Greetings fellow sports fans, enthusiasts, and fellow members of the media. I wanted to create an article that would hopefully give some insight to the “real” NBA. I do not wish to come across as a malcontent or agitator of any sort. I only wish to show you how time and time again this gigantic conglomerate tends to be hypocritical, condescending, and at times, completely CLUELESS!
Within the inner workings of an NBA franchise, there are multiple individuals that make up part of the decision making team; these individuals are hired with the expectations of coming together and putting the best players on the floor to compete for a championship. Some franchises understand the process of building a championship contender, and some franchises are just idiots when it comes to this process. Sorry, a spade is a spade no matter how you want to slice it.
With that being said, let’s examine the individuals that are hired to put together a roster. There is a scout, a Director of Operations, a General Manager, and the owner. In many cases, the owner doesn’t know his ass from his elbow (excuse the language), and is simply needed for one thing: CTC (cutting the check). He’s usually some cable-television magnate, luxury cruise ship owner, internet mogul, metals tycoon, or even a U.S. Senator (Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl). The owner’s interest is strictly financial and he tends to get impatient when the dollars aren’t calculating as fast as he would like.
Dallas Mavericks’ owner, Mark Cuban, is the quintessential and rare NBA owner; since purchasing the Mavs in 2000, he has only just once seen a return on his $285 million investment.
Courtesy: USA Today
Cuban always envisioned himself becoming an owner and running his team from a fan’s perspective. If you think long and hard about it, this is probably how you should run an NBA franchise; you should put in long hours of watching college basketball, fly overseas to watch the talent there, spend time in the stands at D-League games, and occasionally, make your way to a few summer leagues in the U.S. By doing this you get to know the talent that’s out there, seeing for yourself what they have to offer. Normally, that would be the job for your scout, but let’s be honest here, half of these guys get promoted from within the organization and have little to no experience evaluating talent.
How many guys around the league have been promoted from equipment manager, to team videographer, to travel consultant, to assistant, to head coach? The answer: TOO MANY! From a fan’s point of view, Mark Cuban took the time to analyze all that was wrong with the Mavericks, and purchased the team intending to change it from the ground up, with new uniforms to new concession stands, and luxury locker rooms; he changed the attitude of what it meant to be a Dallas Maverick, infusing life and vigor into a dying franchise that had been on a decade long losing streak. Cuban understood that in order to play championship basketball, his team had to look and feel like champions. He understood that die-hard fans could act as another member of the team, in-turn giving his players an extra boost on the nights that they didn’t have any gas left in the tank.
That is why in 2011, after owning the Mavericks for only eleven years, Mark Cuban was able to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy given to the World Champions! This is the good side of the NBA; when management really gets it.
