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Cuban is one of the new breed of Internet sportsmen, a group we spotlight in our July 24 issue (highlights of which can be found at ESPN.com/mag). In his chat with ESPN.com users, Cuban talked about his hands-on approach to leading the Mavericks, the team's promising draft picks and his beef with NBA analyst Peter Vecsey. An edited transcript follows: Matt Lombardo: Mark, do you think the internet will play a large role in allowing fans to better get to know NBA players and simultaneously become more knowledgeable of the game from an player's perspective? For example, will NBA players post daily basketball diaries, preferred exercises for strength training, supplements they use, pre-game rituals, etc? Mark Cuban: Absolutely. I think as players become more comfortable with the technology and more and more carry laptops, I think you'll see them using the internet to communicate with fans through e-mail, their sites and of course team sites. Llamaboy: Love what you're doing with the Mavericks. I've seen you writing and interviewing for numerous NBA sites. Have any favorites or staples that you believe are must visit NBA internet sites? Mark Cuban: I go to ESPN and obviously, NBA.com. For my scoop I look at NBATalk.com, bskball.com, prosportspage.com and I do searches on usenet groups for references to the Mavericks all the time. I like to keep up. But you've got to take everything you read with a grain of salt, 99% of it is not true. I like to jump into the usenet groups. The funny thing is that I use my real name and people don't believe me. Mark Lindsey: Are traditional sports becoming more entertainment-based? I say this based on a series of business moves the Mavericks have made that launched fan involvement and excitement. Is it then difficult to protect your business interests with these sporting high-wire acts? In closing, I now enjoy the new Mavericks. Mark Cuban: I think sports have always been entertainment based. It's just that with so many media outlets, everyone is becoming aware of the entertainment side of the business. Given the dollars involved, you always have to be aware of the entertainment level, but like any business, the more entertaining you can make it, the more dollars there are going to be. Jim Barrick: Mark, would you be happy to be known as the "Vince McMahon of NBA owners"? Your flash, enthusiasm and willingness to risk seem to fit this mold. Mark Cuban: If I could be surrounded by all the good looking women, sure. J Wiley: Was the signing of Dennis Rodman a legitimate basketball move, or were you trying to use his name and image to put people in the seats and create a new interest in the Mavericks? Mark Cuban: It really was a basketball move. If the Mavericks lost all their games then Dennis would be a tired act and it wouldn't put anybody in the seats, it would probably put off people. When it's all said and done all I care about is winning. All I want is to win a championship. I can keep doing this even if no one shows up, but all I care about is winning. Jerry from Dallas: Hey Mark, fans are really excited about Mavs b-ball for the upcoming year. Could you talk a little about where you see this team in the next 3 years? Mark Cuban: Well, I hope I see us championship bound. We've got a great nucleus of guys. Our first-team players are still the same as last year, so we'll have continuity and continue on with the great finish we had last year. On top of that we added a great draft and trade class this year and I think improved our team far more than any team ahead of us in the Western Conference. So with a little bit of luck, I think we're playoff bound this year and further into the playoffs every year. Robert Jenkins: I find it very refreshing the way that you answer e-mails from Mavs fans. This does truly make fans feel like they are a part of their favorite team. Do you find that other owners are interested in doing this? Mark Cuban: I don't care, they can do whatever they want. To me, every e-mail is a potential fan coming to the game. You treat each of your fans like gold and I want them to know that I care about each and every one of our fans. I answer e-mails from all fans unless they're asking for a job or money. Eatingontheair: You have stated that the NBA is not the marketing machine that it is cracked up to be. What would/will you change about (1)NBA marketing strategy and (2)How the Mavs are marketed? Mark Cuban: Well I haven't been overly impressed with the NBA marketing, but my approach to marketing is different, so I think every minute of every day is a marketing opportunity for the Mavericks and the NBA. We need to take advantage of every access we have. I don't think the NBA does that and I don't think the Mavericks did that prior to me. For the Mavericks there is no such thing as the off season from a marketing perspective. We will continuously work to try and create public awareness and fans of the Mavs...selling season tickets, promoting our players. One great example is that we just signed a deal with Slam! Magazine to promote our players every issue. We'll have an ad to promote our players every issue. We've also dramatically expanded our sales and marketing staff so that there's always something going on continuously during the off season. We have more sales and marketing people than the NBA does. Hopefully the NBA will pick up the aggressive approach that I've had. Dave: What advice would you give to a college kid trying to get into the front office aspects of running a franchise in professional sports? Mark Cuban: Get a job as an intern with any sports franchise that you can. Unless you're related to the owner, it's tough to start at the top. