Mark Cuban calls out Dirk Nowitzki for poor effort

Mark Cuban absolutely loves Dirk Nowitzki, so it’s not often that you hear the Dallas Mavericks owner call out his star player. But that did happen on Monday.

Cuban talked with Dirk about the forward’s lackluster performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday and then told the media about the issues.

“I think sometimes he loses concentration, and I think we’ve got to get past that,” Cuban said per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I mentioned it to him today. I asked him how his nap was during the game [Sunday at Oklahoma City]. He laughed. At least that’s while I was facing him. When I turned my back and walked away, I don’t know.”

The Mavs won that game easily, so I’m not sure what Cuban was looking for. He was also unhappy with Dirk’s game last Tuesday in a loss to the Golden State Warriors where Dirk had 12 and 6 and went 4-of-11 from the field.

Cuban said Dirk tends to go through stretches like this during the season, so Cuban is trying to get him to snap out of it.

“Dirk always goes through a little slump during the year where he needs to remotivate. And I think we’ve seen that for a couple of games, and I think he’s going to come back stronger, particularly after three days and those naps he’s gotten through the last couple of games,” said Cuban.

Cuban particularly wants to see Dirk crash the boards harder in an effort to rack up around 10 rebounds, because he thinks the teammates respond to that kind of effort and energy. It’s certainly a good thought, but Cuban needs to remember that Dirk is 35 and that his rebounds have been declining for a few years. He’s down to six rebounds per game this season compared to 9.7 at his peak in ’04-’05.