The following is a post I copied from the ESPN conversation boards, and it was posted by a Mavericks fan. I don't necessarily agree with everything this person has written (it is quite poignant) but it is an interesting read, at least in my opinion.
Repost:
Cuban and Donnie don't have a clue how to run a team and haven't since the beginning. Don Nelson Sr brought Dirk on board and his brilliance alone has hidden the countless mistakes made by Cuban/Donnie and provided Dallas with 12 winning seasons and a title. Cuban has done his part too by providing the endless financing, but his money was only good enough to put together one championship team. Proof of Cuban and Donnie's incompetence:
THE DRAFT - Since 2004, here are the picks Donnie/Cuban have made- Vassilis Spanoulis, Maurice Ager, JR Pinnock, Nick Fazekas, Renaldas Seibutis, Milovan Rakovic, Shan Foster, Roddy Beaubois, Ahmad Nivins, Dominique Jones, Solomon Alabi, Jordan Hamilton, Targuy Ngombo, Jared Cunningham, Bernard James, and Jae Crowder. Granted those picks were either mid to late first round picks or second round picks, but a grand total of ONE NBA quality player (Beaubois) was selected by the Mavs over the last 8 years. That is pitiful even by Charlotte Bobcats standards. The Mavs have spent nearly a decade making a mockery of the draft or just choosing to ignore it entirely. Consequently we have no young talent to show for it. This year we had highly-rated players fall to us at both 17 and in the 2nd round, and both times we passed up the obvious pick in favor of grabbing much lower-rated guys which left draft analysts, other GM's, and fans alike scratching their heads.
BAD CONTRACTS - Over the last 8-10 years, Cuban/Donnie have refused to pay top players when we had them and let them walk (Nash, Chandler, etc.) and yet awarded truly awful players with long-term deals worth millions. Steve Nash went on to win an MVP after Cuban claimed he wouldn't hold up. Tyson Chandler just won Defensive Player of the Year after Cuban/Donnie decided he wasn't worth re-signing. However, Cuban/Donnie did think Erika Dampier was worth several million. Awful. Evan Eschmeyer- millions, awful. Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Antoine Rigadeau, DeSagana Diop, and most recently Brenda Haywood. All given millions and all... you guessed it... awful. That is only the shortened version of the list too. It's great that Cuban's willing to spend, don't get me wrong. But look at the ridiculous amount he's wasted over the years simply because he and Donnie are horrible at evaluating talent and constructing a roster.
The team had something very good going back in 2003. They made it to the WCF and only a Dirk injury kept them from beating San Antonio. So what do Cuban/Donnie do? Blow up the team (where have we heard that before?). They brought in Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison, colossal failures from the start. Again, and 'A' for effort, but just poor judgment. Same thing after they won the title in 2011. Instead of keeping the core together, or at the very least bringing back the best center the team ever had, they blew it up in favor of the DWill-Dwight pipe dream. They tried to outsmart everyone else under the new CBA and it blew up in their faces like many said it would.
Don't get me wrong here. I am a loyal Mavs fan and always will be. I am thankful that Mark Cuban has been willing to waste so much of his money over 12 years just so they could finally get it right and win one title. But if you just look at the crazy number of poor draft picks, questionable trades, ludicrous contracts to bad players, and incorrect judgments of letting good players go over the last 12 years, the picture becomes clear- Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson don't really know how to run an NBA team that well. Look at the other top franchises in the league such as LA, SA, and Boston. Yeah, they have their share of mistakes over the last 12 seasons, but their list doesn't even begin to come close to the Mavs' list. Not even remotely close. The Mavs have been a top organization over the past 12 years for two reasons alone- Dirk Nowitzki carrying the franchise on his back and almost single-handedly winning 50+ games every year, and Mark Cuban's willingness to erase his mistakes by spending more money to fix them. But now a new salary cap is in place and Cuban can't just buy his way out of trouble. Dirk can't win by himself any more, and this offseason when careful thought and planning were required by all league owners and GM's has exposed Cuban/Donnie for their lack of preparedness and true feel for the game. It's a shame too, because Dirk deserves better.
