Cuban's Restlessness Finally Haunts Him

I don't know why the following passage from Johnny Ludden's latest Yahoo! column struck me so. Maybe because, like a lot of people, I'm trying to gauge just what the last week or so of monster Devin Harris performances mean. But with the balance of power looking to shift around like crazy in the next season or two, it's worth considering what Harris, now in New Jersey, had to say about the his former team, once a perennial contender out West:

[Mark] Cuban ran one of the best franchises in the NBA, and, unlike many of his fellow owners, he wasn't afraid to gamble. He had given Harris the security of a five-year, $42 million contract extension, but, really, what did that mean?

"If you look at the history of the Mavericks, cores don't last very long," Harris said. "I think we were pretty much the longest core that lasted. It was bound to come to an end at some point."

For a team to stay competitive while making as many radical changes as Dallas has is just kind of spooky. In no particular order, they built up Nash and then let him leave town. Were Don Nelson's team before being handed over to Spurs acolyte Avery Johnson. Had that weird year that everyone forgets where 'Tawn and 'Toine both came off the bench, or something. And now, in what might be the twilight of their run, they've handed the keys to an aging Jason Kidd and Rick Carlisle, a new coach with his own distinctive personality.

Maybe Dallas should've kept Harris. Maybe, as Ludden writes, they overestimated themselves, not Kidd. But this overhauling, gambling when most teams would only tinker, was entirely in keeping with Cuban's philosophy. You could argue that since choking away the 2005-06 Finals, they've been a lesser power. Since they've lost in the first round two years running. Still, that's completely downplaying the 67 wins of 2006-07, or the fact that losing to Chris Paul's Hornets, who sat atop the West for much of last season, is hardly an embarrassment. They could've made adjustments without swinging for the fences.

The point is that Mark Cuban refuses to sit still, even when a little patience might help him, and his fans, clear their heads. With Devin Harris, that philosophy might have finally caught up with him.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.