Cuban's commitment can't be questioned
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, September 18
Updated: September 18
9:42 AM ET
Cost to re-sign all-star power forward to six-year contract extension after receiving offer sheet from Miami Heat: $82.2 million.
Cost to re-sign up-and-coming small forward to six-year extension after receiving offer sheet from Utah Jazz:: $45 million.
Cost to see assorted league officials, media personnel and owners of other 28 NBA franchises, including Maverick owner Mark Cuban, when they realize that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has duped them again by having the lowest payroll in the league while making just as much money from the NBA's lucrative TV contract: Priceless.
Sure, Donald Sterling is paying Elton Brand a lot of money. Even Corey Maggette is getting a substantial raise. But every other player on the Clippers' roster is making either rookie wages or minimum salaries.
Before Lamar Odom signed his six-year, $65 million offer sheet from the Miami Heat, the Clipper payroll stood at $32 million.
Fifteen days after that, the Clipper payroll was still at $32 million.
It is two weeks before the opening of training camps and the Clippers have added Eddie House to their roster at $1.6 million for two seasons and the league's minimum payroll still stands at $32.9 million.
In the meantime, the Dallas Mavericks added the remainder of Antawn Jamison's $90 million contract (ending in 2008) to their payroll, which stood at $72.1 million last year with the luxury-tax threshold expected to be around $52.9 million this year.
Mark Cuban may be outspoken, but he'll outspend anyone to assemble the best team.
The difference, of course, is that the Clippers won 27 games last year and will be lucky to get that many this season after losing their third-, fourth- and fifth- highest scorers from last season as well as their top two assist men and two of their top three rebounders.
The Mavericks won a league-high 60 games last season and return their entire starting rotation while adding Jamison's 22 points and seven rebounds to the mix.
Since Cuban became the owner of the Mavericks on Jan. 4, 2000, the team went from a 9-23 record that season to a 31-19 finish. Overall, the team's record was 40-42 that year. The following season, the Mavs went 53-29. The year after that, Dallas went 57-25. And the year after that, last season, Dallas was 60-22.
That's 20 more wins in an 82-game schedule in less than four seasons.
Cuban did this by continually adding and keeping key players on his team.
In the 2000 season, Steve Nash was the second-highest paid player on the team at $5.5 million. Entering this season, Nash, about to become a very rich free agent, is still making $5.5 million but was only the fifth highest-paid player on the roster last year behind Michael Finley ($11.9 million), Nick Van Exel ($11 million), Dirk Nowitzki ($10 million) and Raef LaFrentz ($7.2 million).
But don't expect Cuban to let Nash get away to free agency like Sterling let Odom, Michael Olowokandi, Andre Miller and Eric Piatkowski go.
"We love having Steve as a Maverick and hope we can work it out so he stays a Maverick until the day he retires," Cuban told the Dallas Morning News.
In 2000, the Mavericks' payroll was the 22nd highest in the league at $39.7 million. A year later, they were 12th at $51.9 million. A year after that, they were fifth at $57.3 million. Last year, they were third at $72.1 million.
And you can just about tack on as much money as it takes for Cuban to re-sign Nash even if it means that his payroll creates a bigger and bigger gap between him and Sterling, who had the lowest payroll in the league in 2000 at $22.5 million, the lowest a year after that at ($29.6 million), the lowest a year after that at ($33.8 million) and, you guessed it, the lowest payroll a year after that, last season, at $42.7 million.
It isn't hard to see why that Clippers won only 15 games in 2000, 31 in 2001, 39 in 2002 and only 27 last year.
A big deal was made about the Clippers taking on $127 million worth of contract with Brand and Maggette. But that was only after the league's free-agency rules set the price. Few seemed to mention the fact that the Clippers let go of $140 million worth of contracts after those same set of rules set the prices for Odom, Olowokandi, Miller and Piatkowski.
Cuban may talk too much, too loudly with his mouth at times, but he backs it up with his wallet by making his franchise that much better and the league, as a whole, that much better because of his franchise.
The shame is that he is often fined for telling his side of the truth while Sterling makes a lot of money, a reported $40 million last season, for hiding behind a payroll full of lies.
-----------------------------------------------
Peep Show
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, September 18
Updated: September 18
8:34 AM ET
Mason
Milwaukee Bucks: The New York Daily News is reporting that the Milwaukee Bucks would rather pay off Anthony Mason's contract rather than let him in their locker room again to disrupt a franchise trying to rebuild with young players."Anthony is under contract with the Milwaukee Bucks," agent Don Cronson said. "And until something happens, he expects to be in training camp with them." Mason has two years and $10 million remaining on his contract.
New York Knicks: The Knicks aren't sure if Antonio McDyess or Allan Houston will be healthy enough to open up training camp on the active roster and what they are sure of isn't that good, either. The team learned yesterday that power forward Othello Harrington injured his right knee and will most of the preseason and may even start the regular season on injured reserve. The New York Daily news is reporting that the injury will not require surgery.
Golden State Warriors: Nick Van Exel may want to leave the Golden State Warriors but the feeling isn't mutual. "No, I don't see that," Warriors special assistant Chris Mullin said of trading the point guard in the San Jose Mercury News. "He fits too well for the things we want to do." Van Exel, involved in many trade rumors often involving the New York Knicks, is due to make $11 million this season.
