The Saturday Stein Line with Marc Stein (December 30, 2023) Full

This show goes deep on the Mavericks' sale by going one-on-one with Mark Cuban, who has shifted to alternate governor after nearly 24 years as the team's majority owner. We also bid farewell to 2023 with a review of the calendar year's most significant basketball moments and a Mavericks-centric chat with D Magazine contributor Iztok Franko.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards and
Collectibles on ninety seven to one TheFreak, the official home to all Dallas
Mavericks games, hosted by legendary NBAreporter and publisher of his substack, the
Steinline. Here's Mark Stein. Welcomein everyone to our year end festivities on

(00:30):
the Saturday Steinline presented by Panini TradingCards and Collectibles. Last show of the
calendar year, and it will bea big show. Mark Cuban now the
alternate governor of the Dallas Mavericks afternearly twenty four years as the majority owner

(00:54):
of those Dallas Mavericks. My conversationwith Mark Cuban after he stunningly sold his
majority stake in the team that iscoming in segment two after the first break.
In segment three, we will bejoined live and direct from Lubliana in

(01:14):
Slovenia. We'll be joined by Dallas'ssecond favorite Slovenian d magazine contributor is Talk.
Franco. I thought a perfect wayto put a bow on twenty twenty
three for MAVs fans would be connectingwith Istak getting his pulse take on the
team. Now that we've crossed thethirty game threshold, we're really nearing mid

(01:38):
season quickly. I can't believe we'realmost to game forty one. Seven game
homestand to come for the Mavericks willget them to the season's midpoint. After
these next two road games at GoldenState tonight at Utah on New Year's Day,

(01:59):
We've had a big trade in theNBA today, Toronto and New York
teams in the midst of legal action. Don't forget with the Knicks suing the
Raptors earlier this season, the Raptorsagreed to s an og An Andobi to
the Knicks for RJ. Barrett Emmanuelquickly draft compensation. Precia Sechua and Malachi

(02:23):
Flynn are also in that deal,so that that's a big yie. But
look on this show, a Dallasshow, We're going to be talking a
lot today about the sale of theMavericks, the implications of the sale.
My report Wednesday that there is nowritten language in the sale agreement to specify

(02:44):
Mark Cuban will be maintaining operational controlover basketball endeavors. Cuban confirmed that hours
later Wednesday, before tip off againstCleveland when he did an interview scrum with
several members of the local media.We're going to get into all of that
for sure. Cuban is insistent thateven without the written agreement, that he

(03:04):
will continue to maintain operational control overbasketball endeavors, much like we've seen for
the past two decades plus. Ihave to say, though, as this
calendar year comes to a close,twenty twenty three had a lot of memorable
stuff happened in the NBA lots upto and including today with this trade.

(03:30):
Lebron James breaking Kareem Abdul Jabbar's alltime scoring record. Nikolajokic leading the Nuggets
to a championship, ending Denver's fortyseven year, forty seven season wait for
its first NBA championship. Jimmy Butlerleading the Heat to the finals as an

(03:52):
eighth seed. Joe l Embiid winninghis first MVP Trophy down in South Texas.
Of course, San Antonio winning thedraft lottery, winning the rights to
draft Victor Wembenyama, Dirknavitski going intothe Hall of Fame in Springfield in August.

(04:15):
Dirknavitsky entering the Hall alongside Paugassol,Tony Parker, Dwayne Wade, and
Greg Popovich Germany winning the Feeble WorldCup four years after Dirknavitsky retired. The
United States finished fourth in that competition, better than their seventh place finish in

(04:38):
China in twenty nineteen, which Icovered in person, but still fourth for
the United States after losing the thirdplace game to Canada. We saw an
in season tournament for the first time. We're still seeing the Detroit Pistons in
the midst of a hard to fathomeight game losing streak. You guys should

(05:02):
see how exasperated Maddie looks as Imentioned that twenty eight game losing streak.
She also cannot believe that an NBAteam could lose twenty eight games in a
row. And sidebar to this,Pistons Raptors trade, the Raptors presuming that
they're not going to have a fullcompliment of players tonight, making a trade

