The Dallas Mavericks were one of the teams who were believed to be in the final running earlier this month as Dwight Howard weighed his options for the future. Once it became obvious Howard wasn’t going to return to Los Angeles, the Houston Rockets had to beat out the Mavs and the Golden State Warriors in the Dwight sweepstakes.
Mark Cuban is not crying over Dwight’s decision.
“I think we’ve put ourselves in a spot where we’re in a better spot than we were at if we got just the one max-out deal,” the Mavs owner told ESPNDallas.com on Wednesday night. “I think it’d be better shorter and longer term. I don’t want to make that sound the wrong way. I think we’ll be better this year because we added five good players or more.”
Signing Howard would have complicated things a bit for Dallas, but Cuban wanted him as badly as anyone else. The Mavs would have had to clear roster space by dumping one or two veterans, but it would have been well worth it for a 27-year-old All-Star who could have become the cornerstone of their franchise with Dirk nearing the end of his career.
“Obviously we didn’t get Dwight,” Cuban said. “We took a chance, and it didn’t happen. I think we put together a really good team. It sticks within the culture we’ve tried to define. We’ve dealt with some of the weaknesses we had from last year. Hopefully if we stay healthy, good things will happen.”
After missing out on Howard, the Mavericks turned their attention to guards Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis and Wayne Ellington as well as center Samuel Dalembert. All are valuable players, and signing Howard would not have given Dallas the ability to build that type of depth.
Cuban admitted he is “disappointed” the Mavs missed out on Dwight but said he’s glad they were able to land “much more” talent than they expected. Time will tell if the additions will be enough, but there’s no guarantee Howard would have been a fit. Cuban and company simply have to work with what they have.
