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As 'The Worm' turns Mavs' owner-in-waiting talks about Rodman's release
Posted: Saturday March 11, 2000 05:49 PM
It isn't usually a good career move to criticize the boss. Particularly with a zillion microphones in your face. That's exactly what Dennis Rodman did after the Dallas Mavericks lost their fifth straight game. Next thing you know, Rodman was gone. Waived. But owner Mark Cuban insists Rodman's jettison had more to do with the team's 4-9 record since Rodman came aboard. Cuban sat down with CNNSI.com's Josie Karp to talk about Rodman's short-lived career with the Mavs. Josie Karp: Was Dennis Rodman released because of the comments he made about you? Mark Cuban: No, not at all. Not even close. Karp: Not because, referring to you, "He doesn't need to be hanging around the players like he's a coach or something. It's dumb." That had nothing to do with it? Cuban: Not even a little bit. I mean Dennis is Dennis. Dennis is a passionate, emotional guy. After losing five games in a row, when someone puts five or 50 microphones in your face, people vent in different ways. And Dennis vents verbally. And so he spews. All I can tell you is that I didn't take it any more literally than I would have told [NBA commissioner] David Stern not to take Dennis' comments literally. Karp: You took a risk. Not many teams were beating down the doors to sign Dennis Rodman. And you befriended him. Do you feel because of the comments he made, specifically the ones about you, that you've been betrayed by him? Cuban: No, not at all. Every business I've been in, I've had some level of relationship with everybody who works for me. Dennis and I were friends, but we didn't call each other up on the phone and say, "Waassuupp." And it's the same relationship I've got with other players. Dennis is no different. I didn't befriend him any further. I take that back. Dennis was a little bit different in the fact that there was always that wild-card scenario of what could happen off the court. And so I did pay a little more attention to Dennis than I might have to another player. I wanted to know exactly if there were going to be any issues. And so the only way to find out was to be around him when he was around some of his friends. People had warned me that in certain scenarios, he could get out of control. The reality is [laughs], when I went out with him to places that were "danger spots" for him, he was a lot tamer than a lot of my friends that I go out with and hang with now. And so Dennis was a mild night out, not a wild night out. Karp: Did Dennis have any say in whether he was going to stay. I mean, did you go to him and say, "This is what we would do with you if you stayed. Do you want to stay or do you want to go?" Cuban: No, we didn't have that kind of conversation with him. We didn't go through all the eventualities when we signed him. But you don't just bring Dennis Rodman in just to be a role player or just to sit on the bench. You bring him for a specific reason, and in our case it was to try to make a run at the playoffs. We were very clear to Dennis on that. We thought he could contribute. It's no knock on Dennis. Dennis did his job. He did a great job. I would recommend him to any of the teams that are out there that are looking for a rebounder. It's just that we have a young team, and trying to get Dennis more minutes doesn't accomplish anything at this point if we're not in the playoffs. Karp: Was it a mistake bringing him in at all? Cuban: No, not at all. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
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