The irrepressible Mr. Cuban

DALLAS — Mark Cuban is unlike any other National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise owner. He’s one of a kind and the Dallas Mavericks, the team he purchased for $280 million during the 1999-2000 season, wouldn’t be in the Finals without him.

When Cuban shows up for a Mavericks game, he usually wears a sleeveless T-shirt with the team logo emblazoned in front. He patronizes what he sells. The players strut in the stadium sporting Armani suits and pricey clothes but their boss looks like a hick with no taste for fashion.

Cuban rubs elbows with the average fan. He prefers to chat with ushers than the showbiz celebrities who are a distraction at courtside. There is little known about his family and he likes it that way. You never see his wife in a game but you know she’s around.

But low-key, Cuban isn’t. He stands out, not for himself, but for his team. He doesn’t hesitate to berate a referee for a bad call. For Cuban, it’s all about expressing himself like a fan because deep in his heart, that’s just what he is. More than an owner, he’s a fan.

Cuban, 47, bought the Mavs when they were on the downswing, slumping to a 9-23 record. He made an offer that Ross Perot, the former presidential aspirant who bought the team from original owner Donald Carter in 1996, couldn’t refuse. Aside from unloading a team that was going nowhere, Perot got a 125 percent return on his initial $125 million investment.

Dallas broke into the NBA as an expansion franchise in the 1980-81 season with Dick Motta as coach. After seven years, Motta was replaced by John MacLeod. Richie Adubato, Gar Heard, Quinn Buckner, Motta again, Jim Cleamons and Don Nelson took their turns at the helm before Avery Johnson moved in to lead the Mavs to a 16-2 windup in the last regular season.

For 10 straight years from 1990-91 to 1999-2000, Dallas failed to qualify for the playoffs. The Mavs weren’t only pathetic, they were laughable. Through the hard times, Cuban endured the humiliation. He was a diehard whose dream was for the Mavs to someday be recognized as one of the elite teams in the NBA.

Cuban’s magic touch brought instant results. Dallas hasn’t missed the playoffs since Cuban’s first full season as owner. Now, the Mavericks are in a position to win the Larry O’Brien trophy—something Perot never imagined during his tenure.

Cuban wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In Pittsburgh where he’s from, he sold garbage bags door to door as a boy. He bought newspapers in Cleveland for a quarter and sold them in Pittsburgh for a dollar when the local dailies were on strike. His mind was always generating ideas to make money.

Cuban operated a Bloomington, Indiana, bar at 19 and moved to Dallas in 1982. He recognized the boom in computer technology early, sold software and started MicroSolutions, a systems integrator. CompuServe later bought MicroSolutions for $3 million and Cuban suddenly realized he was multimillionaire. Then he created Audionet which metamorphosed into broadcast.com, a provider of multi-media and streaming on the internet. Yahoo! bought broadcast.com in 1999 for $1.5 billion in 1999 and Cuban was set for life financially.

Awash with cash, Cuban bought a 24,000 square-foot mansion on seven acres. Its main door is an 11-foot mahogany slab. The house has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, 20-foot ceilings, expensive chandeliers and marble floors. There are also a swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court and a 1,800 square-foot, two-bedroom guest house.

In 1999, Cuban bought a $40 million private jet and later spent $46 million on a new plane just for the Mavericks with a weight room. He gave each player a laptop and equipped each cubicle in the locker room with a 14-inch flat screen TV wired to receive satellite channels, a DVD player, a VCR, video games and headphones.

"Fans were hooked on Cuban from the start," wrote Jamie Aron. "They loved the Everyman approach, his passion and the way he reached out to them. Cuban absorbed all service charges and handling fees on Mavs tickets, upgraded the seats of people who came to games with their faces painted and bought tickets for fans who traveled to road outings. He was as much a celebrity as the players."

Mavs forward Keith Van Horn, playing for his fourth NBA team, said Cuban’s passion is what separates him from others.

"Mark brings the enthusiasm of a fan to his position," said Van Horn. "It’s like he’s a fan first." Dallas general manager Donnie Nelson said Cuban isn’t afraid to be a fan.

Coughing up a treasure to acquire the Mavs was a dream come true for Cuban whose net worth has been estimated to amount to $1.3 billion. He said the team was the prize for hitting the jackpot or winning the lottery.

"I was excited about Mark," said former coach and Dallas consultant Don Nelson. "He brought energy, excitement, loyalty. Ross didn’t care if he made money but he didn’t want to lose money. With Mark, money is no object."

Because of his outspoken nature, Cuban has been slapped total fines of over $1 million by the NBA. The biggest fine was $500,000 for publicly castigating the league’s supervisor of officials Ed Rush after the Mavs lost a two-point game to San Antonio in 2002. He has even been suspended from watching games by the league.

"Ed Rush might have been a great ref but I wouldn’t hire him to manage a Dairy Queen," said Cuban. "His interest is not in the integrity of the game or improving the officiating." For the tirade, NBA commissioner David Stern tagged Cuban with the largest fine against an individual in league history. By the way, Cuban could’ve bought a Dairy Queen franchise for $650,000, noted Aron.

Last month, Cuban was assessed back-to-back $100,000 fines for derogatory remarks against league officials and referees.

Cuban once said the fines were part of the cost of doing business. He matches every dollar in fines with a charitable donation. Cuban called it free publicity.

"Love him or hate him, it doesn’t matter," said Aron in the book "Tales from the Dallas Mavericks." "The record shows how far the franchise has come since that season opener in November 1999. The Mavericks are winning again and Mark Cuban is a big reason why."

Cuban can now almost taste the championship.

"Most coaches and players don’t get to go through this," said Cuban. "I want to soak all of this up. I’m not on cloud nine. I’m on cloud eight hoping to get to cloud nine. We have two more wins to go."