Listening, learning from the 1 percenters
Posted June 20th, 2006 by bwindhorst
I realize he’s controversial and often a whipping boy, but I have to say quite often I find myself in agreement and sometimes in awe in what Mark Cuban has to say. Yes, his views are usually self-righteous and pompous. Yet eliminating that fluff, his perspective on the media and his big picture viewpoint, in my opinion, are often well thought out. I’m not talking about his rants at the officials or the NBA. I’m talking about his principals, such as being "right is its own defense."
Cuban has lots of money and his made it himself doing things he believes in, which is reason why he’s so confident. He’s in the basketball business, the movie business, the cable TV business, and he’s getting into the media business and believes he’s an expert in all of them, which rubs people in those fields the wrong way. His attitude has certainly pained media members over the years.
Which brings me to another really rich guy that I know a little better, Dan Gilbert. I think Gilbert and Cuban are a lot alike. Not in their personalities, more in the way they aren’t afraid to do what they believe in regardless of what anyone else thinks or what the standards say. Peel everything else away, especially the annoying details, and that is something to admire. Probably why these guys have made themselves into what they have.
During the playoffs, I spent a day with Gilbert at Quicken Loans HQ outside Detroit. I don’t agree with every way he runs his business. I think he simply treats his employees the way elementary school teachers do their pupils. He uses bright colors, positive energy, and simplistic motivation techniques to get them to achieve goals. Guess what, for the most part it really, really works in that field and that makes him a genius, a rich genius. Like Cuban’s principles, my favorite of Gilbert’s is that "what is right is more important than who is right."
Gilbert presents that mantra in a colorful little book he gives to all his employees and then reads it to them like they’re in kindergarten. I choose to dislike that part of his strategy, but I mean think about that, of how all of us professionals would be better off and our working environs better if that simple idea was followed.
Hey, I’m not saying these guys are smarter than Warren Buffett, but I’m saying that if you look and listen there’s substantive stuff to be gained.
Sunday Column and power of jumpsites
Sunday I did a story about the Cavs draft process in case you missed it. It is hard to separate these PG prospects. I’m not sure the Cavs are in love with any of them, but I can tell you they are hopeful. More to come.
Also, in that column I had two league notes that seemed to cause quite a stir. I wrote that the Jazz were talking to the Grizzlies about Carlos Boozer and the Philly 76ers ownership had a meeting recently where the conclusion was reached that his team needed to rebuilt and a trade of Allen Iverson was to be explored.
These weren’t items I was looking for, just what I came cross in conversations with league officials I’d had over the last week. This happens sometimes, a beat writer not directly seeking information comes across a juicy nugget or two like this. Based on the sources and how they told me they got the information, I deemed both to be credible enough to put in the paper.
Both notes made it on to Hoopshype and InsideHoops, which as I’ve written before here, are pretty much the websites that EVERYONE in the NBA reads. The reporters who know what they’re doing read it, the agents read it, GMs or at least some people in every front office read it and some players do as well. I cannot overstate the power of these sites and how they affect coverage in the NBA. All they do is cobble together links from NBA stories but how they pick out information and where they present it directly affects perceptions in the league.
So both the Philly News and the Deseret Morning News followed up on my story. Just as I’ve followed up on Cavs notes written by other writers in the past and I’m sure I will in the future. The point is, if you’re and NBA fan who wants all the news, go there everyday year round. Also, I can’t more highly recommend two great NBA blogs, which offer a totally different viewpoint and series of links, in Truehoop and YaySports.
June 20th, 2006 at 8:34 am
I am man enough to say I’m sorry. I didn’t see the article you wrote on the draft until after I called you a liar … good work
June 20th, 2006 at 9:07 am
Cuban automatically won my respect a few months ago. I went to a Mavericks game in Dallas. The arena sound was outrageous…actually, not all that different than the phony orchestrated Spinal Tap audio sphincter bombastic atmosphere at Gund…uh, I mean the Q, but that’s neither here nor there. So what the hell, I figured…why don’t I e-mail Mark Cuban about it? Hell, he’s not going to respond, right?
But sure enough, the very next morning, the guy HIMSELF (I could tell the writing style, yep, it was him) e-mailed me back asking what the problem was, where I was sitting, tell him more, etc. Evidently he thought I was a season-ticket holder, but still…Why the hell a millionaire/billionaire, or whatever he is, would take any time at all to hack out a few lines to a lowlife nobody like me…well, I thought that was pretty classy. Time is money, and even though it only took him two to three minutes, that’s still his time.
