Editor's note: This is the finale of a three-part series that provides a snapshot of the professional lives of three important NBA figures -- Isiah Thomas, LeBron James and Mark Cuban. All three are vital to the sport for different reasons:
• Part I: If Thomas cannot restore the Knicks to prominence, the NBA will continue to have one of its flagship franchises flounder.
• Part II: Can James avoid the traps that have enveloped other superstars like Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony?
Now, Cuban. He is a man of ideas and unafraid to share them. Many people love him, some do not, but there is little doubt that despite his knack for being an irritant, Cuban saved basketball in Dallas and has been a tremendous asset to the NBA.
In Dallas, Cuban's footprints are everywhere, particularly on the court, where the Mavericks have become the best team in basketball and are on track to again reach the NBA Finals.
DALLAS -- The man who has transformed the Dallas Mavericks into the best-run franchise in the NBA, and maybe, just maybe, the most impressive franchise in all of sports, is clapping his hands and dancing.
It is the beginning of a Mavericks game, just minutes after Jerry Stackhouse sings the national anthem, and seconds after a mix of rap and rock songs blasts through the American Airlines Center. Mark Cuban cannot help himself. Seated just a few feet away from his team's bench, he's jamming.
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| Locating owner Mark Cuban at a Mavs game isn't a difficult task. (Getty Images) |
"He is unlike any billionaire in the world," said Stackhouse. "He's just a cool guy. I don't know any other way to say it.
"No one wants to admit it publicly," said guard Jason Terry, "but almost every player in the league wants to play for him. I hear it all the time. Players ask me, 'Is he as good an owner to play for as it seems?' The answer is he's better than anyone knows."
The music plays, the game goes on, Cuban screams a few choice words to the officials throughout, and the packed arena hollers and hoots. Then, the Mavericks do something they have done a lot of these days: They win.
At the game's conclusion, Cuban leaves. He is dressed in his usual T-shirt and jeans (sometimes it's a Mavericks jersey and jeans). There's no suit and tie, no starched shirt. He's not surrounded by bodyguards or a dozen suck-ups. He walks out of the arena practically alone, waving to fans.
Cuban possessing the veneer of a normal person and being the most accessible owner in sports today are not necessarily what make him a better sports owner than almost any other.
But other things do. As occasionally nasty as he can be, as defensive as he can be, as petty as he sometimes looks with his verbal autopsies of commissioner David Stern, certain things about Cuban are undeniable.
