Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Dallas Mavericks fans have been restless for a couple of years now. It started after they won the championship and owner Mark Cuban, along with President Donnie Nelson, decided to not bring back certain key members of the team. Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea were allowed to walk away. The next summer, fans had to watch as Jason Kidd and Jason Terry were allowed to walk. Of course, all of this was done in the name of “financial flexibility”. In other words, they wanted to free up salary-cap space so they could afford to go after one or possibly two big-name free agent players.
Here we are, nearly two years later, and fans are still waiting on the big free agent to come to Dallas. Dwight Howard ended up with the Los Angeles Lakers while Derron Williams became a Brooklyn Net. The problem with this is the fact that you can trace the Mavericks back through the Cuban years and no big-time free agents sign with Dallas. They’ve done a good job with trades, but they’ve never really had success in luring Howards or Chris Paul to town. Even Williams, who is from the DFW area, chose Brooklyn over his hometown team.
For all the hype that is given about game systems in each players lockers and the billion-dollar owner who treats his players like royalty, nobody wants to come play for him. Perhaps it’s his brash personality or his ability to get under David Stern‘s skin. Maybe it’s the way he goes at officials but whatever it is, players aren’t attracted to it.
Once again, the fans have been told the Mavericks are going to be major players in the free agent market this year. I have no doubt Cuban and Nelson will roll out the red carpet and show them a good time in Dallas. I do, however, have my doubts on whether or not it will do any good. Last year, the fans had to watch as Plan-A failed and there was no Plan-B. Hopefully this year, the Mavericks have a Plan-B because I have a feeling Plan-A won’t be willing to sign in Dallas.
Greg Higgins is a Dallas Mavericks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @greghiggins457, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
