How Mark Cuban got his center from Michael Jordan in 45 minutes

[spectre]

SportsDayDFW.com

With their win over Houston on Monday, the Mavericks are now 13-4. How is this team coming together?

I mean, you hit the nail on the head: it’s come together and I think the guys are really playing hard for each other. We realize that it’s a team effort and that we’ve got enough depth and talent that there’s always somebody willing and able to step up. And I think the other thing is that the energy level is just 20, 30, 40-percent higher than it was last year and obviously that’s attributable to Top Cat – Tyson Chandler. He’s the leader of the band and as his energy goes, so goes the team and his energy is off the charts.

Chandler’s performance so far for the Mavericks has been incredible. How much of the reason he’s playing so well is he’s healthy or because he’s in a contract year?

Yea, I went and sought him like that. I’ll tell you the whole genesis of Tyson coming here. The Bobcats had a trade with Jose Calderon in Toronto and that fell apart. I called Michael Jordan and said, “Look, we have [Erick] Dampier’s contract; we really like Tyson; would you be interested in basically swapping it? But because of the money involved, you’d have to take back Eddie [Najera] and Matt Carroll.” And he called me back 45 minutes later and we had a deal.

What we didn’t tell him was that guy who really deserves all the credit for the trade was our trainer, Casey Smith. Casey is the trainer for the U.S. Olympic team and so he’s been with Tyson this whole summer and I caught up with Casey and said, “What do you think…tell me about Tyson: about his health and about Tyson the guy.” And he said two things: one, he’s healthy. He’s got his explosiveness back and having gone through everything on the medical side, we don’t see any immediate risk; not that he couldn’t hurt himself again but no immediate ongoing risk from his previous injuries. But then he said something even more important and this kind of goes to your contract year-type thing. He said, “You know what? Tyson doesn’t get a lot of minutes on the USA team but he’s the most vocal and inspiring guy in the locker room.”

And that’s something that Donnie and I have felt we always needed to coach. And also, we needed someone who was vocal in the locker room; someone who is up off the bench and loud and exciting and getting the guys motivated and when I pulled all those pieces together, it was a no-brainer to pull the trigger on the trade.

[ziggy]

Nice find Spectre,

He is playing well for the Mavs and helping them out a bunch this season, BUT once the ink is dry on that contract I bet he'll go back to 30 games a season.

[spectre]

Nice find Spectre,

He is playing well for the Mavs and helping them out a bunch this season, BUT once the ink is dry on that contract I bet he'll go back to 30 games a season.

I totally agree...but I would have LOVED to reaped this year's benefits and then S&T him to someone like Cuban at the deadline or next summer.

IMO this goes to show that the Lollipop in my avatar is alive and well. Cuban called us really wanting TC and threw the two bad contracts in as a negotiating ploy (you always offer less than you're willing to give)...and we jump on it within an hour without even a counter offer.

[BIGCatBobcat]

I totally agree...but I would have LOVED to reaped this year's benefits and then S&T him to someone like Cuban at the deadline or next summer.

IMO this goes to show that the Lollipop in my avatar is alive and well. Cuban called us really wanting TC and threw the two bad contracts in as a negotiating ploy (you always offer less than you're willing to give)...and we jump on it within an hour without even a counter offer.

And we threw in Alexis...super cooooool! I'm not pining (pine-ing?) for Ray nor TyTy. I have put whatever they do, unless it's against the Bobcats (a la Ray Ray), on the side. Just "yep, good for those guys" and move on. How else were we going to get under the luxury tax? I'd love to keep everybody, Tyson, Ray, Sean May, Morrison, Shannon Brown, Flip, Larry Hughes....you know whoever, just stockpile them like hell...who cares but this is America, The NBA of America and we can't go round like that. Nah, Gah, Nah, Happen.

[teej]

After seeing what happened between Crash and TC, and hearing some behind-the-scenes stuff, I'm glad Tyson's gone. Not a fit for this team.

