said, its kinda pointless to take Sir Charles and Kenny’s comments too seriously. Charles basically cracks on everyone. Can’t take it personally. I’m not saying either are basketball geniuses, but they both (especially Charles) do a pretty good job of mixing analysis/with entertainment/comedy.
Comment by Sudipta -
SSHHHHH better to be quiet in your ignorance mark than to post it for the world to see. Del Harris – Nelly – neither have won a title so SSSSSHHHHHHHHHH keep it quiet – SHHHHHHHHHHH your knowledge is incredibly suspect anyway based on some of your recent “risks” – the dotcom boom that made you wealthy is no more. keep to being an owner – stay in the background and enjoy the show this Saturday as Finley lights your team up for another poor decision you made. The Mavs won’t be winning a title for a long LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng time. Even with Dirk. GOing forward keep your bball comments between you and the wifey and try not to crticize a show that tells it like it is. Many people agree with what Chuck and Kenny said you can track all you want for the regular season — but keep switching all picks and getting those mismatches in the playoffs and the brooms will come out and the mavs will have a quick exit.
Comment by mark guymon -
Mark you ARE taking it personel. The media is there to point out the facts and thats what KS and CB did last night…you know the average joe doesn’t really care anout your methodical stats. What ever you have againts Kenny and Charles..dude you have like a zillion dollars get over it and buy yourself another Bently.
Tony
Comment by Tony -
Mark Cuban. What a piece of work? Is there anything else to say that has not been said already on this blog? Why are you calling out KEnny and Charles? I’m sure there are a thousand other sports analysts, though not on the national level like TNT’s, that criticize your team’s lack of defense. And correct me if I’m wrong, that’s why you let AJ inherit the coaching job. So you essentially are acknowledging their analysis of your team’s shortcomings. So you should thank them for making you realize your team needs some defense to win championships. That’s my 2 cents.
Comment by Hughe -
Mark,
You criticize Kenny and Charles and when they respond back you say it is unfair to compare their basketball knowlege to yours……well maybe you shouldn’t have criticized them then. The bottom line is you are going to come out on the losing end of these exchanges until the mavs win a championship.
Comment by Tim Whittaker -
You know, it’s kinda hard to take a guy seriously when he would rather have Jason Terry or Darrell Armstrong run his offense over Steve Nash. Cuban, you’re brilliant stastical analysis led you to trade away the MVP of the league. I’d be willing to bet Charles and Kenny would have been smart enough not to make a move like that. You may be a billionaire, but you still don’t know jack about basketball compared to the REAL minds in the game and all the money in the world won’t buy you that knowledge.
Comment by Brent -
“people out there that spend their days on computers have no life”
Wow, thanks for the enlightenment!
Pffft.
Comment by Home Theater Dude -
I’m not quite sure why you are getting on the TNT staff? perhaps maybe..b/c they tell it like it is? you’re a great owner and what you did to the mavs is great and all, but they’re right. your team STILL doesnt play any D and you guys wont win a title anytime soon. certainly not if dirk is your number 1 player. at least the TNT staff doesnt try and get all in depth and act like ESPN does. i’d much rather watch a couple guys like charles and kenny, guys who actually did something in their careers, then watch tim legler and greg anthony. a couple guys who could barely make an NBA roster. for tim, he probably got cut more times than he actually got INTO a game. either way I just think you are taking it too personal.
Comment by Anthony -
Why not just dare Sir Charles to bring a Blackberry on the next show and read something from the blog. If he does, send him a box of Omaha Steaks.
Comment by monkeyinabox -
Here is a link related to the topic of discussion….
http://www.nba.com/news/tnt_051104.html
Jim Parham
Yuba City, CA
Comment by StockMaverick -
Aiight lets see..WHo should I listen to about basketball?..Two NBA players whos played in NBA FINALS, one of the greatest to ever play and the other was 2 rings..
Or a cat who gave away what would become the NBA’s MVP?!?!
