David Moore with Cuban Article!!!

[PepperTheMavsFan41]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...177670ab6.html





Cuban: 'I fully expect Nellie to be coach next year'

12:35 PM CDT on Friday, April 30, 2004


By DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News



SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Mark Cuban stood in a cramped hallway at Arco Arena and talked about the end of a season.

The Mavericks' owner was subdued after his team failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in three years. But a man who made his fortune by being ahead of the curve isn’t about to wallow in what went wrong. His thoughts are focused on what lies ahead.

Cuban believes the smart move for this franchise is to keep the Big Three of Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley intact. As for the future of Don Nelson, a question Cuban estimates he’s already fielded 126 times, he said he expects Nelson back to coach the team.

He also shot down speculation that Miami president Pat Riley could be coaching in Dallas as soon as next season.

“Let’s talk about Pat Riley,’’ Cuban said. “I will absolutely, positively guarantee you without any question, I’ll put any amount of money on it, that Pat Riley is not going to be the coach of the Dallas Mavericks next year. I fully expect Nellie to be the coach next year. I don’t see any reason to change that.’’

The owner expects point guard Steve Nash and rookie Marquis Daniels to be back as well. He has no desire to see the Mavericks change their style of play, no regrets over the off-season trades that failed to nudge this team forward and stressed that all decisions are left in the hands of his basketball staff.

Cuban labeled the idea that this team will look to make wholesale changes as nonsense. That doesn’t mean there won’t be changes.

The word Cuban likes to use is opportunistic.

“My goal is to bring a championship to Dallas, and I’m going to do whatever I can to do that,’’ Cuban said. “In the 4½ years I’ve been here, I’ve learned there’s no template. You can’t just go out and say, 'OK, let’s go find the next Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) and we’ll be there.' It just doesn’t work that way.

“You just have to keep on grinding it, grinding it, grinding it. There is never a short fix to get it done. We’ve made the commitment financially to do it.’’

Q&A WITH MARK CUBAN

Q: You can argue this is the first time since you purchased the franchise in January of 2000 that it hasn’t shown improvement. How does that factor into your evaluation?

A: “The reality is either you win a championship or you’re tied for last place. All this stuff about how far you get in the playoffs being an indicator of anything is nonsense.

“And just to set the record straight, there is absolutely no part of the evaluation process that says ‘OK, we got this far or that far.’ There are no plans to make any big changes. I’m not going to blow stuff up. You guys have got to come up with better questions.’’

Q: Still, the Mavericks advanced to the Western Conference finals last season. This team won only one game and went out in the first round. How do you sell that to the fans as not taking a step back?

A: “We sell fun. We don’t sell standards.

“Remember the first day I came in, we told everybody we’re trying to create value for fans, we’re trying to create a great experience for fans. The MFFLs (Maverick Fan For Life) eat, sleep and breathe the Mavs. If anything, with the quality of fans we have, I think they’ll be even more supportive, knowing how important their support is.’’

Q: Nash intends to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. How confident are you that you will be able to resign him?

A: “You never know dealing with agents. If it was just me and Steve in a room, I don’t think there would be any problem. But as long as there are agents involved, you never know.

“We love him. We love him to death. Steve, Dirk and myself, Nellie, the nucleus, we’ve grown together pretty much since the day I got here. He knows how important he is and how well he fits. He knows this team and this offense. This organization has developed around him and towards him. That’s a tough position to find anywhere else.’’

Q: Daniels becomes a restricted free agent. Are you concerned his strong performance late in the season will make it difficult to hold onto him?

A: “No, not at all. Unless somebody does something that is really out of whack. …

“I think Marquis really likes it here. We like having him. I think he realizes a big part of his development is his effort, but also having the support staff we have. Having guys like Mike and Steve and Dirk that can help him grow. And having his twin (Josh Howard).’’

Q: Do you feel the nucleus for a championship team is in place and it’s just a matter of altering the cast around the Big Three?

A: “I think we’ve got the Big Three and hopefully we have the nucleus for the next three. There is something to be said for having your Big Three with Dirk as the transition to the next Big Three.

“We still have some of the same holes we’ve had in the past. We just have to continue to build. Nothing has really changed. We’re going to continue to be opportunistic. But the emergence of Josh and Marquis will change the type of player we go after. We can go after a young big (man). We can do the same type of thing with a big (man), to try to develop somebody the way we have Josh and Marquis. Those are the type of things we will discuss.

“Having the rookies emerge has really stabilized things. It means we can keep the same people, do the same things, and have the older guys be there to help the younger guys. That’s the best scenario we can ask for.’’

Q: Are you satisfied with Nelson’s style or would you like to see more balance between the offensive and defensive side of the ball?

A: “Go back two years when we made our big trade with Denver. We struggled, but put big posters up about not allowing layups and worked on defensive drills. We had some stability (in lineup) and were able to put an effort into defense. Not today (Game 5), but in previous games, when we’re prepared and ready, we’ve shown good things can happen defensively. Shawn (Bradley) was hurt and never got in a groove this season. That impacted it.

“As I look at our roster versus other rosters, I don’t think that we’re at a significant disadvantage defensively. I think Nellie did the smart thing. He played to our strengths. That’s what he’s supposed to do. But again, having camp and time to work on things. We know what our strengths are, and we will work on our weakness. That will make us better defensively.’’

Q: So you don’t feel this team needs a shift in philosophy?

A: “Nope.’’

Q: You like the up-and-down pace?

A: “Yes. That’s what this team was built to do.’’

Q: Acquiring Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison during the off-season clearly upgraded the talent on the team’s roster. Any regrets about what it did to the team’s chemistry?

A: “No. We would do them again in a heartbeat.

“How many games did Raef (LaFrentz) play? How many games did Nick (Van Exel) play? We would have had holes there, and we didn’t have anybody who could fill those holes. No disrespect to Nick or Raef, it’s just that they were hurt, and they suffered injuries that re-occurred.’’

Q: Do you like to step back for a few days before you begin the evaluation process?

A: “We try every day to evaluate. You don’t have to have a separate evaluation process because it’s the end of the year. You evaluate what you do going forward. Because of the expansion draft, you try to anticipate all the different options. That’s really what the focus will be, not why didn’t we do this or how did we do that.

“Contrary to what all of you guys say and write, I leave the basketball to the basketball people.’’

Q: So the decisions made in the coming weeks and months will be made by your staff?

A: “I’m not a basketball guy. You will never, ever hear me come in and say this is our new philosophy. We’re changing who we are and what we are.

“First of all, it would be ridiculous because we didn’t build a team toward that. You have to play to the strengths of players. That’s what Donnie (Nelson) is there for. That’s what Nellie’s there for and that’s what Del (Harris) is there for. I’m certainly not going to tell them this is the offense we’re going to run and this is the defense.

“Contrary to what everyone like to talk about, Donnie tells me, I don’t tell Donnie. Or Nellie tells me. I don’t tell Nellie.’’



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WHy come out and say these things so quickly?????

I see no good reason to jump the gun like this.