Please Rate the Dallas Mavericks Owners (1980-2025)

[WildArkieBoy]

Wab's unscientific rating

1. Mark Cuban
2. Don Carter
3. H. Ross Perot, Jr.
4. Miriam Adelson, Patrick Dumont

[KillerLeft]

Wab's unscientific rating

1. Mark Cuban
2. Don Carter
3. H. Ross Perot, Jr.
4. Miriam Adelson, Patrick Dumont

I don't go back far enough to properly rate Carter. I've heard the horror stories about Ross Perot, Jr, so I think he should be last. 

Can't put the current owners last, imho, because (so far) they're willing to pay the tax to be competitive, which is much more than can be said about the second half of Cuban's era. I'd still have Cuban #1, however, just because of the way he altered the franchise during his first decade or so.

[SleepingHero]

Wab's unscientific rating

1. Mark Cuban
2. Don Carter
3. H. Ross Perot, Jr.
4. Miriam Adelson, Patrick Dumont

Perot gets an automatic last place. 

The Adelsons are too new to really judge. They've done some good in being willing to actually pay the tax (at least so far) and seemingly want to field a competitive team. Downside is that they probably couldn't care less about basketball and are more so using the Mavericks as an investment vehicle to build big real estate projects in the Dallas area. That's what got us The Trade. A good byproduct of that though means a competitive Dallas team helps their venture of real estate at the end of the day. So a 3rd place vote tentatively seems apt. 

Don Carter brought basketball to Dallas so I think an honorific 2nd place is deserved. He had some pretty ok years. Can't say I remember much of Carter.

Cubes for all his warts deserves the #1 spot. For better or worse he radically transformed the franchise and left it at a better spot than when he got it. Sure, since the title he became a pretty middling owner with a loud mouth. But he did truly care about this team and it's fans. I may not always see eye to eye with Cuban and how he wants to build a basketball team, but I can at least respect that he and I are in the same boat about being fans of said team.

[mvossman]

I don't go back far enough to properly rate Carter. I've heard the horror stories about Ross Perot, Jr, so I think he should be last. 

Can't put the current owners last, imho, because (so far) they're willing to pay the tax to be competitive, which is much more than can be said about the second half of Cuban's era. I'd still have Cuban #1, however, just because of the way he altered the franchise during his first decade or so.

Yeah, I only go as far back as early Cuban days.  I also agree that there are really two Cuban periods, pre championship and post championship.  

Cuban BC:
  - completely turned around the franchise
  - made some terrible moves but was always willing to spend his way out of mistakes (something you could do back then)
  - won a championship

Cuban AC:
  - broke up championship team
  - Plan powder
  - cheap
  - terrible in house scandal
  - messy divorce from Nelson

Dumont:
  - Signed off on trading away fan favorite super star in the middle of the night
  - then trashed said superstar repeatedly
  - Then raised ticket prices after infuriating the fan base

Seems like ownership has been on a downward spiral since Cuban glory days.  Dumont is a much smaller sample, but he has done so much damage in that small amount of time, with the only win being blind luck.  I'm in wait and see mode regarding how much tax he is willing to spend.  He did himself no favors by signing off on the dumb Grimes trade to add a year to the repeater penalty.

[ballsrchr]

I WAS around for Don Carter. At the time I thought he was a clown and didn't know what he was doing. Over the years, though, he has grown on me. Basically I was probably the clown...

Ross Perot, Jr. didn't have the temperament to run a professional basketball team. Probably not even the temperament to run an International tiddlywinks competition either. His bottom line was the dollar and it didn't matter to him how he got it. Perot brought in a guy, Zacarreli (or something like that) who also didn't know a thing about basketball...and it showed.

I thought Mark Cuban was going to be the savior of the Mavs organization. And it seemed that way for awhile. Unfortunately Cuban got to thinking he was smarter than he actually was, and came up with Plan Powder, and lost interest in the Mavs, and maybe he needed some money. That's when I decided Cuban was the clown. C'est la vie...

