An Open Letter To Mark Cuban: These Aren't Our Mavs
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I'm an MFFL. The Mavericks are my favorite pro sports team. My grandpa and dad would take me to games my whole childhood. My first favorite player was Dale Ellis. He was quickly traded to the Sonics, so Rolando Blackman became mine and almost all of Dallas' favorite player. The Mavs of the 80's had a lot in common. Aguirre, Blackman, Harper, Perkins, Tarpley, Schremph were all drafted by Dallas. Brad Davis was here from the start and James Donaldson was the one guy who had been around the NBA. The city fell in love with the NBA because we had, not only a team but OUR team.
After the championship season, the greatest sports moment in my life, the Mavericks have slowly become the Dallas Free Agents. Over the last 4 years, the Mavs have had some solid teams but nothing to build around and nothing to be hopeful for. It's still fun to watch Dirk at times but I have no connection to Deron Williams, Parsons, Matthews or Zaza. They will probably be playing on different teams in a couple of years like all of the other Mavs the past 4 years. For the first time in a long time, I'm passively watching the Mavs games, and my father said he hasn't watched a Mavs game from start to finish all year. Some of my best friends that love the Mavs are more disinterested than I am. It's not just me is my point.
The pinnacle of the 80' was 1988 in the Conference Finals. From there it started going downhill. Bad trade after bad trade. Along came the 3 J's (Jimmie Jackson, Jamal Mashburn,, Jason Kidd) and excitement was back! That didn't last long and Dallas was back in the dumps. Then came 1998 and the world would change for the worst franchise of the 90's. Draft day trades for Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. By 2001, the Mavs were back as a rising team lead by Dirk, Nash and Finley. For the Mavericks, it took them 10 years from 1988 to 1998 to set there path back to the top of the NBA elite teams.
The 10 years of horrible records were led by incompetent ownership, general managing and coaches. I believe in you Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle that it won't be that bad. I don't want to chase Carmelo, Dwight Howard, Deandre Jordan or another free agent that isn't coming to Dallas. In my life, championships come through DRAFTING a franchise player. The reason the Mavericks have had success from 2000 till now is Dirk. We love him in Dallas because he is a Maverick and that is all he is. I believe the Yankees are struggling with attendance because they are not developing Yankees. My kids who like watching the Mavs with me only really know who Dirk Nowitzki is. When they get to know a player besides Dirk I have to tell them what team they play for now.
I don't believe you will be able to come close to selling out the building when Dirk retires. Fans don't care too much for free agent teams. We want to watch our team develop and grow together. We just saw the Jazz beat the Mavs, and they have developed a team from 2011 in the draft that is as good as the Mavs today, and have a brighter future. The Jazz haven't had the ping pong balls go their way, so I don't want to hear that you have to have the #1 overall pick in the right year, or the draft is worthless is a load of crap. Our Mavs are in this horrible position because for almost a decade, the Mavs have had a lack of interest and a lack of knowledge on draft day. There is no excuse for this Mark. I don't blame Donnie or Rick for this because I believe you have poisoned the organization into not caring about adding talent through the draft. I want to watch Mark Aguirre and Ro Blackman again in the early 80's or Dirk and Nash in the early 00's. I don't know who those next names are in Dallas, but I don't want them to already be in the NBA in their late 20's or early 30's. You are losing our interest Mr. Cuban, but it is a simple fix. WORK YOUR BUTT OFF AND DRAFT US THE NEXT GREAT MAVERICKS' TEAM!
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