Inside the Cuban/Nellie Relationship

The legal transcripts in the battle between the owner and his former coach are amazing: “Asked about that negotiation, Cuban testified that he had lost some trust in Nelson’s judgment, ‘not necessarily in his coaching ability, but in his ability as a general manager.’ Pressed for an example, Cuban cited the February 2002 seven-player trade in which Dallas sent power forward Juwan Howard to Denver and received Raef LaFrentz. Cuban said he agreed to the trade because Nelson said LaFrentz ‘would put us over the top.’ Cuban testified that in league circles ‘it was pretty much laughable that we would consider Raef LaFrentz this highly.’ Cuban said he realized player evaluations are often a crapshoot. ‘But when the crap comes up a little too often,’ he testified, ‘you question it more, more thoroughly.”‘