Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • mark.

  • I thought your Dallas Mavericks were playoff sleepers this year.

  • I thought you'd have beaten the Clippers last year if poor Zynga's didn't get some bad calls and then get hurt.

  • Um, and I look at, but I look at poor Zynga's now and he's coming off a big at least offensive game.

  • And he every year, it seems, has to spend the entire season getting back to where he was.

  • So he never gets to become what he should be.

  • And there are rumors that he could be available in the right deal and all of that.

  • Where are you on Kristaps Porzingis?

  • Patient?

  • Because you saw what Katie can be last night.

  • We're seeing more of that.

  • It takes time.

  • I mean, look at Katie, a different injury.

  • But you've got to be patient, particularly this year.

  • I mean, it's just such a crazy year.

  • We got hit by a covid outbreak really bad, and that impacted our season, and everybody was panicking and saying, You got to do a B or C.

  • We don't We have a good team.

  • K P is showing what K P is.

  • I mean, he's a great top 20 player.

  • Um And so we're just gonna be patient.

  • Um, we have a good team.

  • There's no reason to panic or do anything.

  • Well, I definitely think you're right.

  • And you have proven yourself to be right.

  • You've won four straight.

  • You won 11 of your last 14 games.

  • Y'all are looking pretty good right now.

  • But let me rewind the clock just a little bit, too.

  • Luca don take a little bit earlier this season because he sort of called out the team in terms of saying that we got to do better.

  • We gotta do better than what have you?

  • Um, And when he said that, you know, that's when people got up and all started really, really worrying about the Dallas Mavericks.

  • When you heard him say that at that particular moment in time, Mark, what did you take from it?

  • And how concerned were you that you're young superstar was not happy?

  • Well, you talked to him.

  • Nobody likes going through a losing streak, right when when you're in the middle of a losing streak, it's always painful, and it's always hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

  • And we just had the coach and I had conversations with all the players, you know, and I just told him Look, we're not panicking.

  • We had five of our top eight rotation players out either sick or contact tracing all at the same time.

  • We've lost more games to covid, uh, illness than any other team in the NBA.

  • And we had the hardest schedule in the NBA.

  • So all now, all of a sudden, all those things are turning back in our favor.

  • Were healthier, um, healthy.

  • Um, the schedule is tough for everybody in the second half, but it's a little bit later for us compared to the first half.

  • And so, you know, now look at our record.

  • We were five games under, um, 500 now we're three over and a chance to go four over tonight.

  • So you know this every NBA season is a little bit crazy, but this one was a lot crazy, and I just preach patience.

  • You guys get healthy and for Zynga stays healthy.

  • You're going to be a problem.

  • The playoffs.

  • I still believe Mark, I look at you and and, by the way, also Fertitta in Houston and I look at Texas a no state income tax state, a warm weather state, major metropolitan areas.

  • You might even say ka beautiful certain areas, Right?

  • Uh, player friendly owners.

  • Not.

  • I'll include for Tito with you who are media savvy and accessible to the media.

  • And yet, for whatever reason, it's not like players avoid Houston or Dallas.

  • But it doesn't seem to pop up among the markets that players are clamoring to go to, and I've never understood why.

  • Is it because the Cowboys are so big in Dallas?

  • What's your theory?

  • Why is it like that?

  • We know when we were at the top of the standings, perennially winning 50 games every year, we never had cap room, right?

  • You know, there's you gotta have cap rooms before teams can talk about coming to you.

  • And so and then when we did have cap room, we weren't a very good team.

  • So now that's all changing.

  • We have the opportunity.

  • If we choose to go that way, this somewhere to have cap room, Um, we've got a great team.

  • We've got a great foundation, so we'll see what happens.

  • I mean, you know, one side says you just keep everybody, you have in corporate knowledge makes us a better team every year.

  • Luca and K P continue to get better because they're so young.

  • But, you know, we'll decide what happens to come in the summer.

  • But you know, people talk about we never got the free agent this or that we never had Cap room.

  • Thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content.

  • Subscribe to ESPN, plus.

mark.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it