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Go Blue: Michael Finley is an amazing all-around basketball talent, playing in a fairly large market...why do you think it is that he is still a relatively unknown quantity out side of die-hard NBA fans? Where do you think he stands in comparison to other great players in the league? Mark Cuban: Michael is an unknown because our marketing stunk prior to me getting here. Since I got here we've gotten him nominated for Olympic consideration, he made the All-Star team. We featured him in ads in various publications. Fin's not going to be an under-appreciated player much longer. As far as the rest of the league, there are only four guys who scored 20 points per game and averaged five assists and five rebounds per game. That defines what kind of player he is. He's a first-team All-Star and will be for a long time. JeffB: Mark, The costs of attending games is driving more and more people away. It just seems that there is no end. Do players and owners not realize the huge salary demands could in the end destroy professional sports? Mark Cuban: I think that's more of a media concept than a reality. Season prices fall directly into my hands, it my decision. We have tickets that cost less than the price of a movie. Our biggest problem is making people realize that eight dollar seats are good seats. And the way I do that is by going up and sitting in them with the fans that are there. To be honest, that's where I have the most fun during the game. Rishi: What do you like least about your job? Mark Cuban: The national sports media, ESPN excluded of course. Unfortunately, there's a contingency of basketball writers out there, Peter Vecsey, for example, who could care less about the truth. Guys like Vecsey make stuff up so that they have something to print. They care more about circulation than the quality of their report. And it's unfortunate because it sends so many misguided messages to fans. That's the biggest disappointment. Beyond that I love every minute of what I'm doing. Matt Fisher: What players outside the Mavs do you have the most respect for? Mark Cuban: There's the obvious: Shaquille O'Neal. Chris Webber of Sacramento is a great all-around player, scorer, I love to watch him play. Kevin Garnett... I think of so many gifted athletes, its hard to set a couple aside. Bryan Shannon: Courtney Alexander seemed like a great addition at a relatively low cost. Do you see him contributing right away this year? Mark Cuban: Courtney is the real deal. He's an amazing, gifted athlete that will be able to score at will in the NBA. Courtney's challenge is going to be on the defensive end. Because the Mavs have so many scorers, the young guys earn their minutes with defense. Fortunately, Courtney is committed to improving his defensive game, and if he succeeds on that level, he has a real chance to be Rookie of the Year. Geo: Mark, Do you think that window of opportunity has closed for new Net entrepreneurs? Mark Cuban: Not at all. I remember in the early '80s when I was in college people saying then that the window of opportunity on technology was closed and of course that wasn't true. But if you have a good idea and more importantly if you put yourself in a position to execute that idea you can succeed. Where most people fail is that they spend more time talking about how wonderful their idea is rather than doing the level of work to prepare to execute on their idea. My No. 1 tip to potential entrepreneurs is to work as hard as you can and just when you think you can't work any harder, kick it in and work even harder, because there's somebody else out there like me willing to work 21 hours a day to your measly 20 hours a day. Ectobuilder: Both Etan Thomas and Donnell Harvey are intriguing players. One has Dennis Rodman rebounding, and the other is a strong defensive forward. Something the Mavs have been lacking in the past few years. How will they change the team dynamics in the first year considering that both players are still young and inexperienced? Mark Cuban: Regardless of how young and inexperienced you are, if you're aggressive and physical even a rookie can turn a veteran black and blue if they hit them hard enough. And Donnell and Etan bring a blue-collar work ethic and a lot of physical contact that will really have a huge impact on the level of physical play by the Mavericks. Already in summer league, Etan has picked up a technical in every game and Donnell has drawn blood every game. And, of course, I congratulated them for both. Rick Douglas: I know you have positioned the Mavs to be one of the heavy-hitters in next year's free agent market. What do you think about the free agent pool for next year? Mark Cuban: Well, cap room is not just about signing free agents. Cap room can be used to help other teams complete trades, leaving the Mavericks with extra draft picks which means that if we get the right player it can be through a free agent signing or a trade. So we'll use the cap room to the best of our advantage, and it can only help to have it. Nathan Winegardner: As a Hoosier graduate, what is your take on Bobby Knight? Do you fall on the side that says it is time for him to go, or do you still think he can make an impact in this day and age? Mark Cuban: That's one question I'm smart enough not to answer. Sami Kivikkokangas: What's the most memorable moment in your short but successful stint in the NBA? Mark Cuban: Coming from 22 