Since I often miss some threads and posts I pray this one has not been posted yet. The Chicago Tribune had a part in one of their articles which claims some internal problems with the Mavs: Quote: Dallas soap opera: We know how players get a coach fired. They just curtail their effort. But how do players get an owner fired? It turns out padded slippers and fluffy towels aren't enough to overcome Mark Cuban's insincerity, disingenuousness, hypocrisy and pretension. Anyone get the picture here? The Mavs players surely have. They are 17-12, which would be cause for celebration with the Bulls. But the Mavs were 25-4 at this time last year. And they're 4-10 on the road, the only top Western team with a losing road record. There has been talk of Dirk Nowitzki's bothersome ankles and Michael Finley's injuries and slump. But insiders and players say the same spirit and drive are gone, emptied by the double dealing and personal aggrandizement of owner Cuban. It's one reason why All-Star guard Steve Nash talked of going to Toronto when he becomes a free agent. Players are confused about the constant personnel changes, like the deals for Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison that have left only five players from last season's conference finals team. Even now, Cuban is talking about taking on troublesome Rasheed Wallace. Promises to popular veterans like Tim Hardaway and Nick Van Exel were broken. Players were upset with Cuban's obsessive courtship of Pat Riley last season that held up coach Don Nelson's extension. Now, insiders say, Cuban will dump Nelson the minute Riley says he'll come aboard. To no one's surprise, Cuban is blaming Nelson and his staff for the struggles this season. "The issue isn't so much with our players as it is with our coaching staff just drilling them and drilling them and drilling them to death," Cuban said last week. "In terms of personnel, I wouldn't change it for anything." Until he does. Dallas has now become one of the most unfriendly places in the NBA for players. UNQUOTE and here is the link: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...tes,0,7295550.column?coll=cs-bulls-navigation Welcome to Houston DIRK!
If this is true, which I doubt a little considering all the things I've heard about Dallas, my question is: why the Chicago Tribune and not some Dallas paper? It would make sense that a Dallas team should be followed most closely by a Dallas paper, so why would they not break the news first?
To keep in the family? I would also wait and then come up with some well covered and source checked article before just start shooting. Thats maybe the reason why they are waiting.
... and they thought Joan Crawford was a helluva mother. Well, it turn out she was a hell of a mother!
Houston trades: PG Moochie Norris (2.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.7 apg in 13.4 minutes) PG John Amaechi (2.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.7 apg in 13.4 minutes) C Kelvin Cato (6.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 0.8 apg in 28.8 minutes) PF Maurice Taylor (11.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.1 apg in 26.9 minutes) Houston receives: PF Dirk Nowitzki (19.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.3 apg in 37.1 minutes) PG Steve Nash (14.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 7.8 apg in 33.4 minutes) C Shawn Bradley (2.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.1 apg in 10.1 minutes) PG Travis Best (3.2 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 2.0 apg in 13.6 minutes) Change in team outlook: +19.7 ppg, +0.4 rpg, and +8.6 apg. Dallas trades: PF Dirk Nowitzki (19.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.3 apg in 37.1 minutes) PG Steve Nash (14.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 7.8 apg in 33.4 minutes) C Shawn Bradley (2.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.1 apg in 10.1 minutes) PG Travis Best (3.2 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 2.0 apg in 13.6 minutes) Dallas receives: PG Moochie Norris (2.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.7 apg in 29 games) PG John Amaechi (2.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.7 apg in 29 games) C Kelvin Cato (6.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 0.8 apg in 29 games) PF Maurice Taylor (11.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.1 apg in 23 games) Change in team outlook: -19.7 ppg, -0.4 rpg, and -8.6 apg. TRADE ACCEPTED Due to Houston and Dallas being over the cap, the 15% trade rule is invoked. Houston and Dallas had to be no more than 115% plus $100,000 of the salary given out for the trade to be accepted, which did happen here. This trade satisfies the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
All I'm saying is that internal problems don't mean crap if a team is winning. I wouldn't care if Steve was banging Cuttino's girlfriend, as long as they could go one game without botching a simple inbounds play, or god forbid score 20 points in each quarter of a game...
I agree, but maybe the problems are just starting and the winning is not a sure thing in the future. Let's wait and see.
Teams with bad chemistry do not win championships...period. What do the Lakers' three recent championships all have in common? Kobe and Shaq were on the same page for the majority of those seasons. Why didn't they win last season? Different pages. I always thought that his lack of respect for older, yet contributing veterans would come back to bite Cuban in the ass, and if this article is accurate, it has. I don't buy it for now, because it seems too soon, but I could see it potentially causing some rifts.
For the elite teams, it only matters how they play in March, April, and May. It doesn't matter if they are struggling now. If they peak at spring time, then they can win it all. It's too early to peak now. The Spurs last year were struggling early in the season. Then, they were invincible in the spring months. They peaked at the right time.
Internal problems, indeed. I've heard from reliable sources that the entire team has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. ... Not good for team chemistry, if you follow me. Someone may need to, um, clear the air for them.
My sources tell me that this tragedy can be directly traced to the Cuban food in the locker room-- only the home team locker room.
But shouldn't Dallas be a better team than Houston. Nash, Finley, Nowitzki, Jamison, Walker. That's tons better than what Houston has to offer, and they only have a few more wins. That team's not in good shape for the long haul. They will never be a contender till they get a consistent inside force.
Cuban's response to this which I found on the dallas espn boards. A pair of national basketball writers, apparently feeding from the same trough of bile, have taken the Mavs start and turned it into a combination earthquake/volcano/hurricane/asteroid-hitting-Earth occurrence and are, of course, blaming Mark Cuban for the unnatural disaster. I guess, Cuban fires back through DallasBasketball.com, there had to be a point when somebody had to make Peter Vescey look smart. What does Cuban think of Chicago Tribune writer Sam Smith's attack on him and his team? Sam Smith, Cuban says, is nothing but a liar. Is there anyone in all of sports who is more clueless? What does Cuban think of Newark Star-Ledger writer Dave D'Alessandro's similar attack? No one says he gets paid to think things through, and he obviously doesn't, Cuban says. But even he is a genius compared to Sam Smith. The source of Cuban's ire? A pair of Sunday notes column items in the aforementioned newspapers that reek of bitter agendas and ethical absences, scribblings that address issues great and small, all the way up to the Mavs, apparently double-top-secret plan to replace Don Nelson with Pat Riley. Smith is saying I met with Pat Riley??? scoffs Cuban. That never has happened. Never. The one time (Riley) called me, which was not recently, he asked if he should talk to me or to Donnie (Nelson). And I referred him to our director of basketball operations, as I do all basketball calls.
Dallas is a much better team than Houston. 22 assists per game to only 13 TOs and they're averaging 102 ppg. Nash, Nowitski, Walker, and Finley are just in shooting slumps right now, but they're still shooting at least 42%. They actually know how to play basketball. The Mavs' only problem is their lack of defense, which is a lot easier to fix than the Rockets horrid offense
