| Bloggers Become Another Project For A Micromanager Authored by Brandon Hoffman - April 4, 2008 - 10:20 pm
The NBA lifted Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s locker room ban on credentialed bloggers last week.
"It's a new media age, and there are more ways for people to get information than ever before," said Brian McIntyre, the NBA's senior vice president for basketball communications. "That creates a lot of challenges for all of us who deal with the media, but we will deal with it."
Cuban instituted the ban last month in what many perceived to be a direct response to an article Dallas Morning News blogger Tim MacMahon wrote that was critical of coach Avery Johnson. MacMahon cited Fireavery.com and questioned Johnson’s decision to bench newly-acquired superstar Jason Kidd in the closing seconds of a game against the San Antonio Spurs, a game the Mavs lost.
Cuban claimed he never read the article. An explanation that is simply unbelievable since Cuban is known as a voracious reader who believes the "consumption of information" gives him an "advantage" in business.
Mark even receives alerts when his name is mentioned in the media.
This isn’t a man who became the owner of an NBA franchise by chance or inheritance. Mark Cuban has studied the ins-and-outs of every business he’s been involved with and the Mavericks are no different. He knows everything that’s going on with his team and he knows everything that is being written about them as well. Mark Cuban read Tim MacMahon’s article. Maybe that was what prompted the locker room ban. Maybe not.
Cuban knew the NBA would never stand for his ban, just like they never stood for his criticism of officials. But like a great chess player, he was thinking several moves ahead. The NBA can make him open the locker room to bloggers, but Mavericks’ credentials are issued by the team. Cuban’s response to the lift of his ban was to give every blogger the same opportunity to be credentialed for a Mavs game – in essence, leveling the playing field. He calls it the "Pros vs. the Joes."
"We will encourage all bloggers to apply, whether they be someone on blogspot who has been posting for a couple weeks, kids blogging for their middle school web-site or those that work for big companies," wrote Cuban. "We won't discriminate at all."
Mark even went as far as to encourage bloggers to “post samples of their work” as comments on his blog. If it’s “good”, that individual will be granted credentials to cover a Mavs game. Who decides what’s “good” and what’s not? Why Mark Cuban of course. Now he can use his “unique bias” to decide who gets in and who gets left out, MacMahon included.
Cuban made his fortune by seeing trends in technology and capitalizing on them. In his very first blog explaining the team’s bloggers’ ban, he said: "my experience in reading blogs has favored bloggers not affiliated with major media companies, but that could be my unique bias."
He knows that blogging and conversational media are the future of sports media. He’s a blogger himself. What better way to put his footprint on this emerging form of media than to become the Blogging Benefactor? Of course, he could have done that from the beginning, but what fun would that be? This way, he can sit in his office (Benefactor-style), read the submissions on his blog and discriminate against everyone and no one. Not only that, but he can blame it all on the NBA. David Stern made me do it. Ingenious Mark, really ingenious. Now you get what you’ve wanted all along, only your favorites get to cover your team.
With the blog saga resolved for the time being, Cuban can get back to running his basketball team. I'd suggest reading MacMahon's blog about Avery Johnson again.
MacMahon's criticism of Avery Johnson was more than justified. His substitution of Kidd with thirty seconds left in that tightly contested game against the Spurs was the latest in a series of questionable decisions by the ‘Little General’. Johnson was just as much, or more, responsible than anyone in the organization for the postseason meltdowns that the team has endured the previous two seasons. It was his decision to double and triple-team Shaquille O'Neal nearly every time he touched the basketball in the 2006 NBA Finals, which opened up the penetration lanes for Dwyane Wade. Despite the fact that Shaq was clearly a shell of the player that had won three-straight Finals MVP's to begin the decade, the Mavs dared Wade to beat them.
With open lanes and single coverage, Wade was more than willing to oblige.
After blowing a potential 3-0 series lead in the Finals and allowing the Heat to win the next four games, the Mavericks were proven to be weak mentally, both on the sideline and on the court. A change needed to be made and it was Cuban's responsibility to make it. But Mark chose to stand pat and gave the group another shot at the championship. Although the Mavericks would win sixty-seven games the next year, it was a decision that would come back to haunt the organization. It was only a matter of time before adversity struck again. And when it did versus the Warriors, Dallas' implosion versus Miami was too fresh in their memories, doubt crept into their psyches, and that was their demise.
Avery would make another critical mistake in those playoffs. Instead of playing the brand of basketball that had allowed his team to capture the Western Conference's #1 seed, Johnson chose to matchup and play small ball with Golden State in the series' first game – a decision that gave the Warriors a psychological edge and sent a message to Johnson's players that they were incapable of imposing their will on Golden State. The eighth seeded Warriors would upset the number one seeded Mavericks 4-2 – becoming just the third eighth seeded team in NBA history to do so.
Cuban finally shook up his franchise and made the big move he should have made a season ago when he decided to trade for Jason Kidd earlier this season. The results have been mixed thus far, but Kidd gives them a better chance at the NBA championship than Devin Harris did. The Mavs needed a leader. Problem solved with Kidd, but will Avery loosen the reins on the offense and allow Kidd the freedom to lead? Will Cuban intervene if necessary?
That's the blessing and the curse of having an owner as emotionally invested as Cuban is. With all of his business expertise, is he capable of separating his admiration of his players and coaching staff when it comes to personnel decisions?
You can call Mark Cuban many things, but one thing you cannot question is his passion and commitment to the Mavericks. He's the anti-Donald Sterling – an owner who has invested more than just his money into the franchise. The Mavericks losses are his losses, their victories his victories. Mark Cuban has more heart than Sterling, James Dolan, and Clay Bennett combined.
It will be interesting to see if the heart and brain that have gotten Cuban and the Mavericks this far can come to an agreement on the emotional decisions that will need to be made this offseason, should the Mavericks miss the playoffs or endure another early round exit.
- Please feel free to contact Brandon Hoffman via e-mail (ballerblogger@yahoo.com) with comments or questions |
