The war of words continues.
For several months Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has criticized the Houston Rockets and their handling of just about every basketball situation you can think of. From Dwight Howard to free agency and front office philosophy, Cuban has had something to say. Finally, it seems Houston general manager Daryl Morey has had enough.
"I think [Cuban's] pissed that we went after Dirk [Nowitzki] in free agency, however unsuccessful it was," Morey told Yahoo Sports. Yes, Morey respects the tactical purposes behind Cuban's crusade, but rejects his reasoning as flawed - even downright untrue.
"We've been pretty good, and I think he's doing a smart thing to take on a rival," Morey told Yahoo Sports late Sunday. "He should want to beat up on San Antonio, too, but it's hard to paint the Spurs that way. So he's directed his bully pulpit onto us. Our owner stays above the fray, so I'm outgunned, honestly."
The Rockets and Mavericks are in-state rivals in the highly competitive Western conference. Yet Morey doesn't see the two teams on equal ground in the eyes of free agents.
"But let's be clear: If the money's equal between the Rockets and Mavericks, I think players are picking Houston. Every time. For Dwight [Howard], I just don't think it was a hard choice between us and Dallas. If you want to win, you're going to want to join our organization. We have a first-team All-NBA player in his prime [James Harden]. They have an enormously talented superstar [Dirk Nowitzki] but he obviously isn't 24 years old. The choice was pretty obvious between the two teams. Dwight is the smart guy in this."
Morey's heated comments come after Cuban accused him of having no understanding of player chemistry and instead relying on stats and numbers. Morey has long been a strong proponent of basketball analytics.
"I completely reject it," Morey said of Cuban's assertion. "Our teams have had great chemistry, and it's something we believe in. Hey, if Mark believed so much in chemistry, he wouldn't have busted up a title team for cap room. He's trying to reunite a lot of those people now, bringing back the center [Tyson Chandler] from that title team. Maybe he's got some chemistry religion recently."
Morey also had time in his tirade to turn the tables on Cuban, believing the owner was following in his own managerial footsteps.
"He's tripled his analytics staff. If he's equating analytics with not caring about chemistry, well, he's tripling down on it. I think he's smart to paint a competitor in a negative light, but none of those statements are lining up. He says that we're the team that you sign with and then we will trade you, when that's what he said he would've done with Dwight."
While Morey acknowledged that "he has a ring. I don't," he couldn't help but defend his team amid all of the public criticism Cuban has lobbed Houston's way.
"We're no different than other teams," Morey told Yahoo Sports. "We have a core of two players - Dwight Howard and James Harden - who we are going to build around and never trade. San Antonio has had three core guys who they've done an unbelievable job of building around, making a lot of changes around that core. We had Tracy McGrady and Yao [Ming] and we made changes around them. And Mark's had a core of one [Nowitzki], who was there since before he bought the team."
With each team set to be competitive in the Western conference this season, the budding on-and-off court rivalry is guaranteed to make this year even more entertaining for NBA fans.
