LOS ANGELES -- Mark Cuban did not disappoint, delivering some money quotes to the media horde that surrounded him in hopes of hearing some headline fodder before Thursday's game against that double-crossing DeAndre Jordan and the Los Angeles Clippers.
It was classic Cuban. Brash. Entertaining. Wickedly funny.
Oh, and it's complete bull.
First of all, if Cuban didn't "give a s--- about the Clippers" as he claimed, he wouldn't have bothered busting out his good material during the impromptu pregame media session on the Staples Center sideline. That's fine. The Clippers, primarily Doc Rivers and Jordan, played the same make-believe game, pretending that a meeting with the Dallas Mavericks didn't amp up the emotions any extra despite the strange summer saga of the center's free agency.
(The Clippers' in-game entertainment crew apparently didn't get that memo. They milked the drama for all it was worth, showing an "Emoji Emotions" video that featured Paul Pierce's famous clip-art rocket and finished with a big smile from Jordan, and the kiss cam gave Cuban and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer the split-screen treatment.)
But Cuban's point that these are the same ol' Clippers and always will be -- therefore not making them relevant enough to be rivals with the Mavs -- was ridiculously off base.
"Look, the Clippers are the Clippers," Cuban said. "You can change the players, you can change the owner, but the Clippers are who they've been for the last 30 years."
Rivers' sarcastic response: "That's so hurtful."
First of all, let's be real. The only element missing from a recipe for a bona fide rivalry is the Mavs' ability to compete with the Clippers, one of a handful of teams considered legitimate contenders to win the Western Conference.
Don't take my word for it. Ask Dirk Nowitzki, the brutally honest face of the Mavs' franchise.
"They're obviously the better team the last couple of years," Nowitzki said after a Mavs team, missing three starters, suffered a 104-88 loss to the Clippers. "Usually in a rivalry, we need to win our fair share."
Second, it's a bit silly to pretend the Clippers haven't changed significantly in recent years.
This is a franchise that had never been to the playoffs four straight seasons until the last four years, a stretch that started after they traded for Chris Paul. The Clippers won more playoff series in that span than in the previous 33 seasons since moving west from Buffalo.
Sure, the Lob City incarnation of the Clippers have only won three playoff series, having yet to advance as far as the conference finals. But it's a bit awkward for Cuban to look down his nose at a franchise he has looked up at in the West standings the last four seasons, a frustrating stretch following the Mavs' lone title in which Dallas hasn't won any playoff series.
The Clippers shed their biggest liability a couple of seasons ago when owner Donald Sterling was forced to sell the franchise to Ballmer. They have a coach who has proven capable of winning a championship. And they have a heck of a core, featuring a pair of perennial All-Stars in Paul and Blake Griffin, plus a big man who Cuban giddily declared was going to be Dallas' best player for the next decade, only to have Jordan change his mind.
Asked about Cuban's comments, Paul mentioned he hadn't heard them from the Mavs owner.
"He used to talk to me all the time when he wanted me to come to Dallas," cracked Paul on his way out of the interview room, just in case anyone forgot he was the guy the Mavs wanted most the first time they let Tyson Chandler leave in free agency.
So a team that features two players the Mavs begged to take max contracts -- plus one of the most talented power forwards to ever play the game -- is just the same ol' Clippers that were a league laughingstock for so long?
"Well, they're a little better than when I first got in the league," Nowitzki deadpanned. "I remember when we were still in the old arena. I can't even remember what the arena was called, but they're a lot better."
Finally, if anyone should know that a franchise can completely change its identity by acquiring a talented core and having a new owner take over, it's Cuban. Must we remind him of how miserable the Mavs were when he bought the franchise?
Dallas, which hadn't sniffed the playoffs in a decade, suddenly went on a dozen-year postseason run. The Nowitzki/Cuban Mavs joined Bill Russell's Celtics, Magic Johnson's Lakers and Tim Duncan's Spurs as the only franchises to win 50 or more games every season for at least a decade. The Mavs went to the Finals twice and won a title.
These Clippers might not be able to match that success, but they're much more than relevant enough to be considered worthy rivals for the Mavs.
