I like gettinbranded. Where else could we get such insight on da Bulls? (even if he's attacked by fits of delusion at times. )
Rashard, I got two words for you... Gary Trent. He signed with Dallas for way under market value. He too was promised that he'd be "taken care of" when his contract was up and they could afford to pay him more. Played his @$$ off for them and what does he get? Hmm... last I looked, his money got given to stiffs like Bradley, La Frentz, and the other stiff Even what'shisname. Anyway... the point is, Dallas can't be trusted. And bigboy hit it on the head when he named all the players the Rockets have kept their word too. Even signed and traded Shandon so he could get his money. If you wanna come to a "first class" organization... u don't have to leave home.
You guys act like owners are the most honest people in sports. How can you say that Cuban is wrong for cutting Danny Manning? I am sure the Rockets never cut anybody. You talk about Cuban because he has built a team that is talented enough where sorry old Danny Manning doesn't get many minutes. You guys will find any way to criticize Cuban. Danny Manning sucked last year, he didn't deserve to play. As for Tim Hardaway, he didn't play well and Cuban found a better replacement. Are you telling me that if you guys had a chance to become a title contender you wouldn't do it so you can look good to Tim Hardaway? I'm sure Olajuwan wanted to end his career in Houston, but you guys didn't lock him up for another year. Does that mean your owner is not loyal to his players? Also, Cuban sold broadcast.com for more than a billion dollars I believe, and so far he has been really loyal to Michael Finley. There have been many times where he could have traded Finley to another team but he has not done it and when his contract time came around, he locked him up for the next seven years. So far Cuban has been loyal to the people that have played big parts in the companies success. The people you have named have not played a full season with the Mavs.
No insult to Lewis, I think he's a very good young talent, but what's with all the media coverage? It's not as if he goes to Dallas and all of a sudden they beat the Lakers. They still have NO DEFENSE. Just imagine the Duncan sweepstakes!
OMG, that is hilarious. Gary Trent, hahaha. How can you say he played his butt off when he didn't even play 90 games with us in the three years he was with us. We never could count on him because he was always hurt. I know you are not trying to imply that the Mavericks are not a "first class" organization because that is just dumb as hell. If you ask the players and the fans what team that they would rather play for Dallas or Houston, I bet almost twice as many people would choose Dallas over Houston.
If you're "sure" about this, then I suggest you research this further, as this makes your other points suspect as well. Also, it's Olajuwon, sheesh. At least be able to spell the name of one of the all-time greats who is still playing and has been for almost 20 years... And gettinbranded, I usually like you and your good-natured ribbing (and the ever-popular caption contests rule ), but every once in a while you cross the line into trollsville. If you feel the need to assert such hypotheses such as "Bulls would have won in 94 and 95 if Jordan had not retired", there's always "NBA Dish"- and then people who want to steer clear of such tripe can happily do so.
No No No.. Rashard wants to SIT in one of those fancy seats that Cuban has for his players. That is how he takes care of em. Probbie even takes care of the pedicures and more for them too!
You guys take this stuff WAY too personally. The Tim Hardaway situation made sense to me. I mean, for crying out loud, how often have we complained about Cato's contract? You know, we are still PAYING MATT MALONEY!!! I agree that Cuban's integrity level can be questioned and that's fine, but this is just a passing mention in a column from CHICAGO. Big deal. Man, can this summer speed up or what?
Thanks for the article gb. If Dallas is so great why doesn't Lewis just sign with them? Why is he dragging his feet and talking to the Rockets. Truth be told I wish he would just hurry up and sign with them just so we won't have to worry about threads wondering where Lewis is going, are the Rockets talking to him, and complaining about how the Rockets didn't draft him when 99% of the league passed on him. Actually Hakeem was a free agent and he wore out his welcome by complaining and asked to be traded or released DURING the season. Then HE asked for the trade to Toronto to get a few more dollars, what something like 5 million dollars or so more? How is it disloyal not to re-sign a free agent that is asking for to much money and is on the downside of his career?
Yeah, that's why so many players live in Houston and take below market value to play in Houston, because they REALLY want to play in Dallas. Uh huh, ok.
Tim Hardaway came to the Mavericks looking to player a smaller role on a good team. From what I remember, he was also playing fairly well. Granted, he was not the player he was in Golden State or Miami(And hopefully that isn't what y'all expected), but he was putting up some good numbers, spelling and playing alongside Steve Nash. Van Exel put up 13ppg, 4apg, and 3rpg, and I don't think that Hardaway's numbers were terribly worse than that. You don't think that the Mav's have tried to trade Finley? I'm not even a Mav's fan and I have heard many rumors about his leaving town. He got a contract...so what? Did you think that Cuban was just going to let him walk for nothing? The Rockets did indeed try to bring Dream back, Dream has said all along that he really like Toronto, which is where he will probably end his career. Hakeem left because we didn't have the money to keep him.
You have to admit---there wern't the same number of games in that season there was in the others. No telling what might happened if the season had properly been stretched out. But they got their trophy.* gb
Yea, I'm sure Dream really wanted to finish his career in freakin Canada. Also since the Rockets had his Bird rights there is no way the Rockets couldn't afford to pay him they just didn't want to. That alone says a lot about how the Rockets in how they treated the best player that ever played for them. And yet the Mavs are the one's that aren't loyal, yea right. As for Trent ... he was promised to he resigned but he didn't hold up his end of the bargain. He wasn't able to stay healthy and when he was healthy he didn't perform. You have to perform in order to get paid. Hardaway was strictly a business decision. Nellie really wanted Raef, and in order to get Raef we had to take on NVE's, and TAW's contract. Hardaway's contract was the only one (other than Nash's) we had that we could throw in to make the deal work. If Tim was a cornerstone player for the Mavs he wouldn't have been traded. Unfortunately he was only on the team of a half season so in order to make the team better he had to be included in the trade. If you guys had the chance to trade Cato for let's say Shaq are you saying you wouldn't do it (even though it would make the team better) simply because of loyalty? If that's the case I'm sure glad you don't run my team.
Bird right mean nothing if you are under the cap which the Rockets were at the time and still comtemplating some free agent moves which have everything to do with the cap. Dream wanted out the year before when he was being paid 16 millions per year to play 20 minutes a game and be able to play 3/4 of the season. Granted that he did not want 16 mill but he wanted 5 mill for 3 years guaranteed. We offered 4 mill and guaranteed 2 years. HE said give me the guaranteed extra year or trade me. Well Dream got exactly what he wanted ...the money & the guaranteed years...it is just that Toronto has to pay, not us. One thing to add......Dream was NOT worth the 4 mill per let alone the 5 mill he got or the extra year....just ask Toronto.. So you are comparing Raef Lafrentz to Shaq?!? Your analogy seems a bit flawed.. No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors. We don't know what Cuban said or what Tim said.