Miriam Adelson, Patrick Dumont haven't been around long enough to be properly rated. However...wasn't the biggest trade of a superstar with the return of a bag of chips done under their mantle. And the team president, CEO, whatever you call him, is still there! That does not bode well for the Adelson/Dumont future ratings.

So...my ratings are:

1. Don Carter
2. Mark Cuban
3. Ross Perot, Jr.
4. Too early to be decided, but I'll put Adelson/Dumont here for the time being.

Edit: Oh man! I'm liking these ratings. Good comments--and it shows how some people think. We've got a great forum!

[Chicagojk]

I would put Cuban first, by default. Can't say much good about the Perot era. It wasn't good. Not a big fan of Carter either. Different time, but it felt like a small business. Could they have gotten a championship with a more willing owner?

No idea about Dumont. He seems really hands off and didn't know what he was trading and put his faith in Nico. Letting the basketball guys run the team would be preferable. I do have concerns if he decides he know basketball, as billionaires typically think they have all the answers. Or if they decide to pinch pennies if their casino looks to be dead.

[LifeAquatic]

Wab's unscientific rating

1. Mark Cuban
2. Don Carter
3. H. Ross Perot, Jr.
4. Miriam Adelson, Patrick Dumont

I agree with this ranking.

[david75090]

I like Don Carter best because there was no team until Don Carter. All the others are after Don Carter.

[Hooper21]

I like Don Carter best because there was no team until Don Carter. All the others are after Don Carter.

Carter is definitely #1.  Brought the team to town and built from expansion to contender.  The biggest mark against him was trading disgruntled Aguirre for Dantley, so Aguirre pouted his way to B2B championships with Detroit.  That group's last, best chance was dribbled away against the Lakers in Game 7.  
Cuban #2.  His biggest downside is his mouth, unless you count wasting so many prime Dirk years trying to be the smartest guy in the room.
Perot was bad, but the Adelson group could give them a run for their money.

[michaeltex]

I agree with Cubes at #1. The franchise was a joke and he turned it into a consistent 50-win performer. Combined his passion with the Nelsons' expertise and connections to change the team's trajectory.

I have to put Perot at the bottom for now, although he only owned the team for ~ 4 years?

The Dumont era is a mixed bag to start. Last season's injury marathon makes any real evaluation problematic. This season will be a report card on the current management team.

[SkenfromLMF]

I think the debate over the Perot and Adelson regimes will boil down to how their big trades of absolute superstars work out...
Is trading Jason Kidd or trading Luka Doncic going to be the worst trade of absolute superstars?
Carter is fortunate in that the Aguirre trade (while the biggest star of the franchise to that point) was not one of the best players in the league at the time of the trade. Luka and Kidd definitively fall in the category of trading a top 5 star.
IMO the biggest blunder on Carter's resume was extending Roy Tarpley when Sam Perkins' contract was up sooner. Perkins felt slighted (Skip Clueless didn't help at all in the media) and basically non-negotiated his way to the Lakers.
Aguirre gone, Perkins gone, and Tarpley will crash the franchise twice.
All that said, I still rank Carter ahead of Cuban, because Cuban did not keep the '11 team together and wasted the remainder of Dirk's career when Dirk was playing for $5 million per to make the team better.
Wasting the Trade Exception from the Harrison Barnes trade was criminal and having Skin Wade telling everyone that Dallas was going to do something big that summer was in the words of the immortal Chuck, a "TURRIBLE LOOK"

[david75090]

I agree with Cubes at #1. The franchise was a joke and he turned it into a consistent 50-win performer. Combined his passion with the Nelsons' expertise and connections to change the team's trajectory.

I have to put Perot at the bottom for now, although he only owned the team for ~ 4 years?

The Dumont era is a mixed bag to start. Last season's injury marathon makes any real evaluation problematic. This season will be a report card on the current management team.