points behind to beat San Antonio the second time in one week on a last second tip-in. And that's probably tied with selling out the last game of the year and having our fans stay after the game and give a standing ovation to all our players as we introduced them. GDogg33: What's the biggest misconception people have about you? Mark Cuban: That I'm short. Every time I meet somebody for the first time they always say that I'm a lot taller than I look on TV and I have to explain that I'm standing next to guys who are seven-foot-six and it doesn't make me a midget at 6'2". It happens all the time. Sush: It seems the "win now" mentality is all over pro sports. How can you "win now" and still develop talent for the future? Mark Cuban: Hire about 15 assistant coaches. Seriously, you have 15 roster spots and you know that not all 15 or even all 12 active players are going to get a lot of minutes, so you have to balance your roster with players of all ages and more importantly -- and this is where I think the Mavs are different -- you have to make a significant investment to improve the skills of your youngest players. To this end, the Mavs have hired probably three times as many assistant coaches as any other team just so that we can provide individual training and support to our youngest players. My attitude is I can't spend enough money to provide our new players with the education and instruction that they need to reach their NBA goals. Sush: You were relatively new to NBA when you first bought the team. Who has been the most influential person in learning how to run a successful NBA franchise? Mark Cuban: Don Nelson. What I like best about Nellie is that he's very open and honest about the good, the bad and the ugly of an NBA franchise. He's not afraid to tell anyone that they've made mistakes and to me that's great, that's the foundation for improving. Rishi: If you could change one thing about the NBA, what would it be? Mark Cuban: I would make them more aggressive marketers. A perfect example is the playoffs. I thought it was brilliant that they scheduled the games to be during times that were best for television, but I thought it was ironic that they did absolutely nothing to promote the games during the down time that was created. The only promotion that was done was on the networks that were broadcasting the games. As it turned out, there were people I talked to who didn't even know what time and what day the games were. The NBA can't be appointment television if people don't know what time the games are. Another perfect example was the new release of the "Wassup?" commercials from Budweiser. Had it been during the Superbowl, it would've been a cultural event that drew an extra 30% that drew to see the "whassup?" guys do the commercial. But for the NBA to premiere the commercial, the NBA didn't even know it was supposed to happen. I think we could've expanded the demographics and size of our audience dramatically by making the NBA playoffs a showcase for events like the commercial and other events. So hopefully the NBA will get more aggressive in the future. I think they will, because David Stern is getting tired of all these nasty e-mails I send him. Strider: The young nucleus that you have with the Mavericks is the best it has been in a decade. Do you feel that it would be in the best interest of the organization to bring in a hard nosed veteran (i.e.Charles Oakley), to show some of the younger players the hard work and dedication it takes day in and day out to be a winner? Mark Cuban: We've got a couple of those guys. Finley's been around long enough, Ced's been around long enough. We just picked up John Wallace from the Knicks and he's been around. We're always looking to improve our team, but the good news is that our team has a lot of maturity. Jerry from Dallas: You seem to always be doing something to promote the Mavs and the NBA. How much sleep do you average in a 24-hour period? Mark Cuban: About four hours a night. And then in one hour I usually dream about the Mavericks and the NBA. GDogg33: What are some of your hobbies outside of basketball? Mark Cuban: There's basketball. I try to play a couple times a week. And then there's reading about basketball. I try to learn as much as I can about what's going on in the league. And then I like to relax and watch tapes of basketball. And then I've always been a geek at heart, so I have a good time playing with technology...to figure out new ways it can impact basketball. When I'm trying to win at something I usually tend to get very focused. Adam F: You are a huge fan of the team you own. What steps do you take to make sure that your heart doesn't interfere with your head when it comes to making decisions for the Mavs? Mark Cuban: I've been running businesses for a long time, and I've had to fire friends in the past. I think it's very important to be honest with your players or employees about the goals of the team and their individual goals and that how you try to achieve both. But the team comes first. Dennis and I got to be great friends and still are, but when the right thing to do was to cut him, we did. Eric Strickland was my best friend on the Mavs and when I called him to tell him we traded him to the Knicks, it was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I literally had tears in my eyes when I had to do it. But in both cases I'm still friends with them because they've accepted the honesty of the whole process. Maybe the real problem is that if I get to be friends with you, I'll trade you. |
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