Maybe I’m wrong, but to compare and contrast, I can’t imagine that Gilbert would have personally responded. If anything, he would have forwarded my e-mail and had one of his very junior lackeys write me form BS three weeks later, if at all.
With respect to Gilbert’s business philosophy at Quicken, yes, it’s been highly successful. And I’ll give all the well-deserved credit to Gilbert, but far more aside credit to Gilbert’s keen recognition that 20-somethings are unbelievably naive idiots that will buy into all that corporate rah-rah bullsh*t hook, line and sinker. They’re like children, really. Particularly the virgins straight out of college. Don’t know any better. By the time they realize they’ve been used and duped, they’re in their 30s, cynical and much, much wiser, working for a different company, and Gilbert has parlayed the profits he’s made from naive youngsters into other businesses, such as a deal for the Milwaukee Brewers…uh, I mean the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nothing against Gilbert, he’s a shrewd guy. 20-somethings are bloody fools. I wish I thought of it before he did.
June 20th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
The more I think of it the more it makes sense to me–the Cavs should trade Z for Carlos Boozer.
With LeBron on the roster, one of the Cavs’ highest priorities when evaluating big men these days should be hands–whether the player can catch a bullet pass in heavy traffic then convert. Boozer is very good in this area while it seemed to me that Gooden rode the bench against the Pistons because he is not.
If Boozer were to come to Cleveland contrite and highly motivated, fans would forgive him quickly, I believe. Not many NBA players admit to mistakes (even after choking coaches or raping hotel clerks), so it would make a pretty good story. It’s really the only way Boozer can fully restore his reputation and could actually be a good move for him.
The current Cavs regime has no axe to grind with Boozer and there aren’t even that many players left from his time here. I’m sure they all understand the temptation of a ludicrous contract anyway.
With Boozer in tow, the Cavs could make a sign and trade involving Gooden, maybe for the Buck’s Magliore, though I think I remember our resident blog host/rumor-monger admitting he pretty much made that one up. In any case, the Cavs should look for a platoon-type center; Varejao needs minutes but shouldn’t start.
The trade would possibly tempt the Jazz. That’s a team intent on keeping oafish white giants around–Ostertag was there forever even though the coach seemed to hate him. And a frontline with Z, Kirilinko and Okur would have to be one of the tallest in the NBA and one of the best at blocking shots. Kirilinko’s quickness might even help mask some of Z’s slow-footed defense.
By the way, league executives very close to this situation tell me this move is very close to happening. I believe AJ Adande’s doing a story as well, with me as his primary source.
June 20th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
What’s with the bold-face names? What is this, Page Six?
June 20th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
In Mark Eaton’s defense, no pun intended, he was pretty darn decent for a giant white oaf. Ilgauskas has never even figured out that holding up his arms on defense just might be a prudent idea.
June 20th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Thanks for the kind words, Brian. Means a lot coming from the hardest working man in the NBA.
June 22nd, 2006 at 11:44 am
Are the Cavs exploring a trade up to get Marcus Williams? Have they at least looked at him? Having spent the last few years at Uconn, I thought many times how well he would fit the Cavs. He’s quick, drives to the hoop, but can make a jump shot. His passing is excellent and in particular, feeds big men well. He would take some pressure off James, but also assist guys like Gooden and Varejao. Of course, coming from Uconn, he’s also able to run and gun.
June 26th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Hey, I have a question: Our ubiquitous blog host has directly and emphatically declared that all other sportswriters and sports talking heads are total idiots and complete morons for saying that James’ Nike contract includes a provision for a pay increase if he plays in a major market. You have written, in no uncertain terms, that this is completely false. But yet, this is PRECISELY what Brandon Wright has now expressly contradicted and asserts is indeed absolutely true.
So which one is it? Let’s put it this way…combined with all of your recent rumor-mongering and your admitted fabrication of non-existent trade possibilities, if Wright’s purported confirmation of that Nike contract is indeed 100% true, then your repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated statement is the sports equivalent of Bush’s unwavering bombastic declaration of imaginary non-existent stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
Which one is it, Brian? You can’t both be correct. It’s either one, or it’s the other. If Wright is indeed right, then much like Elvis, your credibility has left the building.
We await your response with bated breath.