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http://blogmaverick.com/2004/07/03/steve-nash-part-1/
i'll post a bit of it and you can read th rest of it by following the link it made a lot of things clear to me and made me not think Cuban is such a goofball afterall.
might i suggest reading the whole thing and not just reading this part, it's very informational and clears a lot of things up of what goes through a owner's/gm's mind when trying to re-sing a guy.
this is only part 1, i'm going to look for part 2 tomorrow and post it.
i'll post a bit of it and you can read th rest of it by following the link it made a lot of things clear to me and made me not think Cuban is such a goofball afterall.
“How could you let Steve Nash go?” It’s a question I’m going to hear for a long time. It’s a question Mavs fans deserve an answer to. As best I can, I will try to go through all the logical, illogical, emotional and financial
scenarios that we explored in putting together the offer that we thought would keep Steve a Dallas Maverick for the rest of his career.
In the beginning….
When I first got to the Mavs, Steve’s name was one that was often included in our trade proposals. At the time, he was an often injured, unproven point guard of a team that hadn’t been to the playoffs in 10 years with a brand new, long-term contract. As is often the case in the NBA, the best deals are the ones that you don’t do. During and following the ’99-’00 season, we explored several deals that included Steve. In every single case, no team wanted Steve and his contract. It seems so stupid looking back. It also seems like it was only yesterday. It was almost 5 years
ago.
That’s the thing about the NBA, seasons don’t go by quickly, but the years do. One day a player is untradeable from a perennial loser, the next day he is a star on a perennial playoff team…and vice versa.Fortunately, we
didn’t become a victim of our stupidity. The talent, work ethic and perseverance that Donnie and Nellie saw in Steve blossomed.
Steve went from a player that was booed by Dallas fans as an overpaid failure, to a two-time all star loved by everyone who knows him or watches him play. I felt the same way. Steve was more than just a player on our team for me as well. We got to be friends. My first year, when we visited Vancouver and Phoenix, he made sure his friends became my friends. They still are. How can you not have a great time with and love a guy whose best friends include a guy named SmallBalls, and another guy who goes out with us wearing a shirt that says “I F**ked Your Boyfriend”?
Three years in a row we were part of a Mavs group that went to the All Star game together, and had a great time. Although we didn’t really get a chance to socialize during this past season, Steve was one of the players I could phone and use as a sounding board. Whether the team was going well or poorly, we could talk about anything and everything that was happening with the team, knowing it would be honest and confidential. This past year was difficult for all of us, and we talked more than usual, I know it helped me. I think it helped Steve as well
I guess this was all a way of saying that I wanted and expected Steve to be a Maverick for life. Making that happen meant having to deal with contracts and agents, and that’s often where things get difficult.
With Steve in an option year of his contract, our first opportunity was to extend his contract. The process started during the season when we asked his agent, Bill Duffy, if he would consider allowing Steve to accept an extension. We said we would extend him out the full term that we were allowed 6 years. Financially, we would be able to increasehis salary by the 12pct base (This means we take 12pct times his last year salary, and then we can increase his salary by that same amount each year). The upside to Steve would be the certainty of having the extension, and the protection against a career ending or impacting injury during the season that might affect his value as a free agent.
Bill and Steve decided that it wasn’t in Steve’s best interest. That was understandable. It also meant that Steve knew he was going to be a free agent. Coming off a year where we went to the Western Conference Finals, and he made the All-Star team, it made sense.
At that point, we both decided separately, and agreed together, not to negotiate during the season. To me, that was a good thing. Steve couldn’t officially become a free agent until he opted out, by getting the message to the media, it would reduce the continuous barrage of questions from them. Hearing the same question over and over and over and over, even though you give the same answer over and over and over is distracting, draining and a waste of everyone’s time.
On top of the media, I don’t have the greatest relationship with his agent. I’m not a big fan of his and he knows it. There have been multiple times where we have expressed an interest in players of his, and he has placed them other places without even talking to us first. I’m not sure how or why we got to this point, but last summer was a perfect
example. We asked him about Olowakandi, and he told us he didn’t think he would be available for the mid-level exception. Next thing you know, he signs for the mid-level exception with the TWolves. That’s his choice, but I don’t think he even presented the Mavs as an option to Mike.