[SWedd523]

"Look, we have [Erick] Dampier’s contract; we really like Tyson; would you be interested in basically swapping it? But because of the money involved, you’d have to take back Eddie [Najera] and Matt Carroll."


I'm usually one to defend the Front Office, but I'm sorry, that line sums up the clear and apparent anal reaming we were dealt in that transaction.



First of all, when they call you and try to get a deal going, YOU. ARE. IN. THE. POSITION. OF. POWER. Especially when they say you have a player they "really like"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen to the offer (which is obviously going to be less than what they'd be willing to do) and make a counter offer. The only things that can happen are the trade falls apart or you get what you want. It's simple guys.


Secondly, when they try and pull some shit like, "because of the money involved, you're going to need to take two of our worst contracts"...................... and you accept............ YOU. ARE. A. MORON. The last time I checked, Dampier was due $13mil and Tyson is due only $12.6mil. THEY WORK STRAIGHT UP MIKE! If other contracts are added, it IS possible to add a player or two that you actually want, believe it or not. He must have just caught Mike at the golf course when he didn't want to be bothered so he was just like, "Yeah whatever Cuban, who cares. It's a deal. Just quit calling me! I have $50 thousand on this hole!"


The deal we took was:

Dampier (13)
Carroll (4.3)
Najera (3)
___________
total = 20.3mil


Tyson (12.6)
Ajinca (1.5)
___________
total = 13.5mil



Here's a list of trades that would've worked

1. Dampier for Tyson and Ajinca. (We were trying to shed salary right? So why add those other two bums into the deal when this worked?)

2. Dampier and JJ Barea for Tyson and Ajinca. (We did need a PG right? We were trying to shed salary right?)

3. Dampier and Caron Butler for Tyson and Diaw (Caron can be a super sub to help our horrendous bench, and is an expiring. We also get out of Diaw's contract)

4. Dampier and Beaubois for Tyson, Ajinca, and a 2nd rounder (Read #2, except with Beaubois being better than Barea)

5. Dampier and Jason Terry for Tyson and Diaw (Read #3, except that Terry has two years instead of one, can play PG, which we were looking for, AND is one of Jack's best friends)




That's just 5 to counter offer with. If Carroll and/or Eddie are a must, then add in Diop or Diaw to make it even. It really isn't that difficult, and it shows gross stupidity on the part of our Front Office. Trades like the one we made, adding years of salary............. in a salary dump.............. tell me I shouldn't have any confidence in anything the FO attempts to do to make our team better. I'm sure some of us BCP folk could run the FO better than what we're dealing with at the moment.

[Chef]

"Look, we have [Erick] Dampier’s contract; we really like Tyson; would you be interested in basically swapping it? But because of the money involved, you’d have to take back Eddie [Najera] and Matt Carroll."


I'm usually one to defend the Front Office, but I'm sorry, that line sums up the clear and apparent anal reaming we were dealt in that transaction.



First of all, when they call you and try to get a deal going, YOU. ARE. IN. THE. POSITION. OF. POWER. Especially when they say you have a player they "really like"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen to the offer (which is obviously going to be less than what they'd be willing to do) and make a counter offer. The only things that can happen are the trade falls apart or you get what you want. It's simple guys.


Secondly, when they try and pull some shit like, "because of the money involved, you're going to need to take two of our worst contracts"...................... and you accept............ YOU. ARE. A. MORON. The last time I checked, Dampier was due $13mil and Tyson is due only $12.6mil. THEY WORK STRAIGHT UP MIKE! If other contracts are added, it IS possible to add a player or two that you actually want, believe it or not. He must have just caught Mike at the golf course when he didn't want to be bothered so he was just like, "Yeah whatever Cuban, who cares. It's a deal. Just quit calling me! I have $50 thousand on this hole!"