(05:24):
in the morning. Does that giveDetroit? Does that open the door for
the Pistons to beat the struggling Raptorsand finally put this losing streak to bed?
But look, when we account forall that significant historical stuff that has
happened in hashtag this League over thepast twelve months, and I even left

(05:45):
out last week. One of lastweek's guests, Mac McClung, winning the
Dunk Contest, resuscitating the Dunk Contestas a player on a two way contract.
I think when someone asks you,what will you remember most about twenty
twenty three, this is at leasthow it works for me. It's the
personal details, the individual quirks andmemories that really make moments special, make

(06:11):
them stick with you. And justmentioning Panini off the top is what made
me want to go on this tangentbecause for me, for yours truly,
twenty twenty three it will be recordedas the year that I was able to
launch a twice a week iHeart podcast, This League Uncut. Please subscribe if

(06:36):
you haven't already, got to startthat pod alongside my dear friend Chris Haynes
of Turner Sports, and it willgo down as the year as well that
we were able to launch this showon the Freak the Saturday Steinline. It
debuted on July one, hours intoNBA Free agency. This show was not

(07:00):
months in the making, and whenwe finally got it up and running,
we started on Day one of thecrazy NBA summer. And look, there
would simply be no show without mydear, dear friends at Panini America.
They have been great champions and supportersof mine for years. Honestly, if

(07:24):
you go to the top of myTwitter feed, you can see the amazing
card they made of me to commemoratethe greatest achievement of my professional career,
winning the Halls Goudy Award in twentynineteen. And to have a card of
yourself, I can't even tell youwhat that I'll never probably be able to

(07:45):
fully explain what that means to me. And it's the same company, Panini
Soccer Stickers. I've been obsessed withthem for decades and so it is truly,
truly, truly an honor to partnerwith DFW Bass Panini too, you

(08:09):
know, for them to help memake this show happen. They've pledged to
keep it going here through the entireseason. And believe me when I tell
you, when I just ran througheverything that happened basketball wise in twenty twenty
three, or at least what happenedin my summary, I gotta say on
this scorecard for me, maybe it'sonly me but for me hosting a show

(08:35):
with Benin's skin at my side,a Dirk tribute hour to do that in
Springfield, Massachusetts, hours before Dirk'sinduction ceremony, and then in October in
this studio where I am right nowgetting to interview George Gervin on these airwaves

(08:56):
about his book in a studio withmicrophones and a producer and everything. To
be able to tell the iceman aboutmy first George Gervin basketball card. This
might not be the best use ofa time machine, but I would really

(09:18):
love to be able to go backin time, just for a few minutes
and tell nine year old Mark Steinthat that was going to happen someday,
because he would have never believed it. So thank you Panini for your peerless
partnership in making the Saturday Stein Lineand every Saturday thing right here on ninety
seven to one the Freak, andlook, we are going to get to
Cuban very soon. We've got doctorFranco coming up after that to diagnose the

(09:43):
eighteen and fourteen Mavericks. But thiswild week, this last week of twenty
twenty three, the chaos started Mondaynight, late on Christmas with some history
in the desert, Luka Doncic scoreda quick eleven points to get to ten
thousand for his career. He gotthere faster than any active player, and

(10:07):
then Luke attacked on thirty nine morepoints to make sure the Mavericks, still
without the injured Kyrie Irving, wereable to hang on for a win in
Phoenix. And so I'd like toshare something else with you this morning.
It's going to be audio only,of course, on the radio, but
I put together a video essay forBally Sports Southwest with my colleagues Tanner Rotman,

(10:31):
Ben Rebstock, Clark Rowe. Iwanted to share that with you guys,
and I'm gonna play it now becauseI think it's important to add some
historical perspective on Luca's first ten thousandNBA points. Luka Doncic is rarely wait

(10:54):
a minute, Luka Doncic is neverlauded for his speed. To the contrary
about it. How many times acrossLuca's five plus NBA seasons have you heard
someone say, Luca, he can'tbe sped up. He plays at his
own pace. Yet it must benoted this holiday season that Doncic is an

(11:16):
absolute speedster. In at least onerespect because he has crossed a ten thousand
point threshold for his career faster thanall but seven players before him. Doncic
reached the ten thousand point plateau injust three hundred and fifty eight regular season
games, which puts him in avery select club of NBA scoring machines.

