( Numbers courtesy of the indispensable Patricia Bender) The New York Knicks are proof that money alone can't buy a championship, but nine-figure payrolls do cover up a lot of roster mistakes. The extensions, meanwhile, piled up: $40 million for Shawn Bradley, $70 million for LaFrentz, $102 million for Finley, $73 million for Erick Dampier, $30 million for DeSagana Diop and $55 million for Brendan Haywood.Īll told, during those 50-win seasons from 2001-2011, Cuban spent more than $1 billion in salaries and luxury tax penalties. In 2004, Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison ($23.8 million). In 2003, Nick Van Exel and Raef LaFrentz ($18.3 million). In 2002, he traded for Juwan Howard's $18.8 million salary. To his credit, Cuban spared no expense in building a contender. Money was always Cuban's biggest competitive advantage. When it comes to the NBA, he is your classic person born on third base who thinks he hit a triple. Over the next decade, all Cuban had to do was fill around the edges. No one knew it at the time, but Cuban was buying an organization with two future Hall of Famers entering the prime of their careers. When Cuban purchased the franchise in 2000, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley were already on the roster.
It was the end result of a decade-long process of throwing massive amounts of money at the wall and seeing what stuck. Dallas gets a lot of credit for their pioneering use of analytics, but their title wasn't a triumph of savvy roster construction. It's easy to forget that they had an $85.5 million payroll and six players with All-Star berths on their resumes. Even though Dirk Nowitzki is a decade older than James Harden, Cuban thinks the Mavs track record since he became owner - 11 50-win seasons and an NBA title - made Dallas the best option.īecause they knocked off the Heat in the Finals, the 2011 Mavs have gone down in history as a scrappy underdog.
2001 DALLAS MAVERICKS ROSTER FREE
In an interview with reporters on Thursday, the Mavs owner said elite free agents should make their choice based on organizations, not individual players. Perhaps not surprisingly, Mark Cuban thinks Dwight Howard made a mistake this summer.
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