Tony Cubes, what would you do differently?
     "Nothing!'' Cuban swears. "I've learned a lot, about how the league works, how people relate, how to trade, how to work the cap, the luxury tax, and how all those things impact the business and the people. But I look at it in an old-fashioned way: Turn an imperfect situation around and make it a positive experience. So everything that's happened, even the negative things, I've needed.''

"The purpose of Rodman was to help us defensively. It didn't work. But I learned so much from that experience, especially about dealing with the media, about what the focus is, about how sometimes, for fans, it's not just about winning or losing but about being entertained. I learned about what kids related to, about merchandising, about putting on a show.''
     
"With Calvin Booth, what we did wrong was pump up Calvin's value because we wanted to pump him up as a player and make him feel good about himself. We didn't love him as much as some people did. The lesson is, don't pump the guy up in the media. Because once we did that, we conveyed an amount of support that caused his agent to be very unrealistic. We did it for Cal, but that's a lesson we learned.''
     But, Cuban adds, he finds it impossible to reflect on the last two years with any negative feelings.
     "Let's flip it,'' he says. "It'd December 1999, and I'm getting ready to buy the Mavs. If you told me that 25 or 26 months later, we'd be talking about contending for the NBA Finals, would you take it? Hell yeah, you'd take it.

The Mavericks are good. Really good. They haven't made their mark where it counts, in the postseason, but what appeared to have the makings of a nice young club last year built around Dirk and Steve and Mike has a legitimate chance at the league's best record.

"We're a team that's made the playoffs once in 12 years," said owner Mark Cuban, plowing the high road. "We haven't done anything yet."

The Stars are average. Really average. The record may say they are five games above .500, but in a screwy league where one team can win a game and its opponent can tie, 10 out of 15 teams in the West are above .500.

By JODIE VALADE / The Dallas Morning News

Understandably, the focus has been on the other new guys. Nick Van Exel and Raef LaFrentz were the headliners of the Mavericks' trade with Denver. Avery Johnson has been a vocal supplemental piece.

Tariq Abdul-Wahad has been relatively ignored.

But the fourth player of the four newcomers acquired by the Mavericks in last week's trade has received some of the highest praise a week after the deal was completed.

"He could be the key to the whole trade," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "He's a defensive kind of guy, a guy who can run the floor. He's looked very good. We're pretty excited about that for the future."

By DWAIN PRICE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - Count Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley among those who believe Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is a smart businessman.

"If he's not the best owner, he's one of the best in the league," Heisley said. "He's a fan-oriented owner, which the NBA needs more of.

"I'm not in awe of Mark Cuban. I just respect people that get the job done."

Nearly two years ago, Heisley and Cuban received their NBA ownership papers from commissioner David Stern on the same day. But while the Grizzlies own the second-worst record in the NBA, the Mavericks are thriving to the point where many believe they have a legitimate shot at unseating the Los Angeles Lakers as this year's NBA champions.

Tim Hardaway's stay in Denver could last only through the rest of this season.
The Denver Nuggets' new starting point guard, obtained in a trade with Dallas on Thursday, has made it clear he isn't happy about being dealt to a perennial loser, though he says he will make the best of it.

He also has a three-year $11.3 million contract that is fully guaranteed only through this season. Another $1 million is guaranteed next season, and the third year basically amounts to a club option.

By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
     Mario Elie won three different NBA Finals rings with two different Texas teams after starting his career with Don Nelson?s Warriors, and the former NBA standout seems half-serious when he says he wishes he could make a comeback and play for Dallas and totally serious when he says the Mavs are capable of winning a title this year.

Our Q&A with Mario Elie, in which he explains how Nellie has changed, how the Mavs have developed a style that seems familiar to him, and tells it like he thinks it is about everybody from Michael Finley to Peter Vescey

Woody Paige of the Denver Post is always worth a look.  Today's column has some nice little digs at Nick Van Exel.

"The Denver Nuggets had to throw Raef out with the bath water. Nick Van Bath Water got his wish. Thus begins the Van Exit Watch in Dallas. What's the over-under on how many months until Nick The Quit demands to be traded from the Mavericks? The inevitable and unavoidable will happen as soon as Nick Van Exel realizes his 50 touches and looks and airballs and outbursts a game won't be tolerated."

"I haven't felt this positive about a trade since Rudolf Abel was sent to the Soviet Union in exchange for Francis Gary Powers."

Paige puns his way through an interesting theory that maybe the Nuggets didn't get robbed as badly as so many experts think.

There was a lot of talk, from Nick van Exel and elsewhere, that he was willing to give up the last 2 years and $26.5 million of his contract if he were traded to the right team, writes Dwain Price of the Star Telegram.  Then there was some confusion as to whether he did just that for the trade to Dallas.  Well, he didn't.

"He can keep it," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. "It's his. He earned it."

Van Exel had to reach certain incentives to get those last two years and he has already reached them.  So, he'll be making $12.8 million in '04-'05 and $13.7 million in '05-'06.  The article also has salaries for all Dallas players for this year.

DALLAS - This is how far the Mavericks have come over the past two years.

About the only complaint the players had after Tuesday's relatively easy 104-91 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies was that they have a practice scheduled for today on what normally would be an off day.

But that's the price the Mavericks have to pay to acclimate the four players acquired from the Denver Nuggets in Thursday's blockbuster trade.

One of those players, Raef LaFrentz, scored 11 of his 17 points in the first quarter as the Mavericks rolled to a 34-21 lead and hardly broke a sweat.

Avery Johnson has edged ever closer back to San Antonio.

The Spurs now could be wishing he had slid farther yet and brought his leadership skills back into the San Antonio lineup.

But now he serves Don Nelson and the Dallas Mavericks.

"There are about five clubs now with legitimate chances to win the title," Johnson said this week. "Four of them are chasing the Lakers, and we're one of them.

"I didn't want to leave San Antonio, but I got the opportunity to go to Denver. I received a contract that, dollar for dollar, was probably the best deal of last summer," he said of his $15 million, three-year pact.