(11:41):
The incomparable Wilt Chamberlain, of course, needed only two hundred and thirty six
regular season games to get there.Michael Jordan, for that matter, wasn't
far off. It took mj justthree hundred three regular season games. Elgin
Baylor at three fifteen, Karma AbdulJabbar at three nineteen, and the Big

(12:03):
O Oscar Robertson at three hundred thirtyfour. Those three legends likewise piled up
their first ten thousand NBA points ina hurry. But Donci is right there
with three supreme scorers of my childhoodguys. I absolutely loved watching in the
seventies as a young fan, justlearning about hashtag this league. George Gervin

(12:30):
maybe the most impossibly cool scorer ever. The Iceman needed a mere three hundred
and fifty five regular season games.Luca was a touch faster than Rick Barry,
who needed three hundred and sixty gamesand dead even with my beloved Bob
McAdoo, three time NBA scoring championfor the gone but not forgotten Buffalo Brains.

(12:52):
That's two for McAdoo, reached tenthousand points just like Luca in three
hundred and fifty eight games. Thismilestone for Doncic as he battles with Nikolajokic,
Gianna Santetokumpo, Joel Embiid, andshay Gilgess Alexander in pursuit of his
first MVP trophy. It gets reallyimpressive when we start listing some of the

(13:16):
modern stars that Luca comfortably beat tothis finish line. Lebron James, the
NBA's new all time scoring king,needed three hundred and sixty eight games to
get to ten thousand points. ShaquilleO'Neil the Diesel needed three hundred seventy games,
and the same goes for the LogoJerry West Embiid three seventy three,

(13:41):
Alan Iverson three seventy eight, andKevin Durant three eighty one. Luka cracked
five digits faster than all of themtoo. Mavericks teammate markithe Morris recently marveled
at the way Dancic can seemingly quotewalk through the game. What number seventy
seven sprint to ten thousand points alsotells you quite clearly Luca can turn on

(14:07):
the Jets. But he's in themood, guys. I have to tell
you, I love doing video essaysbesides being in a radio studio like this.
It's honestly my favorite form of NBAcontent, trying to turn a thousand

(14:31):
word column into a three ish minuteTV piece. But you know what,
enough enough about all my little quirksand habits and stuff that makes me happy.
We've done enough of that. Weneed a break. And when we
come back, as promised, weare going to go one on one with

(14:56):
Mark Cuban about the sale. It'sit still sounds crazy to say this his
stunning sale of a majority Steak inthe Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban joins us
next here on ninety seven one TheFreak. This is the Saturday Steinline with

(15:18):
Mark Stein, presented by Panini TradingCards and Collectibles on your official homes to
all Dallas Mavericks games. Ninety sevenone The Freak Saturday Steinline dribbles On,
presented as always by Panini Trading Cardsand Collectibles. Thank you to Kurt t.

(15:39):
Text me every week on the Steinlinetext line two one four seven eight
seven one nine seven one eight oneseven seven eight seven one nine seven one
if you want to get in touchwith us via text on the Steinline text
line. Normally, during the holidays, Mark Cuban takes some time away from

(16:03):
the team to spend the winter breakwith his family at a more glamorous location
than the two one four Not possiblefor him this Christmas. He had to
stay close to home for the closingof a deal that is frankly still sinking

(16:26):
in if I'm being more frank Itreally surprises me that it hasn't been a
larger story, Nash. I rememberwhen the story broke in late November and
was watching PTI and they talked aboutit in a few seconds at the end
of the show. Mark Cuban hasalways had such a national presence among league

(16:49):
owners because he's been so open withthe media, so willing to talk.
So I really thought this would betalked about a lot more more on the
national scale. I don't really thinkwe've seen that to this point, but
Mark Cubans selling a stake in hisbeloved Mavericks. I keep using the word