Nelson had the franchise turned around. Dirk, Nash and Finley were in place. Cuban's infusion of money helped. His meddling hurt, like when he brought in Rodman to sell tickets. Cuban's ego is a negative, in my opinion. He caused Nash to leave for nothing. Probably also spurred Nash to improve his conditioning to prove Cuban wrong. Cuban's thinking he knew more about basketball than he did, turned me off.

[michaeltex]

Nelson had the franchise turned around. Dirk, Nash and Finley were in place. Cuban's infusion of money helped. His meddling hurt, like when he brought in Rodman to sell tickets. Cuban's ego is a negative, in my opinion. He caused Nash to leave for nothing. Probably also spurred Nash to improve his conditioning to prove Cuban wrong. Cuban's thinking he knew more about basketball than he did, turned me off.

IIRC, Nash was an all star guard for sure, but there were some doubts about his defensive capabilities and some insinuations that his lack of athleticism was detrimental. Or at least that was the public face of why Cubes was trying to negotiate a lower salary with Nash. PHX, by all accounts, came in with a max deal that was take-it-or-leave-it, but make your decision RIGHT NOW, so he took it rather than deal with Cuban's BS. The real hurt was losing Nash for no return.

I credit Cuban for re-invigorating the front office (granted, there appears to have been some unaddressed cultural issues). He also created a positive image for the team overall, for example, insisting that all seats get filled even at deep discount prices. Which in turn help awaken the fan base. A string of 50-win seasons didn't hurt either.

I guess you could say every owner's tenure has at least one questionable contract decision. The key is how they manage around the mistake. I'd say Cubes did pretty well, DAL was a perennial contender, 2 NBA finals and one championship.

[Chicagojk]

IIRC, Nash was an all star guard for sure, but there were some doubts about his defensive capabilities and some insinuations that his lack of athleticism was detrimental. Or at least that was the public face of why Cubes was trying to negotiate a lower salary with Nash. PHX, by all accounts, came in with a max deal that was take-it-or-leave-it, but make your decision RIGHT NOW, so he took it rather than deal with Cuban's BS. The real hurt was losing Nash for no return.

I credit Cuban for re-invigorating the front office (granted, there appears to have been some unaddressed cultural issues). He also created a positive image for the team overall, for example, insisting that all seats get filled even at deep discount prices. Which in turn help awaken the fan base. A string of 50-win seasons didn't hurt either.

I guess you could say every owner's tenure has at least one questionable contract decision. The key is how they manage around the mistake. I'd say Cubes did pretty well, DAL was a perennial contender, 2 NBA finals and one championship.

It was a dark day for me when Nash walked, although I would have never have guessed he would have turned what he turned out to be in PHX.  Maybe that is one me, but I thought he would have been a fringe all star player for the next 5 years if he stayed healthy.   I never would have guessed he would reach the heights he did.

Losing Brunson was worse, but that to I would never of guessed he would be what he is now.  And this is coming from one of his biggest fans.

[david75090]

Mark tended to think of himself as the smartest guy in the room, on all things. He knows less basketball than he thinks he does. In the Giannis draft, Donnie had him identified, Cuban said "no". The Nash situation. Nash was essential to Nelson's offense. Cuban wanted to force his on-court vision on Nelson, by letting Nash go. "Defense wins championships". Mark ran Nellie off with his actions and replaced him with Avery. That almost worked.

Still haven't figured out the Rick departure. Luka would seem to be the best offensive player that Rick is likely to coach, but Rick walked away from that. Was it the hub-bub surrounding Mark's "leadership" with "consultants" and shadow GMs running around, or did Rick not think he could successfully coach Luka? Would Rick have walked away from, potentially, coaching Flagg?

[SkenfromLMF]

My impression is that Rick walked away from the front office fall-out between Donnie and mark. Rick is highly connected (President of the NBA Coaches Association) so he probably had some whispers indicating things were going to get worse and not better in Dallas. I just have a nagging feeling that mark got the Sterling treatment, and that the Nelson fallout was another piece he could not afford after the business office issues.