I hope he’s not going to get mad at me for using that headline, but I’m trying to be fair given what he shared on the radio. If I were going for the entirely sensational headline, I would have just said “Mark Cuban would tank games.” Mind you however, that when Cuban joined Michael Irvin and Mike Fisher on FOX Sports Radio, he said he would tank games in certain circumstances:
Irvin: I can dance with you all day right there, it sounds like you’re saying I’d rather just tank a couple games, but I won’t even go there Mark, let’s move on.
Cuban: I’ll be the first to admit Michael, I would tank a lot of games.
Irvin: You would tank games? Mark wait, you would tank games to get the first pick in the draft?
Cuban: Yes, yes see it depends on where you are.
The depends on where you are has to deal with the recent history of your franchise, Cuban went on to say. For instance, Cuban argued (and I agree), that having a team stuck around 40 wins each year is the worst position a franchise can be in. Stuck on 40 wins means you’re not good enough to go far in the playoffs, and you’re not bad enough to get a great player in the lottery. So Cuban said that if his team were stuck around that area, he would want them to get better in the lottery — essentially by tanking playing younger players. Only problem … look what happened to Boston.
More Cuban and NBA Lottery on LBS:
Cuban Tampering with Michael Finley?
Ed Snider Wants to Change the NBA Draft Lottery System
Related posts
More Hot Stories at larrybrownsports.comThis entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2007 and is filed under Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
[...] Mark Cuban Would Tank Games In Certain Situations [LARRYBROWNSPORTS]Â [...]
I think Boston turned out alright (nuthing to do with the draft but still)
[...] Um, if this gets out, Mark, it probably makes it less likely that you’ll own the Cubs. [Larry Brown Sports] [...]
[...] like to watch it if I had the opportunity, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so. Man, never shy to express his opinion, Mark Cuban is always way ahead of the game when it comes to technological ideas. Is it any [...]