(17:10):
stunning. I don't even know ifstunning is sufficient. Unanimously approved Wednesday by
the league's other twenty nine teams hoursbefore the Mavericks fall from ahead a very
painful loss at home to the ClevelandCavaliers, who were without Evan Mobley,

(17:30):
Darius Garland, and Donovan Mitchell.A very important item that I reported that
morning, something Cuban later confirmed whensurrounded by a clutch of reporters before the
game at the American Airlines Center Numberone. Cuban has been promised ongoing control

(17:52):
of basketball operations, as I've beenreporting, which that's what makes this arrangement
so unique. It's why the franchise, why the valuation of the franchise initially
misreported at three point five billion.I've since reported it with land between four
and five billion, but it couldhave been even higher. It wasn't an

(18:17):
outright five billion plus because Cuban wantedto retain that operational control over basketball matters.
However, the sale agreement that makesthis all possible, that establishes the
Addelson and Dumont families as the Mavericks'new majority owners It does not contain specific

(18:38):
language about Cuban's role, so thereare no in writing guarantees here that things
will stay this way. Cuban isconfident that they will. And look,
he still owns twenty seven percent ofthe team, as I've been reporting for
several days now, something else heconfirmed before Wednesday night's game, and that's

(19:00):
more than a healthy slice of thefranchise. The Mavericks play the Warriors tonight
in San Francisco. Mark Cuban's twentyseven percent ownership steak in the Mavericks that
exceeds the reported twenty five percent ownershipsteak that Joe Lacob holds in the Warriors

(19:22):
and Joe lakeb He's the face ofWarriors ownership, and he has the largest
ownership steak of anyone in Golden State'sownership group. And amazingly, it is
smaller than the percentage Mark Cuban nowholds of the Mavericks. But look,
it is undeniable. Cuban is takingsome risk here. Yes, he received
a gargantuan pile of cash in thistransaction, more than two billion with a

(19:47):
B, Yes with a B notin them two billion, but if things
go sideways with sans Corp, theywould have the ability to oust him.
And that's something that I asked himabout directly in this lively, candid chat
that we're about to run for you, because that is such a key element

(20:08):
of this whole discussion. We're goingto start with Cuban responding to the idea
that with sans Corp owning seventy threepercent of the team, with sans Corp
President and COO, Patrick Dumont nowofficially installed as the Mavericks governor and Cuban
shifting on paper to alternate governor again, he is no longer the ultimate boss

(20:33):
for the first time in twenty fouryears. So naturally I asked him how
he feels about surrendering that ultimate signoff on so many elements of what the
Mavericks do. There's different types offinal say. Right when you're writing one

(20:56):
hundred million dollars check for a luxurytax, that's a final say or the
other. And look, the goodnews is Patrick wants to win. That's
been a very big point of hisand he puts us in a better position
to win, and that's the mostimportant part, and that's a key reason
to why we did the deal andto continue to run basketball operations. Expound
on that for us, what doesthat mean? Same things always, Man,

(21:17):
I'll oversee basketball operations. I mean, we've always had a general manager,
we've always had a coach, andyou know, when it came down
to it, I you know,said what I had to say and had
basically you know, oversaw everything thatwas going on. And that won't change
because, look, I think youcan understand why on the outside there is
going to be some skepticism, AndI think the reason why is some of
us are old enough to remember abrash forty year old who struck a deal

(21:41):
to buy this team on January fourth, two thousand. I will never forget
the date. And you were notofficially ratified as the MAVs owner until months
later. You started running the teamfrom day one. So I think that's
where the natural assumption from the outsideis, why wouldn't these people who are
spent billions of dollars, why wouldn'tthey want to run more of the team.