Turned down the greatest fource basketball has ever seen, because he wanted to keep a softie who can’t guard a mannequin
And builds his teams like he;s playing the Fanchice Mode on NBA Live..
Mark Cuban, you out of your leauge on this one homeboy, stay in your lane.
Comment by Don Melson II -
Mark quit whining…..you should worry more about how your team has no identity or direction right now. i think the Mavs will be good but right now your team isnt. Quit whining and worry about how much Dampier sux, ok!
Comment by MARC -
Forget about TNT and win the big one in June. That will shut them up…..
Comment by Lord Bacchus -
Joseph, WTF?, Baseball and Football?…something’s wrong with you
Comment by eugene -
Mark,
I just ran across your comments about what you are doing with the Mavs as far as statistical analysis of the game and you are right on. Eventually, that hard, tedious, abd unglamorous work WILL pay off. It has already been done in baseball with the Oakland A’s and while they too have not won a championship yet, they have one of the most profitable and efficient teams in the league for the money. It was largely responsible for the Red Sox finally winning the World Series, but they had more money to work with than the folks in Oakland. Its worked in football with the success that the Patriots have seen and I am sure it will eventually work in the NBA too. Its not a question of if, but when. Numbers don’t lie. You may also find that if you apply the same sort of analysis to your entertainment business that you will see far better results there too.
Comment by Joseph -
If you don’t respect the guys on TNT, don’t turn on the TV in the locker room after the game.
I love the Mavs, but I have a hard time thinking they could knock out the Spurs, Pistons or Heat to get to or win the Championship.
Prove it on the court – even your parents probably told you actions are louder than words.
Comment by Neil Payne -
…with the advent of Tivo I never watch those fools…it is a time killer for the weak minded to sit and watch a bloated Barkley and his band of goofs pontificate!
…everyone needs to understand that the TNT guys are entertainment and nothing more! You want REAL halftime stats and analysis, lets get Coop a broadcast job. 🙂
Comment by William Allen -
If your opinion of the TNT crew is as low as it appears, why would you turn TV’s on in the locker room after the game.
If I don’t respect someone’s oppinion – I will ignore them.
You cannot make everyone happy…so don’t try.
Comment by Neil Payne -
Mark,
While you are on the topic, here is some business advice for you. 1) Get a decent haircut. 2) Look into that whole business casual thing for yourself. 3) Stay away from the bench, you are not on the team.
I appreciate that you are a “big fan” and all, but have some respect for the game, the fans aren’t paying to see your clown act.
Comment by Roney -
excuse me greg, but if you read anything that i wrote, It goes like this, QUIT WHINING, there’s basketball to be played. If you call charles barkley and kenny smith “mearly” former players, they’ve ran the pick and roll, they’ve defended it, they’ve ran many plays and played in every situation imaginable, they’ve been thru everything a player could possibly have gone through amoungst the two of them, one is a guard, another a foward, one played with the Dream, another one a former MVP of the League. You tell me they’re just sitting down and entertaining you? Like they just out there like ALI G, boyakasha? Whatever man, get it straight, they no more about ball than Cuban does, so she, i mean, he should straight up quit whining.
Comment by eugene -
excuse me greg, but if you read anything that i wrote, It goes like this, QUIT WHINING, there’s basketball to be played. If you call charles barkley and kenny smith “mearly” former players, they’ve ran the pick and roll, they’ve defended it, they’ve ran many plays and played in every situation imaginable, they’ve been thru everything a player could possibly have gone through amoungst the two of them, one is a guard, another a foward, one played with the Dream, another one a former MVP of the League. You tell me they’re just sitting down and entertaining you? Like they just out there like ALI G, boyakasha? Whatever man, get it straight, they no more about ball than Cuban does, so she, i mean, he should straight up quit whining.
