Fansided

Mavericks, Mark Cuban banking on ‘basketball IQ’

By Mike Dyce

May 2, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during the game against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Spurs 113-111. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
May 2, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during the game against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Spurs 113-111. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Dallas Mavericks came into the offseason expecting to be big players in the free agency market. They were players, trading for center Tyson Chandler and entertaining free agents like Carmelo Anthony.

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Like years past when they pursued “big fish” free agents, they weren’t able to land one. Instead they signed Houston Rockets restricted free agent Chandler Parsons, a solid player with star potential and a lot of upside. While he might not be the sexy name the Mavericks were looking for, he is a big signing. Parsons is also one of six players added this offseason who were starters for other teams last year.

The Mavericks don’t necessarily have a lot of disadvantages, and owner Mark Cuban is excited for the upcoming campaign. One of the big upsides for the Mavericks’ season according to Cuban, their “high basketball IQ.”

“Yeah it’s been fun so far. I try never to get too excited, but I’m always excited,” Cuban told KTCK-AM 1310, via the Dallas Morning News. “Getting Chandler, getting the Chandler brothers is going to be a big step forward for us. I think we’ve gotten younger, I think we’ve got a team that is very flexible; we’ll be able to do a lot of different things. We’ve got a high basketball IQ. I’m really excited about it.”

Cuban added: “The thing about the NBA is that it’s becoming much smarter. There’s a lot more analytics. The new owners that have come in since I’ve been here are just really smart guys. So rather than always doing it the old-school way, the way it’s always been done, teams have to be a lot smarter and the league evolves a lot more quickly. And I think one of the reasons we were able to give San Antonio such a run is that we had a high basketball IQ and we were able to make adjustments that they didn’t expect. I think if our basketball IQ was a little bit higher, then we should have beat them — we could have beat them, we would have beat them — and that’s what we were looking for this summer: guys with high basketball IQs, guys who can play multiple positions, guys who were unselfish and were willing to move the ball and guys who could hit an open shot. And so we think having a lot of flexibility, being able to switch on defense, moving the ball a lot, we think by adding all these starters from all these other teams, we added guys who had those capabilities and I think hopefully it will take us to the next level.”

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