(22:03):
When I came in, it wasall I was a basketball chunkie.
I played hoops, you know,three four times a week, and it
was a dreams as a basketball youknow, a ball is lifegud. That's
not who Patrick is. Patrick hasbuilt a company through the Sans Corp.
That is one of, if notthe best, in the world at building

(22:26):
arenas and destinations. They had theVenetian Sands and just so many properties that
are just iconic. That's who heis. When I came in, you
know, I probably knew technology betterthan anybody in the NBA, and I
use that to my advantage. Ilove basketball probably more than the other owners,
and I was the right age tohave fun with it. We did

(22:47):
this deal because Patrick and Mariam Savonthey're great of what they do, and
what they're great at is stuff Isuck at. I have no idea how
to do, and that's what makesit a great partnership. Mavericks' alternate governor,
Mark Cuban, joining us here onninety seven won the freak. It's
going to take some getting used tofor those of us who cover this team

(23:08):
to say it, and I'm sureit's going to take some getting used to
for you. But if this partnershipflourishes and achieves everything that you hope it
will, what can that do forthe Mavericks going forward? I mean,
we just want to win more rings. It's been too long. It literally
kills me when I have to signsomething from the championship team and you realize
this thirteen years ago. If anything, I'm self aware and I recognize when

(23:33):
things are not going to my strengths. And so I've been working with Patrick
and gotten to know him for yearspre pandemic. We've you know, you've
heard me and him and others talkabout, you know, working together to
build a destination resort in Dallas.And it just made sense that if he
was going to spend billions of dollars, you're going to want to own part

(23:55):
of the team, right, abig part of the team, because that's
how you get that money back.But it also makes sense if you look
at the way the league is.The teams that it used to be,
the teams that could do the mostwith technology and whatever, put themselves in
the best revenue position to be ableto afford the most. Then it became
all about real estate. And youknow, if you look at what the

(24:17):
Warriors have done, what the Clippersare doing, what the Wizards are doing,
except you know what the Celtics havedone, It's all about real estate.
And you know, I know whatI'm good at, and i know
what I suck at. And hereat the AAC, you know, there's
a ton of real estate and there'sbeen a ton of real estate deals around
it, and I've never done asingle one of them. You know,
when everybody else was saying, youknow, let's take this lot and build

(24:38):
this building or do this or that, I'm like, no, let's keep
it for parking. You know,It's just it was never my goal or
interest to try to be the realestate guy. I just wanted to do
hoops right, and I just wantedto win. But now to win,
you've got to have that real estatecomponent, and that just wasn't me.
Well, I'm kind of the same. I'm a basketball writer. I am

(24:59):
no expert in Texas politics. Basedon what you know, based on all
your conversations with everyone at SANS Corporate, we are now going to become a
huge part of this organization. Howfar away, realistically do you think it
is that we'll see gambling in Texas? How far away is this vision of
a casino resort with a beautiful newarena in the middle of it. You

(25:22):
know, you have to talk toPatrick about that. But I think the
sense is that you can build abeautiful destination resort and arena and then add
gaming if you need to or ifyou're able to, so they're not mutually
exclusive. And let's talk about theteam. We're basically thirty ish games into
the season. Tell me what yousee and what you think about the way

(25:44):
this team is progressing relative to whatyou guys expected coming into the season.
I'd be lying to find and saywe're better than I expected, because it
would be impossible to anticipate just howgood DLive has been. But just watching
Luca and the way he's gotten better, which I don't know, I didn't
really realize just if that was evenpossible. It's just been insane to watch

(26:07):
how he owns a game. Whowas a Kevin Duranta said he controls the
game. I mean that game inPhoenix was like if you dream about basketball,
like a beautiful game of basketball,that's the dream you have watching Luca
play that game. You know,if you talk about other MVP candidates,
somebody's got to get them the ball. You know, they're running off screens,
they're posting up, whatever it maybe. You just give Luca the

(26:30):
ball. You know, and hemakes everybody better, so you can score
fifty points and have fifteen assists.He's just become just an all time great,
super special player. That's just ajoy to watch. And I think,
you know, with Ky out andJosh and Maxie and you know,
Delive having been out, he's justcarried us on his back. And so

(26:52):
I think when Kay comes back,we'll get even better, you know,
MAXI hopefully not too long. LikeLucas said the other night, we have
room to improve, and we markCuban joining us here on ninety seven to
one The Freak on the Saturday Steinlinepresented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles.
I think everyone understands what the potentialfinancial might that the Adelson and Dumont families