Comment by eugene -
Hey, Mark, I seem to be in the minority here, but I think you’re right. Dallas was the 9th-best defensive team in the NBA last season, judging by the correct measure of efficiency, Points/100 Possessions. That’s not “soft”! And the team went six games against the 2nd-best offensive team ever (second only to… you guessed it, the 2003-04 Mavericks) in the WC Semis. Christie can only help, because he’s no worse than Fin offensively (as San Antonio will soon discover), but better on D and far cheaper. That was a good call, Cubes. Now, the Diop signing may be another story… but it could be one of those “second draft” situations and work out. Who knows? The point is that Kenny and Charles actually wasted precious air time defending themselves on TV last night, so no matter what they said, it’s a win for you. And they may spout the “I don’t want to coach” rhetoric, but we all know that that’s a load of crap. Of course they would coach if given the chance! But something tells me that those guys aren’t at the top of anybody’s list of prospective hires. Anyway, keep up the good work, Cubes, keep winning, and don’t listen to some TNT analysts’ BS.
Comment by Goo -
I think supremists like Craig P. should be barred from
this board. He keeps claiming I’m not a racist. Then
he reverts to the stereo typing:
“The reason they’ll get a call is coz they’ll yell in
the ref’s face”
Then indirectly goes into issues of affirmitive action:
“Bill Walton should be there instead of Reggie.”
What prooved you’re not only a supremist but a
dumb-ass was when you knocked on Iverson’s toughness.
Saying something along the lines of:
“Iverson’s weak garbage”.
FYI, that is the toughest SOB in the league I’ve
seen a game in which he played with a swell the
size of a volley ball on his knee… That is
impressive. Broken bones, splinters, he’ll play
right through it.
I think you have a cross to go burn. You Nazi/
Klann twerp ambassador!
Spizzy
Comment by MrKay -
good
Comment by imdbcn -
Dallas is just a place that no one wants to play in. It’s like a foreign country. If I wanted to choose a place in Texas I rather play in a city like Houston. It’s a great city and has the up rise of a possible dynasty. Then obvious choice that should be number one is San Antonio.
Comment by runescape money -
Anyone looking for anything but cursory analysis from them should have their head examined. Also, if you haven’t played the game you don’t realize how physical the game really is. That’s why Mark Cuban has a hard time understanding what Kenny and Charles mean when they call his team soft.
Comment by wow powerleveling -
To CraigP – You are very racist and maybe you should take a look at the NHL or PGA to see that some sports lean racially one way or another. The NBA is predominately black, but that doesn’t mean that when a talented non-black player doesn’t get a call (that you think he should) there is a racial plot to oppress him. Get over your racial issues or stop watching the NBA — if you haven’t noticed it is predominately black.
Comment by just a thought -
Dear Mark,
I’m a huge Mav’s Fan, but I’m also realistic with my expectations. In all honesty, I did not expect to keep pace with other teams in the Western Conference after some of the early off-season moves, though I’ve been very impressed with the increased emphasis on defense and less of a push for the 3 pt shot.
I truly like what is happening with the team and the fact that Barkley and Kenny Smith continue to bash on the Mavericks, speaks to their inability to recognize the progress that Avery’s made with the team. To listen to Charles and Kenny speak about the Mavericks, you’d think every team in the NBA would be licking their chops at the opportunity to feast on their so called horribly soft defense. My question to Charles and Kenny would be…..if the Mav’s are so horribly soft on defense, then why is the NBA’s record against the Mav’s a miserable 7 wins and 21 losses?
So….Dear Charles and Kenny, “How does your NBA only manage a winning percentage of 25% (as of 12-26-05) against your idea of a horribly soft defense?”
Personally, I’m quite pleased with the efforts to improve on defense…defending the rim a little better, cutting off more of the passing lanes to the cutters, defending players without the ball including the point position, improvement in blocked shots, and better rebounding….to name a few. Good luck this year Mavs….remembering much of good luck is a product of hard work. Go Mavs!
David Laffiteau
Comment by David Laffiteau -
Hey! This topic started almost two months ago and to my surprise when I came back here people are still posting to it. Let’s end the madness. Kenny and Charles are not always statistically correct nor would they probably be great head coaches. They are mildly funny with some of the outrageous things they say. And Mark cuban shouldn’t take anything either says personally.
