The Dallas Mavericks are coming off a 2014-2015 NBA season
that ended in disappointment when they were eliminated from the playoffs in the
first round by their in-state rivals, the Houston Rockets. They managed just
one win in the series before losing 103-94 in Game 5 in Houston. The team was
50-32 during the regular season. The Golden State Warriors went on to win the
NBA Championship in June.
There was some off-court drama for the Mavericks after the
NBA Finals had come to an end. The Mavs thought they had signed a new superstar
free agent in DeAndre Jordan, who committed to the Mavs only to do an
about-face, and re-sign with his old team, the Los Angeles Clippers. Feeling
snubbed, Mavs owner Mark Cuban declined to comment in detail about Jordan's
reneging on his commitment to the team. "I don't think the time is right
to say anything beyond the fact that he never responded to me at all,"
Cuban said.
The Dallas media, however, was not so circumspect. Jordan's
decision, said The Dallas Morning News, "exposed him as, at best, a person
lacking credibility and, at worst, a phony." The paper went on to quote
the Mavs' former minority owner and general manager Frank Zaccanelli.
"They dodged a bullet," he said of the team not signing DeAndre
Jordan. "He's a really good rebounder and a good defender. But he's a
liability on offense, and there's no way he’s going to be able to be your focus
offensively. He can't make foul shots, and he has no outside shot...the
Mavericks shouldn't want him."
Frank Zaccanelli is a veteran Dallas businessman and
basketball enthusiast who led a group that acquired the Mavericks in 1996. He
also spearheaded the development and construction of the American Airlines
Center, home to the Mavericks and the Dallas Stars of the NHL.
