Cuban Believes In Mavs Playoff Hopes
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - As the NBA trade deadline approached on Thursday afternoon, it appeared that the Dallas Mavericks would not be making a move. Then, three minutes before the time was up, Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson called owner Mark Cuban with a proposal involving Dahntay Jones in exchange for Hawks shooting guard Anthony Morrow.
"Donnie said, 'What do you think?'" said Cuban on Friday afternoon on 105.3 The Fan. "I told Donnie, 'I hate to lose Dahntay but we need that shooter that everybody is afraid of. Anthony Morrow is one of those guys."
The 27-year old Morrow is also five years younger than the 32-year old Jones and brings an added offensive threat.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban with RAGE
"It's kind of like when we added Peja (Stojaković)," said Cuban. "Peija was a knockdown shooter that could hit the ball from anywhere. We needed the same thing. We didn't have that one guy where no matter what, you had to put somebody on him. We needed that guy so we went out and got him.
Originally undrafted in 2008 out of Georgia Tech, Morrow has had stints at Golden State, New Jersey, Atlanta and now Dallas. Coming off the bench this year for the Hawks, Morrow has hit 40% of his three-pointers, averaging over five points a game.
The trade for Morrow isn't earth shattering but adds depth to a Mavs team that is not showing quit. Against the theory of "team tank", playing bench players to purposely lose games and get a higher lottery pick, Cuban isn't ready to throw in the towel on the 2013 season.
"It's not my DNA at all. I hate to lose any one game, period. You have to have a culture of winning. Even if we're losing games, you have to have guys that know they have to play 48 minutes. If you look at the losing programs around the league, those are the teams that accept losing. It's hard to rebound from that. It's hard to correct from that. We're not in that position right now."
The Mavericks are currently sit at 11th in the Western Conference with a 24-29 record. But Mark Cuban, you believe your team still has a chance to make the playoffs?
"Oh, absolutely,' he said.
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