It has been nearly 18 months since the Mavericks beat the Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals, but if you take a look at their current roster, it sure seems longer than that. Forced to change their offseason approach after missing out on Dwight Howard and Deron Williams, the Mavs overhauled their roster by adding much cheaper veteran alternatives like Elton Brand, Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo and Chris Kaman. At 4-1 through their first 5 games, their strategy looks like a stroke of genius so far.
However, accoring to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Tyson Chandler said today that he thinks that by blowing up the 2011 title team, Mark Cuban cost himself a second championship. With Jason Kidd now also in New York, Chandler addressed Cuban's post-title decision-making:
"I'm glad because I'm here. It's a great situation. I'm very happy with the situation. I definitely think we had an opportunity to win back-to-back. Unfortunately things were blown up. That's the business side of it."
So what do you think? Had Cuban opted to retain Chandler and Jose Barea, among others, would the Mavericks have won a second title?
Dirk was having a ridiculous post-season that year. He gave it all that year. I don’t think the same drive would have been there the subsequent years.
I was thinking the same thing… but they probably should have still kept Chandler.
they offered Chandler 1 year and $20 million. He chose to leave for a multi year deal at way less money. They offered Barrea a similar large 1 year deal, but to be fair, I dont think you can really blame the Mavericks for not paying him what he ended up getting. Also, they still would have lost to the Heat