I am not a Mavs fan, but I lkie what they have done so far this season – with the exception of giving up 62 points to Kobe. A lot of people would love to see Avery Johnson do well in Dallas. I’m personally tired of teams recycling the same old tired head coaches. Is anyone besides me sick of seeing Larry Brown coaching a new team every 2-3 years?
Comment by Ron -
Mark, I admire your consistent backing of your team, You should be commended for loyalty. You have a great coach, and like many teams, need a real center. As far as Kenny and Charles, they are like Johnny and Ed McMahon. They have a good shtick together, as far as being relevant, they just aren’t. Barkley makes his living saying a few inflammatory things he could not get away with if he were of a different race. Great blog, thanks.
Comment by Tom Allred -
I want to know what the **** Barkley and KS know about championship calibur basketball anyways. Kenny Smith was an average player at best who only won two titles because of Hakeem. He averaged just over 10 points and 4 assists a game in the 2 year title run. He had 2 good seasons, 89 in Sacramento and 91 in Houston. When they won titles he was a non factor, outplayed by Vernon ****ing Maxwell. Charles never even won a title, he is a joke of an expert. He’d be much better suited with an actual expert and not a puppet who will laugh alongside him like Kenny. Yes I’m a Mavs fan but no, I don’t really care when people trash the Mavs. They deserve it for the way they play sometimes. But atleast do it professionally and with logic, not just repeating the same boring tripe over and over again. The Mavs will never be the Spurs but they don’t have to be and you’d be a moron to deny the strides they have made in just one offseason with AJ at coach.
Comment by Andy -
Hey, I’ve read on here where people are saying that Charles and Kenny are dogging the Mavs because they dislike them. I think that statement and statements like that are untrue. Everyone knows that Dallas is a good team, and Dirk is a great player at what he does. The real point is that for them to get over the hump and finally win a championship they need to consistantly play good defense. That has not changed throughout the history of the league. I’ve watched the NBA through the late 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and now. If you look back at the prior champions, whether they were the “Showtime” Lakers that score 100 points per night, the Pistons of the late 80’s or any mixture of offensive team in between, they all had one thing in common. All of these teams could play hard nose defense.
It’s not a knock on Dallas. They are playing the best defense they’ve ever played, but will they do it come playoffs. Unfortunately, history has not proven that they’ve been willing to do that. Face it. There are going to be nights when players won’t be able to throw a roxk in the ocean much less be able to put the ball throw the basket. That’s when good defense will keep you in the game until someone can get hot.
Comment by Ron -
Great job, Mark. It was worth a shot to try to get the TNT crew to finally quit bagging on our Mavs. I think it might have actually worked!
http://p104.ezboard.com/fmaverickstalk1138frm9
Comment by Chachi -
Mark,
I say, Right on man. You said what everyone I know, including myself, would of said if we had the ability to get it out there.
The people who sit on here, writing out the same generalizations as Kenny and Barkley should get a brain of their own.
I hear a comment of how soft and horrible Dallas was on defense. Well, that is something to say if it were 2 years ago. The MAVS could not of come back from 0-2 against Houston if there were no form of defense. They could not of come back from 17-19 against 2 good teams. They could not of wasted the Spurs or the Pistons if there were no defense present.
All I am saying is, people and their opinions are absent of time and change. As mentioned, your opinions were valid 2 years ago, but not now.
About Kenny and Barkely, you have understand the effects of getting old to understand their brain patterns. They WERE great players in their time, but their time is up and the only way they can continue to leave their mark is by beating up on teams they dislike. Furthermore, a team they probably beat up on a consistant basis when they playing. That team is not the same team as when they were plaing and because their opinions are also unchanging through time they have the same ideas as they did 10 years ago. Also, since Charles never won a title it would probably be a shame to see the lowly MAVS of his time win a title.
Comment by Lucas Hammonds -
wat up? wat up!
I hear a lot of Dirk-Duncan, White-Black talk. It aint good. It aint no good bro.