(27:12):
bring to the Mavericks can do interms of real estate, new arena,
if casino gaming becomes a reality here. But what do you think the financial
might they bring can do in termsof basketball? Having the resources they have,
Luxury tax is expensive, you know, that's an opportunity. They've committed

(27:33):
to doing what it takes to win. I'm not saying they're going to spend
stupidly just to spend money They're notdumb, but they've given me. You
know, they haven't said to me, no, we can't do something,
or no, this is your budgetat all. What they have said to
me is we want to win.That was important to me, and I
know it's important to them. You'regoing to continue to have operational control over
basketball. But I mean, you'vedone a zillion business deals, a zillion

(27:55):
more than I have, So Imean, you know that sometimes things can
go awry. Gives you confidence thatthings won't go awry because look, people
will ask is this cuban? Isthis the start of his exit strategy?
Is he on his way out inX amount of years? And you know,
having basically covered you since the minuteyou bought this team, it's really
hard for me to imagine a Mavericksworld that you're not involved in. So

(28:18):
what gives you the confidence that that'snot going to happen? I don't.
I don't see myself running the teamwhen I'm ninety years old. So it's
not a question of it if it'sa question to win, right, But
I've worked with Patrick for years now, you know That's that's why we were
able to do this deal. Thisis not okay let's put you know,
typically what happens in professional sports isthere's a bidding process and people go out

(28:40):
and try to get the most amountof money possible. That's not what happened
here, right. This was apartnership that was built over time, that
was built on relationships that we have, that was built on trust. You
know. Notice that we've been talkingfor months and it didn't get out,
you know, because we trust eachother and we've worked together and we respect

(29:02):
each other. So I mean,that's the confidence that I have. No.
I remember last season you said onthe record, I think you told
Brad Towns of the Dallas Morning Newsa year ago that you were hoping to
partner with with Sanscorp. And Iguess we didn't take it seriously enough.
So I mean, even then,was it clear to you that this is
what was going to happen. Ican't say it was clear to me that
this is what's going to happen.But as we started talking more and more

(29:25):
and more about what we could build, it became obvious that if you were
going to spend you know, hundredsof millions of dollars, potentially turning it
into billions of dollars. You knowwhat I mean. He's a smart businessman.
He's not going to say, Okay, you take all that benefit on
the team and I'll I'll just dealwith it, and I'll only take the
direct financial benefits. That wouldn't havebeen smart in his part and wouldn't expect

(29:45):
that our last few moments here withMaverick's alternate governor, Mark Huban, of
course, the majority owner of thisfranchise for nearly twenty four years. January
fourth would have been your twenty fourthanniversary. But now you are shifting to
this new role. What kinds ofquestions have the players been asking you about

(30:06):
what's going on? They haven't.I just told him nothing changes, Go
win games and we'll be in abetter position to compete. This is great
for mass fans. This is greatfor the basketball side of the team.
This I mean, if I thoughtthis put us into in a worse position
for winning the championship, I wouldhave done it. I would have done
it. But I think it putsthis in a much better position to compete.

(30:29):
Appreciate the time, Happy New year, and congratulations, thanks done.
I appreciate it. When Cuban spoketo the press, pack the other night,
he explained another part of this thatwe didn't get to in the chat,
And I think I'm guessing a lotof you, like me, thought
that the Mavericks, like the Cowboyswith Jerry Jones, that Cuban never,
ever, ever wanted this franchise toleave his family. But as he got

(30:52):
older. Cuban is sixty five now, his three kids range from roughly fourteen
to I think he realized that bythe time he would know definitively if if
any of the children wanted to keeprunning the Mavericks, it might be too
late. So with the opportunity tojump on this deal, which again,

(31:15):
if it is everything that the Maverickshave build it as if Cuban gets to
continue to run basketball holding a twentyseven percent ownership state compared to the Sans
corps seventy three percent stake, witha chance to make such a healthy profit
on top of it, We're goingto have to see how long this really

(31:37):
lasts. But you can understand whyhe would want to jump on that deal,
and he's banking on this strong relationshiphe has with the Addelsons and the
Dumonts to make the arrangement work.Even without the basketball control part being in
writing, you know, he saidthe other day when he spoke to the
to the reporters, the pack ofreporters. If I would have had kids