Bottom line, I felt that my relationship with his agent could create tension, and I didn’t want that during the season. To the credit of Steve andDuffy, it didn’t.
Which brings us to July 1st the first day of Free Agency...
scenarios that we explored in putting together the offer that we thought would keep Steve a Dallas Maverick for the rest of his career.
In the beginning….
When I first got to the Mavs, Steve’s name was one that was often included in our trade proposals. At the time, he was an often injured, unproven point guard of a team that hadn’t been to the playoffs in 10 years with a brand new, long-term contract. As is often the case in the NBA, the best deals are the ones that you don’t do. During and following the ’99-’00 season, we explored several deals that included Steve. In every single case, no team wanted Steve and his contract. It seems so stupid looking back. It also seems like it was only yesterday. It was almost 5 years
ago.
That’s the thing about the NBA, seasons don’t go by quickly, but the years do. One day a player is untradeable from a perennial loser, the next day he is a star on a perennial playoff team…and vice versa.Fortunately, we
didn’t become a victim of our stupidity. The talent, work ethic and perseverance that Donnie and Nellie saw in Steve blossomed.
Steve went from a player that was booed by Dallas fans as an overpaid failure, to a two-time all star loved by everyone who knows him or watches him play. I felt the same way. Steve was more than just a player on our team for me as well. We got to be friends. My first year, when we visited Vancouver and Phoenix, he made sure his friends became my friends. They still are. How can you not have a great time with and love a guy whose best friends include a guy named SmallBalls, and another guy who goes out with us wearing a shirt that says “I F**ked Your Boyfriend”?
Three years in a row we were part of a Mavs group that went to the All Star game together, and had a great time. Although we didn’t really get a chance to socialize during this past season, Steve was one of the players I could phone and use as a sounding board. Whether the team was going well or poorly, we could talk about anything and everything that was happening with the team, knowing it would be honest and confidential. This past year was difficult for all of us, and we talked more than usual, I know it helped me. I think it helped Steve as well
I guess this was all a way of saying that I wanted and expected Steve to be a Maverick for life. Making that happen meant having to deal with contracts and agents, and that’s often where things get difficult.
With Steve in an option year of his contract, our first opportunity was to extend his contract. The process started during the season when we asked his agent, Bill Duffy, if he would consider allowing Steve to accept an extension. We said we would extend him out the full term that we were allowed 6 years. Financially, we would be able to increasehis salary by the 12pct base (This means we take 12pct times his last year salary, and then we can increase his salary by that same amount each year). The upside to Steve would be the certainty of having the extension, and the protection against a career ending or impacting injury during the season that might affect his value as a free agent.
Bill and Steve decided that it wasn’t in Steve’s best interest. That was understandable. It also meant that Steve knew he was going to be a free agent. Coming off a year where we went to the Western Conference Finals, and he made the All-Star team, it made sense.
At that point, we both decided separately, and agreed together, not to negotiate during the season. To me, that was a good thing. Steve couldn’t officially become a free agent until he opted out, by getting the message to the media, it would reduce the continuous barrage of questions from them. Hearing the same question over and over and over and over, even though you give the same answer over and over and over is distracting, draining and a waste of everyone’s time.
On top of the media, I don’t have the greatest relationship with his agent. I’m not a big fan of his and he knows it. There have been multiple times where we have expressed an interest in players of his, and he has placed them other places without even talking to us first. I’m not sure how or why we got to this point, but last summer was a perfect
example. We asked him about Olowakandi, and he told us he didn’t think he would be available for the mid-level exception. Next thing you know, he signs for the mid-level exception with the TWolves. That’s his choice, but I don’t think he even presented the Mavs as an option to Mike.
Bottom line, I felt that my relationship with his agent could create tension, and I didn’t want that during the season. To the credit of Steve andDuffy, it didn’t.
Which brings us to July 1st the first day of Free Agency...
this is only part 1, i'm going to look for part 2 tomorrow and post it.
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