The deal we took was:

Dampier (13)
Carroll (4.3)
Najera (3)
___________
total = 20.3mil


Tyson (12.6)
Ajinca (1.5)
___________
total = 13.5mil



Here's a list of trades that would've worked

1. Dampier for Tyson and Ajinca. (We were trying to shed salary right? So why add those other two bums into the deal when this worked?)

2. Dampier and JJ Barea for Tyson and Ajinca. (We did need a PG right? We were trying to shed salary right?)

3. Dampier and Caron Butler for Tyson and Diaw (Caron can be a super sub to help our horrendous bench, and is an expiring. We also get out of Diaw's contract)

4. Dampier and Beaubois for Tyson, Ajinca, and a 2nd rounder (Read #2, except with Beaubois being better than Barea)

5. Dampier and Jason Terry for Tyson and Diaw (Read #3, except that Terry has two years instead of one, can play PG, which we were looking for, AND is one of Jack's best friends)




That's just 5 to counter offer with. If Carroll and/or Eddie are a must, then add in Diop or Diaw to make it even. It really isn't that difficult, and it shows gross stupidity on the part of our Front Office. Trades like the one we made, adding years of salary............. in a salary dump.............. tell me I shouldn't have any confidence in anything the FO attempts to do to make our team better. I'm sure some of us BCP folk could run the FO better than what we're dealing with at the moment.

amen. all this time i thought we called them to try and get the DUST for cp3. wow, and mike is a damned good business man. hope he reads this and sees what other owners are saying about him.

[spectre]

"Look, we have [Erick] Dampier’s contract; we really like Tyson; would you be interested in basically swapping it? But because of the money involved, you’d have to take back Eddie [Najera] and Matt Carroll."


I'm usually one to defend the Front Office, but I'm sorry, that line sums up the clear and apparent anal reaming we were dealt in that transaction.



First of all, when they call you and try to get a deal going, YOU. ARE. IN. THE. POSITION. OF. POWER. Especially when they say you have a player they "really like"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen to the offer (which is obviously going to be less than what they'd be willing to do) and make a counter offer. The only things that can happen are the trade falls apart or you get what you want. It's simple guys.


Secondly, when they try and pull some shit like, "because of the money involved, you're going to need to take two of our worst contracts"...................... and you accept............ YOU. ARE. A. MORON. The last time I checked, Dampier was due $13mil and Tyson is due only $12.6mil. THEY WORK STRAIGHT UP MIKE! If other contracts are added, it IS possible to add a player or two that you actually want, believe it or not. He must have just caught Mike at the golf course when he didn't want to be bothered so he was just like, "Yeah whatever Cuban, who cares. It's a deal. Just quit calling me! I have $50 thousand on this hole!"


The deal we took was:

Dampier (13)
Carroll (4.3)
Najera (3)
___________
total = 20.3mil


Tyson (12.6)
Ajinca (1.5)
___________
total = 13.5mil



Here's a list of trades that would've worked

1. Dampier for Tyson and Ajinca. (We were trying to shed salary right? So why add those other two bums into the deal when this worked?)

2. Dampier and JJ Barea for Tyson and Ajinca. (We did need a PG right? We were trying to shed salary right?)

3. Dampier and Caron Butler for Tyson and Diaw (Caron can be a super sub to help our horrendous bench, and is an expiring. We also get out of Diaw's contract)

4. Dampier and Beaubois for Tyson, Ajinca, and a 2nd rounder (Read #2, except with Beaubois being better than Barea)

5. Dampier and Jason Terry for Tyson and Diaw (Read #3, except that Terry has two years instead of one, can play PG, which we were looking for, AND is one of Jack's best friends)




That's just 5 to counter offer with. If Carroll and/or Eddie are a must, then add in Diop or Diaw to make it even. It really isn't that difficult, and it shows gross stupidity on the part of our Front Office. Trades like the one we made, adding years of salary............. in a salary dump.............. tell me I shouldn't have any confidence in anything the FO attempts to do to make our team better. I'm sure some of us BCP folk could run the FO better than what we're dealing with at the moment.

Exactly. A big red lollipop transaction.