(31:57):
twenty years earlier like Jerry did,then it might have been different. But
the math is the math, moremath we need to get to as we
go to break. I think peoplesometimes forget what a laughing stock this franchise
was. In the decade of thenineties, this team played in just three
playoff games, and that was innineteen ninety. The Mavericks were more than

(32:19):
three hundred games under five hundred forthe decade of the nineties, and colleagues
and friends in LA they thought Iwas crazy to be leaving the Laker beat
at the end of year one ofShaq and Kobe teaming up to come to
the Dallas Morning News. For me, I thought it was like joining the
Lakers of newspapers. But in SoCalthey couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe I

(32:39):
was leaving Lakerland to cover the lowlyDallas Mavericks. In the twenty four years
since Mark Cuban bought the team,the Mavericks winning percentage is almost six hundred
eleven fifty two and seven eighty five, three hundred sixty seven games over five
hundred eighteen playoff berths, two tripsof the finals, one championship. Now,

(33:01):
obviously the players Cuban inherited had alot to do with that, but
Mark Cuban, he deserves his hattip as well, a Donald Carter size
hat tip. A Donald Carter sizehat for that hat tip, I mean
for his role in the Mavericks dramaticturnaround in the twenty first century. All

(33:21):
right, one more segment of theshow to go Expert MAVs reporter and data
guru is talk. Franco joins ushere next on ninety seven, won the
Freak. This is durtn Lewitzky andyou're listening to the Saturday Steinline with my
guys Steiny on ninety seven, wonthe Freak. Thanks for sticking with us
here on the Saturday Steinline presented byPinini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Last show

(33:47):
of twenty twenty three Trying to puta pop, trying to not a pop,
Greg Popovitch, trying to put aproper bow on this calendar year,
which again I'm very proud to sayit featured the launch of this show on
July first, twenty twenty three,mire hours into the start of NBA Free

(34:09):
Agency. One of I'm guessing Ican say our because I'm for the listeners
of the show has to be oneof our favorite times of the year for
you and me because it is ourfarewell to twenty twenty three. Wanted to
bring in someone smart, someone withcredentials to help us put things in perspective

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MAVs wise. We're gonna go livenow to Slovenia to connect with the data
Guru, Dallas's second favorite Slovenian notonly rights for d Magazine on Twitter.
Everyone, if you are not ifyou're a MAVs fan and you're not following

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our guest, you really need tobe. His tweeted previews and especially his
tweeted recaps of every MAVs game mustread. He makes me envious every time
he starts summarizing, and he's typicallyremember because of the time difference, watching
these games the morning after they played, because they're happening at two, three,
four in the morning in his nativecountry. Doctor is tak Franco.

(35:15):
Welcome back to the Saturday styleline,Hi, Mark, and thanks for having
me back and to be the oneprivilege to be the one to close the
door the last show of the year. Well, look, I'm sure you
remember you and I were together inSpain in October. We were there in
Madrid. As you flew back hometo Slovenia, I flew back home to

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Dallas, and the Mavericks flew homewith both Luca and Kyrie banged up.
There was not a great deal ofoptimism bubbling at that point eighteen and fourteen.
Entering tonight's game at Golden State,evaluate this team for me, What
do you see relative to what youthought was possible coming into the season.

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I mean, it's been an interestingseason, right, I think in Macro,
I think the key thing is thatthe Merricks are competitive again. They're
fun to watch again. And likeyou said eighteen fourteen, I think most
of the preseason let's say, predictionshave them out of the playoffs or at

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least in the play in so thenbeing competitive look looking like playing like an
MVP, as you said in Madrid. And we did this analysis for your
great newsletter, like how did theteam that went on these long pre off
season trips, how do they react? We were all a little bit skeptic,
especially Luca also had a World Cup, so we were a little bit

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skeptic. But I think some ofthe positives things apart from Kyrie injury and
injury problems which are unconcerned, Ithink a lot of positives popped out.
I think lively development was huge,and I think in micro again is one
of the biggest most important things.And then having these two minimum guys Derek
Joe Junior and excellent out playing basicallythe guys that got paid in the summer

