Earlier today, we passed along comments from Mavericks owner Mark Cuban about the team's failed pursuit of Deron Williams, with Cuban insisting the Mavs were in better position after having missed out on the summer's top free agent. As it turns out, Cuban had plenty more to say during his appearance on the Ben and Skin Show on 103.3 FM in Dallas, so let's round up his other comments of note right here:
- Cuban is still upset by Jason Kidd's last-minute decision to back out of a potential three-year contract agreement with the Mavs and accept essentially the same deal from the Knicks, as ESPNDallas.com's Jeff Caplan writes. "I was more than upset. I thought he was coming. I was pissed," Cuban said. "J-Kidd is a big boy; he can do whatever he wants. But you don't change your mind like that…. It hurt my feelings, period, because I felt that we had developed a relationship, and I thought that he was committed to the organization."
- According to Cuban, the Mavericks nearly completed a trade for Kobe Bryant in the summer of 2007 (link via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News). Cuban said today that the proposed deal didn't involve Dirk Nowitzki, and that he was discussing it in between rehearsals for 'Dancing With the Stars': "Literally, between 'Dancing with the Stars' practices I had thought we traded for Kobe Bryant. I even talked to their owner and thought we were going to have a done deal, and [Lakers GM] Mitch Kupchak changed [Kobe’s] mind and brought him back."
- As for whether he'd consider trading Dirk if the franchise begins a full-fledged rebuild in the near future, Cuban answered with an emphatic no, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. If Nowitzki were to request a deal, that may change the equation, but the Mavs owner can't see that happening: "I know Dirk; he wouldn't."