Mark Cuban jokes of coveting move to Eastern Conference
LAS VEGAS --
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban cited the dominance of the
Golden State Warriors and depth of the Western Conference as reasons for the direction of his franchise.
"We're rebuilding. Right?" Cuban said during the ESPN broadcast of the Mavs' win Sunday over the
Phoenix Suns in the Las Vegas Summer League. "There's no question about it. If we were in the East, we would not be rebuilding. We'd be handling things completely different. I think I'm going to kidnap [commissioner] Adam Silver and not let him out until he moves us to the Eastern Conference.
"Given where we are, given where the Warriors are and what's happening in the Western Conference, it kind of sealed what we have to do."
Dallas is coming off a 33-49 season, the franchise's first losing campaign since 1999-2000, when Cuban purchased the team midseason. The Mavs missed the playoffs for only the second time in the past 17 seasons and used its lottery pick to select point guard
Dennis Smith Jr., whom coach Rick Carlisle immediately projected to be the starter next season.
Cuban: Mavs went full tank after elimination
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says his team "did everything possible to lose games" once Dallas was out of postseason contention.
The Mavs' had dual goals last summer: attempting to acquire players who can be part of the franchise's foundation after
Dirk Nowitzki's retirement but trying to build a team that gave Nowitzki a chance to compete in the playoffs during its golden years. A slow start, which occurred in part due to an Achilles tendon injury that sidelined Nowitzki for most of the first two months of the season, contributed to the Mavs' midseason decision to emphasize the youth movement.
Dallas parted with two stopgap veterans at the trade deadline, waiving point guard
Deron Williams and dumping center
Andrew Bogut in the trade with the
Philadelphia 76ers that sent center
Nerlens Noel to Dallas.
The Mavs have been mostly spectators during this free-agency period, aside from re-signing the 39-year-old Nowitzki to a hometown-discount, two-year, $10 million deal and acquiring
Josh McRoberts in a salary dump from the
Miami Heat. They intend to re-sign Noel, a restricted free agent who hopes to drive up his price by receiving an offer sheet from another team.
The Mavs consider 25-year-old
Harrison Barnes, 23-year-old Noel and 19-year-old Smith three potential cornerstones as they begin their rebuilding process.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...s-mavericks-not-rebuilding-eastern-conference