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in Grant Williams and Josh Green,but being key part of rotation. It's
fun to watch because they are athletic, fun guys like Lively is. So
I think there is much more excitementthat we thought going into the season.
Yeah, I agree with you.I never thought Derek Jones Junior and especially
exhum would have the roles that theyhave, but Lively too, I mean

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long term potential. Lively clearly hadit. But he has become a vital
part of this team already. Andyou know, coming out of Spain,
he started those exhibition games in AbuDhabi in Spain, but remember the MAVs
didn't start him opening night against Victorwenman Yama because they wanted to try to
ease the pressure on him, andby halftime that plan was thrown out the

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window. But look, you know, everyone wants to talk about Luca.
He's become you know, it hasbeen a fascination of the league this season
with the way he's playing. Youtell me what you see? Why are
we seeing? Is it fair firstto say this is the best Luca we've
ever seen and tell me why?Why do you think he is found yet

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another gear? Yeah? I thinkespecially December. December numbers are crazy.
He's like at forty minutes, fortyseven points, just dominating, and again
you can go to backs last year. I think you see the same thing
happening in December, let's say lateyear when he's carrying this thing with Carrie
being out and maybe not so statuisedbecause last year the stats was also great.

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But I think you see some ofthe maturity, some of the things
that he's doing on defense. Ithink the conditioning and it's the whole thing.
I think it's just part of thematurity process, him getting a child,
him building a team around him interms of personal trainer and things like
that. So I think we areaging we are getting. I think I

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did one analysis a part ago forthe magazine about when to expect peak potential.
Luca and most of the stars arestarting to enter the peak in age
twenty four twenty five till twenty eighttwenty nine physically, and I think we
are seeing that with Luca. Well, I really wanted to have you on
this last show because you filed numerouswonderful reports for this show where you've set

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me two three minute summaries that Ipop it in the show, especially during
the Phoeba World Cup, which madethe show so much better. But the
last time I had you on,I started asking you and we kind of
got cut off. We're a littlebit up against it now too, But
it's like, how how often doyou actually get to stay up and watch
the MAVs live or is it all? Are you always watching it the morning

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after? Like tonight it's a seventhirty local tip off here in Dallas,
So what is that two thirty yourtime, three thirty your time? Like
what constitutes a game that will enableyou to stay up live and actually see
it as it's happening. I thoughtthe last time, it's a funny watching
experience. Typically I don't stay upand watch live. I do some let's

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say some live for our local sportstelevision that's broadcast some of the Maps games.
So for that I do it ofcourse live, because it's like a
color commentator or let's say Stat's commentatingnext to the main commentator. But typically
I had like this high scores onNBA, so I woke up early.
I woke up six let's say sixam, and then I just start watching

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without knowing the score. But Ialso my watching experience it's a little bit
more thorough, so typically I makenotes as the and stop. So this
is nice when you don't watch live, you can stop the video and make
notes and then go play by play, just trying to see a little bit
deeper what's going on in the game. Well look, I think everyone who

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follows this team would echo me andsaying we are grateful for how closely you
watch again on Twitter before a Mapsgame, but for me, especially after
when he breaks it down with fivepoints of emphasis, doctor Franco's postgame analysis
must read. Check him out onTwitter. My friend, Happy New Year,

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and thanks so much for all you'vebrought to this show. Thanks Mark,
Happy to everybody in Dallas and Texasas well from my side and from
Slovenia and read him as well ind magazine. Really one of the smartest
voices covering this team. Everyone thatis going to do it for this edition

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of the Saturday Steinline. The lastedition in twenty twenty three, but we
will be back next Saturday to ringin the new year. We'll be back
every Saturday through the rest of theseason. Thanks as always to the Glue
Guy Grooves helping me get everything readyfor this show. Thanks so much to
Maddi g for producing on the otherside of the Glass. If you've missed

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any part of this show where yousimply want to relive it, remember you
can get the Saturday Steinline via podcast, Apple, Spotify, where ever you
get your pods. Wishing all ofyou a happy and prosperous