It’s pretty obvious that the Dallas Mavericks aren’t the same team they were when they won the championship last year. The loss of Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and Caron Butler weakened the team a lot more than the Mavs would like to admit, but the record doesn’t lie.
The Mavs had the infamous “championship hangover” and got off to a slow start. They’ve recovered a little and are now 23-17, good for 6th in the Western Conference, definitely not where they expected to be at this point.
Despite all this, Mavs owner Mark Cuban says he doesn’t regret losing Tyson Chandler to the Knicks.
“You got a plan and you stick to it,” Cuban said. “Tyson’s a great player, and it’s no reflection on him… We wish T.C. the best. We wouldn’t be champions without him, and the show goes on.”
The “plan” Cuban is referring to is his dream of landing Deron Williams and Dwight Howard in the upcoming offseason. To accomplish the plan, he had to clear a lot of cap room, so he only offered Chandler, Barea and Butler one-year deals. They all found better options, so the Mavericks had to settle for signing Vince Carter and Lamar Odom and starting Brendan Haywood at center.
If the Mavs manage to get Howard and Williams then Cuban looks like a genius, and his team will be very, very good for many years to come. If not, then he’ll have to look back at this past offseason and wonder if he made the right decision. The Mavericks were a great team, a championship-winning team, why blow that up for a chance to make another team that will be only a little bit better?
I guess it was a business decision, and you never bet against Mark Cuban when it comes to business decisions, so we’ll see what happens. I think we can say one thing for sure though, the Mavericks definitely miss Tyson Chandler this year.
