Thank you for being innovative Mark Cuban, but Dallas Mavericks want rings – NBA Update
The Dallas Mavericks eccentric owner Mark Cuban said after winning the NBA World Championship that he is considering not getting Championship rings. The Mavs owner insisted the rings were “old school” and he wanted to take it to
another level by introducing something new and trendy. The idea seemed exciting to some observers but the Dallas Mavericks, apart from the owner obviously, have soundly rejected it.
The players the coach and even the front office seem to be against the scrapping of rings.
Jason Kidd, the oldest player to win an NBA World Championship at 38, responded to Mark Cuban’s old school comments by saying,
"I'm old-fashioned,"
The Dallas Mavericks star player and NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki also raised his voice against the idea. Nowitzki said it was just like Cuban to come up with something like this, but the Rings are just too steeped in tradition
to be discarded,
"We've got to talk to him about that," said Dirk Nowitzki. "I don't think the last word has been spoken yet. We know he always wants to do something different, something bigger. But the ring is just so classic. I think I would
vote for a ring.”
Nowitzki added in a funny tone, “I mean, I'm a man. I don't know how I'd feel about a bracelet."
All 15 players on Dallas’ roster have won an NBA Championship for the first time. They say they played for the rings this season, and they want theirs.
Another prominent name among them is Jason Terry. Terry is the only member, apart from Dirk, left in the team since their loss in the 200 NBA Finals. For him, winning the NBA Championship became an obsession, so much so that Terry
tattooed the Larry O’Brien trophy on his arm before the season started.
Now that he has won the championship, Terry wants his ring and he made it clear,
“That(the ring) means a lot. That's a thing you can go to your grave with."
Even head coach Rick Carlisle joined in with the players to demand the ring. Carlisle of course already has a ring from his playing days. He was part of the 1986 Boston Celtics team that won the NBA World Championship with the
original Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.
After Dallas’ win in this year’s NBA Finals, Carlisle became only the 11th player to have won the NBA World title as both a player and coach. He knows tradition demands the rings and laughed off his team owners suggestions,
"I don't know what he's thinking," Carlisle said, "You win an NBA championship, you've got to have a ring."
Mark Cuban might just get voted out of this one.
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