Cuban Is Officially An Idiot

[Smitty]

From the Dallas Morning News today:

Cuban is still on Nellie's case

Mavs owner shows he won't let anything go as he sues Nelson

12:12 PM CDT on Saturday, June 30, 2007

By Kevin Sherrington

For all you fans wanting to know what the heck's going on with the locals while the Warriors get better and the Trail Blazers get better and the Sonics get better and the Mavs get Nick Fazekas, here's your answer:

Mark Cuban has gone nuts.

The official word Friday is that he's in the hospital for "hip replacement surgery," which is the new euphemism for "institutionalized."

How else do you explain it? Sure, we've seen Mad Mark do some silly things in the name of the Mavs. He's warred with the commissioner, warred with the refs, warred with the media, even warred with San Antonio about the toxicity of its River Walk.

But this complaint tops them all: He's suing Don Nelson on grounds that he beat his old team with insider information, and he wants Golden State to cease and desist, herewith.

Frankly, part of me wishes him good luck. Maybe he knows something the rest of us don't. Wouldn't be the first time.

Cuban has made billions doing things no one else thought practical. As has been written in this space before, I'm loath to take on someone not only far smarter than me, but a guy who never sleeps, either.

Still, until we get some kind of response other than a no comment – apparently, you can still e-mail while wearing a straitjacket – we'll have to take this at face value.

A Nellie-Cuban culture primer: Once upon a time, two great minds got together to resurrect a basketball franchise. And for a couple of years, anyway, life was great. But Cuban eventually tired of Nellie's work ethic. Nellie, in turn, resented Cuban's interference. The simmering feud came to a boil when Cuban allowed Nellie's favorite player, Steve Nash, to walk in free agency. For all intents and purposes, Cuban thought Nellie cashed in. And that's how this became a case soon to be handled by Judge Judy.

On the surface, it looks like it's all about money. Nellie says the Mavs owe him $6.5 million from the days when Ross Perot Jr. owned the club, and he wants it. Or a settlement. Cuban says Nellie violated a non-compete clause in his contract by taking the deal to coach the Warriors.

An arbitrator will decide who's right this fall. But you don't need a law degree to know who's wrong.

Since when did money ever matter to Cuban? He's thrown it around with impunity since he bought the team. He's spent more on luxury hotels and plush towels and private jets than he ever owed Nellie.

Money isn't the issue.

Ego, is what it is.

Cuban had every right to question Nellie's work ethic. Nellie sat out part of a season to fix his golf swing, for instance.

And then Nellie quit to become a consultant, and that should have been the end of a good marriage gone bad.

But it didn't end. Cuban won't let it. Next thing you know, you've got both sides alleging breach of contract.

And now, to help his case, Cuban contends that the Warriors beat the Mavs because of Nellie's inside knowledge, violating terms of his non-compete clause.

If Cuban's point holds up in court, no coach who's fired from here on out will ever get another job in his or her sport again.

For that matter, how much did Nellie need to know? The Warriors' hold on the Mavs predated Nellie's arrival. The problem the last couple of years has been the matchup. All any team needs to handle the Warriors is a low-post presence and a point guard. The Mavs have neither. Utah has both, which is how Golden State got bounced from the playoffs after its historic upset.

"Mark has always claimed that Don was always looking for excuses to lose," said John O'Connor, Nellie's lawyer. "It seems like somebody else is making excuses here."

Best guess: Cuban doesn't really think Nellie beat them, no matter what it looks like. He simply can't let anything go.

Bad enough when the league's best regular-season team gets booted from the playoffs by the eighth seed. Mad Mark won't let a bad ending die peacefully. He wants to drag it out, create a circus, exact his revenge, no matter what the cost. And money is the least of it.

[GreenBat]

Smitty,

Come on you're smarter than that. You've known that Cuban was officially and idiot since he did his TV show on Channel 21. Or am I giving you too much credit?

[Smitty]

Smitty,

Come on you're smarter than that. You've known that Cuban was officially and idiot since he did his TV show on Channel 21. Or am I giving you too much credit?

You probably are giving me too much credit. But in this case, he's setting a new standard for stupidity.