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, September 18
Updated: September 18
9:42 AM ET
Cost to re-sign all-star power forward to six-year contract extension after receiving offer sheet from Miami Heat: $82.2 million.
Cost to re-sign up-and-coming small forward to six-year extension after receiving offer sheet from Utah Jazz:: $45 million.
Cost to see assorted league officials, media personnel and owners of other 28 NBA franchises, including Maverick owner Mark Cuban, when they realize that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has duped them again by having the lowest payroll in the league while making just as much money from the NBA's lucrative TV contract: Priceless.
Sure, Donald Sterling is paying Elton Brand a lot of money. Even Corey Maggette is getting a substantial raise. But every other player on the Clippers' roster is making either rookie wages or minimum salaries.
Before Lamar Odom signed his six-year, $65 million offer sheet from the Miami Heat, the Clipper payroll stood at $32 million.
Fifteen days after that, the Clipper payroll was still at $32 million.
It is two weeks before the opening of training camps and the Clippers have added Eddie House to their roster at $1.6 million for two seasons and the league's minimum payroll still stands at $32.9 million.
In the meantime, the Dallas Mavericks added the remainder of Antawn Jamison's $90 million contract (ending in 2008) to their payroll, which stood at $72.1 million last year with the luxury-tax threshold expected to be around $52.9 million this year.
Mark Cuban may be outspoken, but he'll outspend anyone to assemble the best team.
The difference, of course, is that the Clippers won 27 games last year and will be lucky to get that many this season after losing their third-, fourth- and fifth- highest scorers from last season as well as their top two assist men and two of their top three rebounders.
The Mavericks won a league-high 60 games last season and return their entire starting rotation while adding Jamison's 22 points and seven rebounds to the mix.
Since Cuban became the owner of the Mavericks on Jan. 4, 2000, the team went from a 9-23 record that season to a 31-19 finish. Overall, the team's record was 40-42 that year. The following season, the Mavs went 53-29. The year after that, Dallas went 57-25. And the year after that, last season, Dallas was 60-22.
That's 20 more wins in an 82-game schedule in less than four seasons.
Cuban did this by continually adding and keeping key players on his team.
In the 2000 season, Steve Nash was the second-highest paid player on the team at $5.5 million. Entering this season, Nash, about to become a very rich free agent, is still making $5.5 million but was only the fifth highest-paid player on the roster last year behind Michael Finley ($11.9 million), Nick Van Exel ($11 million), Dirk Nowitzki ($10 million) and Raef LaFrentz ($7.2 million).
But don't expect Cuban to let Nash get away to free agency like Sterling let Odom, Michael Olowokandi, Andre Miller and Eric Piatkowski go.
"We love having Steve as a Maverick and hope we can work it out so he stays a Maverick until the day he retires," Cuban told the Dallas Morning News.
In 2000, the Mavericks' payroll was the 22nd highest in the league at $39.7 million. A year later, they were 12th at $51.9 million. A year after that, they were fifth at $57.3 million. Last year, they were third at $72.1 million.
And you can just about tack on as much money as it takes for Cuban to re-sign Nash even if it means that his payroll creates a bigger and bigger gap between him and Sterling, who had the lowest payroll in the league in 2000 at $22.5 million, the lowest a year after that at ($29.6 million), the lowest a year after that at ($33.8 million) and, you guessed it, the lowest payroll a year after that, last season, at $42.7 million.
It isn't hard to see why that Clippers won only 15 games in 2000, 31 in 2001, 39 in 2002 and only 27 last year.
A big deal was made about the Clippers taking on $127 million worth of contract with Brand and Maggette. But that was only after the league's free-agency rules set the price. Few seemed to mention the fact that the Clippers let go of $140 million worth of contracts after those same set of rules set the prices for Odom, Olowokandi, Miller and Piatkowski.
Cuban may talk too much, too loudly with his mouth at times, but he backs it up with his wallet by making his franchise that much better and the league, as a whole, that much better because of his franchise.
The shame is that he is often fined for telling his side of the truth while Sterling makes a lot of money, a reported $40 million last season, for hiding behind a payroll full of lies.
-----------------------------------------------
Peep Show
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, September 18
Updated: September 18
8:34 AM ET
Mason
Milwaukee Bucks: The New York Daily News is reporting that the Milwaukee Bucks would rather pay off Anthony Mason's contract rather than let him in their locker room again to disrupt a franchise trying to rebuild with young players."Anthony is under contract with the Milwaukee Bucks," agent Don Cronson said. "And until something happens, he expects to be in training camp with them." Mason has two years and $10 million remaining on his contract.
New York Knicks: The Knicks aren't sure if Antonio McDyess or Allan Houston will be healthy enough to open up training camp on the active roster and what they are sure of isn't that good, either. The team learned yesterday that power forward Othello Harrington injured his right knee and will most of the preseason and may even start the regular season on injured reserve. The New York Daily news is reporting that the injury will not require surgery.
Golden State Warriors: Nick Van Exel may want to leave the Golden State Warriors but the feeling isn't mutual. "No, I don't see that," Warriors special assistant Chris Mullin said of trading the point guard in the San Jose Mercury News. "He fits too well for the things we want to do." Van Exel, involved in many trade rumors often involving the New York Knicks, is due to make $11 million this season.
