Former Mavericks president rips Mark Cuban as owner

Former Dallas Mavericks president and GM Frank Zaccanelli was highly critical of current Mavs owner Mark Cuban during an interview on Wednesday.

Zaccanelli was a part owner of the team when they sold the franchise to Cuban in 2000. The franchise had endured a decade of misery before Cuban took over, and then they became one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

Zaccannelli spoke with CBS Sports Radio’s Tiki and Tierney and made it clear he feels Cuban lucked out and is riding the coat-tails of what his group set into motion before selling.

“I did not want to sell because in 2000 I knew we were getting good. You got to remember I was the captain of the Titanic for three years, and I could see now with Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, we were going to be a really good team,” Zaccanelli told the hosts. “Before we bought the team, the Mavericks were really on a downslide. It was some really, really lean years. I’m a basketball guy. I love the game. And I just thought we had turned the corner, and I didn’t want to sell the team. But Ross Perot Jr. basically just made a decision that he thought the time was right, and we sold the team to Cuban. There have been some that said Cuban would just be another billionaire hanging out that no one knew if it wasn’t for our sale to him of the Mavericks.”

You can actually feel the bitterness coming from Zaccanelli. He also was highly critical of Cuban’s tenure as owner and pointed out some negative statistics.

“There has got to be a change in the direction of the franchise. There are some statistics that are very telling as it relates to Cuban’s ownership of the team. These are amazing statistics if you really think about it. Since the time he bought the team from 2000 until now, one player, one year, made an All Star team that he drafted. One player, one year, and that’s Josh Howard in ’08 or ’09. The draft has been non-existent since Cuban bought the team in 2000. That’s a pretty amazing statistic.

“The second statistic is they haven’t been very fortunate in free agency. Chris Gatling is the only free agent in Mavericks history to ever make an All Star team. They have guys they have traded for make an All Star team. Those are amazing statistics for a franchise.”

Well, those are certainly some convenient numbers. That also leaves out the three 60-plus win seasons, eight 50-plus win seasons, and most importantly, one championship the team has won under Cuban’s ownership. It means the Mavs have done an impressive job building around Dirk Nowitzki. And doesn’t this all also mean Cuban saw a team with potential and a good value when purchasing the Mavericks?

Cuban is controversial, but he’s done great work as an owner. He is engaged, he cares, and he tries to give the fans a good product. Zaccanelli really has a lot of bitterness.