Mark Cuban: Mavs Better Off Without Dwight Howard
By Mike Dyce
The Dallas Mavericks tried to sign point guard Deron Williams last season. They took those shortcomings, learned from them, and made a better pitch to Dwight Howard this offseason. But ultimately Dwight Howard choose the Houston Rockets and not the Dallas Mavericks.
“I think we’ve put ourselves in a spot where we’re in a better spot than we were at if we got just the one max-out deal,” Cuban told ESPNDallas.com during the Mavs’ summer league game Wednesday night. “I think it’d be better shorter and longer term. I don’t want to make that sound the wrong way. I think we’ll be better this year because we added five good players or more.”
The Mavericks dismantled their 2011 Championship team expecting Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard to all be free agents in 2012. Paul and Howard didn’t opt out as suspected which cause the Mavericks to drag out their plans to this summer.
“Obviously we didn’t get Dwight,” Cuban said. “We took a chance, and it didn’t happen. I think we put together a really good team. It sticks within the culture we’ve tried to define. We’ve dealt with some of the weaknesses we had from last year. Hopefully if we stay healthy, good things will happen.”
The Mavericks have been very active in free agency since being turned down by Dwight Howard. They signed point guard Jose Calderon, guard Monta Ellis, shooting guard Wayne Ellington and center Samuel Dalembert. The Mavericks are still trying to work on a deal with Devin Harris and forward/center Brandan Wright.
Had they signed Dwight Howard the Mavs couldn’t have signed Calderon, Ellis and Dalembert.
“Obviously, we were disappointed we didn’t get Dwight, but we pretty much got everything else we wanted to get and then some. Much more,” Cuban said. “We never thought we’d be able to get Monta. It turned into a good summer. Now, the key is to get everybody playing together, get everyone healthy, keep them healthy and go.”