Mark Cuban Is Picking A Fight With J.R. Smith
Public Enemy No. 1After the Nuggets escaped with the victory last night despite 44 points and 14 boards from Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban sent some interesting e-mails to the Rocky Mountain News early this morning.
Critical of a stray “full-force” J.R. Smith elbow toward the head of Antoine Wright in the final seconds of the first half, Cuban indicated he will file a complaint with the NBA and expects Smith to be suspended.
“I do take exception with players throwing elbows that could have severely injured one of our players,” Cuban wrote. “I was very cordial in letting Mr. Smith know (at halftime) that I will be turning it into the league, and I expected him to be suspended for it.”
Cordial? Cuban is about as cordial as a Brillo pad. But despite frequent visits to George Karl’s doghouse, Coach stood up for his guy.
“I don’t care if Cuban barks, but he shouldn’t be barking at my players,” Karl said. “He barked at J.R. at halftime. I thought it was very unprofessional, irresponsible. And, if he sees something that he wants to deliver to the league, fine, he can do that.”
But before the League takes action, Smith is apparently trying to smooth it over himself.
“The humorous part of the whole thing was that, after the game, J.R. sent over to our locker room a signed pair of shoes for me,” Cuban wrote. “I sent them back, saying he should sell them, if you could get anything for them, to help pay for the fine he was going to face.”
Cold.
If you were Cuban, would you have accepted the sneakers?
Source: Rocky Mountain News
January 14th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Mamba says:
Dude Cubes stand down,
His act is wearing so old - Your team stinks and you lost a tough game, get over it,
Im sure the league office will see a complaint from you come over the wire and just roll their eyes,
Why dont you do something productive, Cubes lost all of his credibility with me when he sent Devin Harris packing for a washed up J Kidd, keep trying to buy the Cubs!
Id have taken the sneaks and added them to the collection
January 14th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Kobaybay says:
** 2 weeks later:
Cuban files sexual harassment suit against J.R., allegedly saying J.R. kicked his ass and told him to “Look at it Mark, Come and Touch it!”
January 14th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
J-Kidd washed up…woah hold your horses there buddy. J-Kidd is the best player the Mavs have.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Sallo says:
Cuban was always a fan favorite in my eyes. The last few yrs he has made himself into the bad guy of the league. He can no longer be thought of as the person standing up against David Stern’s autocratic leadership. Classless.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
jmg says:
cuban is a prick. sounds like a scorned parent whos kid’s lunch money was stolen by the schools bully and wants the school to take action. get a luxury suite and get from behind the bench and enjoy your billions because your teams window for winning anything has been shut!!!
January 14th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Mister Sun says:
the trade for kidd wasn’t so bad last season. he had great stats untilö the trade and didn’t look washed up at all. now it looks bad, of course.
but saying it was obvious back then is bs.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Amar says:
yeah, but it’s not like cube is the most bad-ass owner in the L, it’s not like he got into it with fans of the other team during a playoff game in the stands. (10 points to anyone who knows which owner did that)
January 14th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
A-Slam says:
Cuban is a douche, he’s the owner, and at games should be nothing more than a spectator. Does he also fine his wife for not wanting to fuck his withered old ass?
January 14th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
GEE...What you know about Moonshine! says:
Cuban is wack! The only people who like him or Mav’s fans. Wait! A lot of them don’t even like him. To answer the question though he should have sent them back. Don’t nobody want his sneakers!
January 14th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
calvin brodus says:
No love for linking that? I broke this story in my smack post this morning.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
fallinup says:
There was absolutely no good coming out of sending your complaints to Rocky Mountain News. Cuban is a doofus. And he can’t run a basketball team. Dirk’s not getting any younger…he should ask to be traded.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
control says:
I respect Cuban for going from nothing to becoming a billionaire…and I also respect him as an owner because he really seems to take care of his team, he invests in the team, arena and staff. That said his antics are getting old. He’s really gotta chill, some of the stuff he pulls wouldn’t even be acceptable on NBA 2k9.
He ain’t the worse owner in the league, that would be a toss up between James Dolan, Donald Sterling and Clay Bennett. He has to spend more time at home playing baseball in his bathroom and less time being a lunatic on the sidelines.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
MoxWestCoastRep says:
@Kobaybay
That joke is played out. Silence is golden in your case.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
weng santos says:
Here’s what I didn’t get:
Devin was being used as an off-the-bench PG. Terry was the starter. So I mean, instead of trading for Kidd, couldn’t they just have moved Terry to his natural 2 position and started Harris?
