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Hey, I'm not the one who brought it up, and I'm not really indignant. Personally, I don't think taking a charge is any more dangerous than a number of other activities that occur in every single NBA game. But you've conveniently ignored my point.
If the NBA changed the rules so that it was NOT a foul to knock players to the floor like Fortson did, do you think it would be acceptable for the Mavs to go around knocking players to the floor, as long as the rules permit it? Surely not. That is, not unless you didn't really care whether players got hurt.
The EXACT same rationale applies to this situation. In fact, Cuban said that trying to take a weakside charge is "far more dangerous." So either Cuban really doesn't care about players getting hurt, or he really doesn't think it's that dangerous.
Your argument about how I'm being "unrealistic" is really irrelevant. For the record, I don't expect Cuban, or any other team owner, to take this stance (that his players shouldn't take charges because they're dangerous). I just expect Cuban to either be consistent, or keep his mouth shut.
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Outside of evaluating how accurate Cuban is in his own appraisal of the dangers inherent in taking charges (for the record, as many instances as there are of guys sliding under opponents already in the air to take illegal charges, I think he's not that far off), it doesn't really matter if charges are notably more or less dangerous than other currently legal basketball activities. What's important is that: a) they do carry a significant injury risk, and b) they are, in the estimation of both Cuban and Nellie, not really good basketball plays since they don't involve making a play on the ball. Aside from the legality issue, this is very close to a description of what was wrong with what Fortson did.
Now, what if the NBA changed its rules as you hypothetically suggested? One word: Football. It happens all the time in football. And people get injured worse than Cabarkapa all the time, sometimes tragically worse. But it's legal, so coaches coach it, players do it, and fans love it. Do you watch football? Now, football and basketball are different sports, and that's fine with me, because I like both of them, but it's just not accurate to suggest that if the NBA decided to suddenly allow flagrants like the one Fortson commited that they would be blazing a trail of unprecedented disregard for human safety that fans should object to on principles alone, becuase other sports have their foundation built on that sort of violence.
As to Cuban either really not caring if players get hurt, or really not thinking the play is that dangerous. This issue doesn't exist in a vaccum. That logic only works if there are no mitigating considerations in the mix. But there are. Money and competitiveness spring to my mind right off the bat. Cuban wants to win, and he wants to continue to be financially succesful. In order to do that, given the level of competition in the league, you have to take advantage of the rules. It doesn't mean that he has no concern for the players' safety, and it doesn't mean he's making stuff up. It means that his desire to win and have money outweigh any impulse he might have to do the right thing, as it were. Hey, I never said he's a saint, just a good owner.
And I didn't say that you were being unrealistic. I said if you were expecting someone to swear off a legal play because they thought there was an injury risk, you were being unrealistic. Obviously, since you don't think that, you're not being unrealistic.