Yo Craigp, check this out. Let me give you a brief desc of the basketball positions
Perimeter Players – Guards – Good ball handlers
==============================================
Point Guard (PG) – Primary ball handler. Sets up the play, generally initiate a play. Penetration is key.
Shooting Guard (SG) – Seconday ball handler. Good passer. Plays D. Knocks down shots. Penetration is key.
Post Players
=============
Power Forward (PF) – Becomes a legit inside threat. Get into a good scoring position (obviously with some physical play). Forces teams to double team. Scores! Closes the lane.
Center – Primary Rebounder, shot blocker. Scoring is a huge addition. Closes the lane.
Shooting Forward – Plays on the perimeter/post, based on the balance of the team. Generally knocks down open shots. Plays lots of D.
ALL PLAYERS SHOULD BE GOOD PASSERS, HAVE A GOOD COURT VISION and UNDERSTAND THEIR ROLES. POINTS OFF THE PAINT++
Dirk is a better shooter than Tim. Dirk is a better ball handler than Tim. But Tim is a better player at Pivot at Power Forward than Dirk. Dirk would be a great as a shoting forward. 3 Rings and counting baby!
Shaq – plays at Center and he is great at what he does. What will you do, if you were him. There are so many bulky bums running around doing nothing. Shaq is a legit threat and worth the 3 rings he won.
What do you think Dirk thinks about Tim?
When Tim was injured last year a few weeks before the playoffs, Dirk was on national TV talking about Duncan’s injury and he said …”Now, with this injury, the championship
is up for grabs and everyone has a equal chance”.
Dont pass on hasty comments cause you can and it makes you happy. It aint worth it. Dont sweet it out.
Comment by ashok -
Whoa! MrKay, let’s not stoop to the same level as CraigP by calling him names. Everybody is entitled to their own opinions (even if they are misguided). He does, however, seem as though he likes carrying white linens around in his car with him. 🙂
Comment by Ron -
“And comparing your basketball IQ to mine isnt quite apples to apples given that Im not the coach. Im willing to compare the basketball knowledge of AJ, Del Harris, Joe Prunty and Larry Riley to the two of you anytime. My guess, you guys are on the short end of the stick”
err Mark,
Are these the same HoF hoops IQ’s who let Nash go and then upped Dampier to an even bigger contract?
Maybe that’s why Charles IS a HoF’er and none of your guys will be for playing or coaching?
Then again as CEO of Mav’s inc. maybe you’re hiring and firing policies should come into it?
Comment by Scott -
“WHy is it that the fat out of shape old ANtoine Walker is still getting 40 minutes per night,
and Luke Walton cant get off the bench.”
Um, eerr, maybe its coz they are on different teams??
Jesus Christ, you really are thick. In any case from
my understanding Walton is injured. No wonder you have
so much hatred, if I had the reasoning capacity of
an imp, I’d be mad with the world too…
I feel you guy!!
Spizzy
Comment by MrKay -
Dear Mr. Cuban,
With all do respect, you are an IDIOT!!! I don’t doubt that your coaches (who obviously aren’t all that great seeing as your precious Mavs haven’t been to the Finals in a while)know a great deal about basketball. Unfortunately for you dimwits, Charles and Kenny know more. And, you’re only getting on Reggie for all the times he’s crushed your shell of a team with one of those 3-pointers true fans know and love. Get over yourself! Have you ever actually been able to make a basketball team? By the looks of it, my guess is no. You’re nothing but a fan who just happened to have enough money to buy yourself a team…sorry you picked a team who was unable to win championships. Oh, and by the way, great job of letting Steve Nash go. When Nash left, so did Dallas’ championship dreams.
Comment by kane -
There’s only one way you’ll ever see kenny and charles shut up re: the Mavs…win a championship! Until that happens they’ll use the “no defense” line no matter what happens.
I agree that those two don’t have much of a clue a lot fo the time but they have the podium and the only way to shut them up is to get some jewelry.
Comment by John Strand -