Or couldn’t they have done what they’re doing now and turn terry into a 6th man? I mean, the Harris kid was with you everyday; are the Mavs gonna tell me they didn’t see starter potential in him all along?
January 14th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Talented says:
If i was J.R. Smith Cuban would have gotten cussed out. Who he supposed to be someones daddy out there? If your son gets caught with an elbow during a game, long as hes not seriously hurt or cut, your not gonna go talk to the other kids parents are you? No, your gonna tell your son to man up. Cuban needs to man up and stop babying grown ass men. If Antoine Wright was the one crying about it and complaining to Cuban then maybe it was a legit elbow and there should be something done. If not, shut the hell up and watch the game..
January 14th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Brown says:
Cuban’s a clown. He needs to shut the fuck up and get his ass out from behind the players’ bench. I bet the Mavs players all hate him too, trying to be in the huddle and shit. It’s almost as if he thinks he’s a player. Fuckin’ wannabe. Stop bitchin’ about shit that didn’t actually happen. If he buys the Cubs, is he going to complain to the league every time one of his players “almost” gets hit with an errant pitch? Cuban can eat a dick.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
dagwaller says:
Hate hate hate…
First of all, the Mavericks don’t suck. In the always-strong West, they’re only one game out of the last playoff spot, playing .600 ball. They barely lost to the 3rd best team in the conference this year.
Second of all, Jason Kidd isn’t the Mavs best player this year - that would still be Dirk. That having been said, Jason Kidd is still a VERY good player. All these people laughing about the Kidd-Harris deal need to realize that the Mavs are STILL better than the Nets (by a lot), and that Harris can do exactly one thing better than Kidd, and that’s score. “OmFG he ScoRez A Lot THougH!!!11″ Yea, he also rebounds less, assists less, and turns the ball over more.
For all of your mistakes that I’ve just corrected, some of you are excused for being fairly ignorant.
How you feel about Cuban is just opinion, but I think it’s respectable that the owner is going out on a limb to protect his players. I didn’t see the play, but I don’t even see how that matters. I wish that all owners went to even some of the games, or stood up for their players like this. I don’t understand why a bunch of basketball fans such as yourselves are hating on a guy who’s such a huge basketball fan that even after he bought a team, turned it around, and goes to all the games, he still sticks up for his players.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Talented says:
Not hate. I respect him for doing what he does and not just being ya average owner. He is a true fan of the game and sticks up for his players n blah blah but that doesn’t mean he has the right to get in any players face and say what ever. If it was a malicious elbow then maybe the league should do something but I just feel like he babying them..like i said earlier trying to baby grown a** men. If Antoine had a serious problem with the elbow I’m sure he can speak for himself and he would have said something. Sometimes Cuban needs to stay in the stands and cool out
January 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Big North says:
I understand the whole sticking up for your guys angle but this is happening way too much for the mavs, after that they wonder why they get a soft label with Mommy always looking over them. Now I havent seen this myself and if its one of those heat seaking tear your head off type of elbows than more power to him. But there are degrees for everything.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
sh!tfaced says:
Billionaire Mark Cuban acting like a prick and bad boy JR Smith showing some class…
Touch it! Touch it! LOL @ 2
January 14th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Ross says:
I expected Jason Terry to be suspended when he blatantly tackled Tony Parker in the air, without going for the ball about a month ago, but that never happened.
January 14th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
mules says:
Amar said…
“yeah, but it’s not like cube is the most bad-ass owner in the L, it’s not like he got into it with fans of the other team during a playoff game in the stands.”
um…Cuban did do that. During the ‘06 playoffs Suns/Mavericks series.
also…isn’t it funny how point guards always seem to have career years right after they leave Dallas (Nash in ‘04-’05, Harris this year)
January 14th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Hoveys Home says:
So snitchin’ is whats hot in the streets now, Mark??
January 14th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
timmy says:
Rich man, bored man.. I love Cuban but the dude needs a new hobby.. I think he should go into politics or something.. Anything just stop making a scene of himself in trivial things like JR freakin Smith.. you got all that money find a cure for cancer or feed some hungry kids..
January 14th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Lee says:
I think this has more to do with the dirk / Harpring foul than JR …
January 14th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
jack says:
how tall these guys are!If they want to date,maybe they only can find tall girls from some searching sites,as far as i know __TALLLOVING.c om__cute, hot , talented… whatever u can come up with…LOL
January 15th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Jugs says:
hi hi hi big jugs from bronx ny from timbuktu also
lucky mark cuban jr smith didnt go ghetto on him or maybe vice versa becoz the next thing nba dont need is a player vs owner fight
true jugs never fail
hi hi hi
big jugs