Mark:You guys actually know as much as I do for the most part based on the press release that was sent out. My main purpose in being up here is just to say that we are excited for the fans, for the players and the Mavs as an organization that we are not going to go through the grief and aggravation that we all thought we might this summer. All indications from the Commish say we’re ready to play ball and it is business as usual going forward.

With that I’ll answer any questions:

Cuban answered questions on 6/21 Dawn Turner/mavs.com

Q: Did you guys take a lesson from hockey?
A: Yeah, probably. I’m sure no one would admit it, but I’m sure everyone saw what was going on with the NHL and how difficult a battle it was once things came to a standstill not only from a negotiation perspective but from a fan and marketing perspective. I think we kind of wanted to avoid some of the pain they went through.

Q: What did you guys learn from the 1998 lockout.
A: You’d have to ask them, I was just a child then. (laughs)

Q: What do you think about the new minimum age?
A: It is something I think is good for everybody. Anything that suggests that kids go to college is a good thing. I think it is a positive for collegiate basketball. I think it is a plus all the way around. I think the interesting thing is going to be to see how some of the AAU coaches try to finagle the system and whether or not we have kids all of a sudden being held back more often.

Q: Do you think the kids will use the one year of college than come to the NBA?
A: Just like they all did here. That’s the idea about college, you use it for an education and that is not necessary a bad thing. Hopefully there will be kids who didn’t know what to expect that will go to school and love it, stay four years, get a graduate degree in physics, fly to the moon in three hours or less, come up with solutions to hunger and world peace, all because of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.

Q: What will you guys be doing now?
A: Relaxing, going to Vegas, having fun. It seems like so long since the season ended, but I know a lot of guys have already started working out. I’ve been in touch, Avery’s been in touch. I think he is out visiting Marquis as we speak. Even though we don’t have a draft pick, because there are so many people in this draft trying to beat the age limit we’ve spent a lot of time evaluating players. Now that we will have a summer league and that is good for us, not just because it gives Devin, Pavel and DJ a chance to work at their game but possibly even Marquis who has battled injuries. But it gives us a chance to explore a lot of free agents. Hopefully we can find another diamond in the rough like we did with Marquis.

Q: What do you think of the Finals?
A: I thought the games were great. The biggest problem I’ve seen is some of the announcers that just want to say the exact same stuff. I think the game has been great. Even though by the end the score isn’t as close as Game 5 was, I mean it was a chess match watching these guys play their hearts out no matter what the score was and watching the adjustments that are made from game to game. I think one of the problems we’ve had in broadcasting our games is that we don’t take enough of a football-like approach. Love or hate John Madden, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and all those guys, before football games they are talking about plays. In basketball you have more plays, you have more adjustments, you have players on offense, you have players on defense, you have defensive sets. I don’t think we do enough of a job keeping fans involved and letting them understand that side.

Because even if guys want to talk about whether the Cowboys are running a 4-3 or a 3-4 or yet you don’t even know who is calling the plays for Detroit, Chauncey Billups or Larry Brown and you couldn’t name one play if your life depended on it. I think that now with a better basketball understanding that I’ve picked up these last five years I think the game has been great. It’s also interesting from a perspective people talk about playing the game the right way and team basketball and you are seeing it. There is not one ounce of quit on any man of either team’s 15 roster and being able to watch that I think is diplomatic of the NBA as a whole but for me it has just been fun. I think it has been easy to say well it’s not exciting, but I think it is great basketball and we just don’t do a good enough job selling it.

Comment:
We will have a minimum of a 14-man roster, which is different than the previous 12-man roster that will have an impact on some teams, but we’ll also be able to send a DJ or a Pavel or someone else to whichever NBDL team we affiliate with. I am sure at some point you guys will be asking who that is and I don’t know. It would make sense for it to be Fort Worth or a close by team, but I don’t have an answer for you yet.

Q: What does Don Nelson do now?
A: Smoke cigars, get a tan, play basketball, drink beer, same thing he’s always done, come to games, be available to answer questions.

Q: Will he be coming here next season?
A: That is up to Nellie. He is not part of the day-to-day operations or decision-making process, but as the Godfather we play his theme, we kiss his ring and ask him if he is available to answer questions, and so far he has been great about it.

Q: On increased steroid and drug testing:
A: I think it is the right thing to do. Drugs are bad, and I’ve been a big proponent of drugs being bad. I think it is the right thing to do and the league handled it well.

Comment: David Stern and Billy Hunter did a great job of bringing this to a head quickly, getting past any personal issues. It takes a lot of guts getting called out on both sides and go right past that and get a solution. They get a lot of credit.

Q: Are you surprised that they came to an agreement so soon after the recent negative reports?
A: No, because David Stern is my hero.(laughs) No not at all, they knew what was at stake. It was just a sense of urgency. As the playoffs and the Finals wound down some, the minute there was a winner it would be the complete focus of everybody. It has been such a phenomenal season across the league, renewal rates for season tickets even with uncertainty are at an all-time high, and we set a record for attendance.

Yeah the TV ratings weren’t as high as they were last year when there was train wreck television going on and a big upset, but at the same time they are far higher than they were two years ago. If it goes to Game 7, and no don’t ask me if it is pre-ordained, even if I went to Vegas it wasn’t for that reason. It’ll be even better from a ratings perspective. I think things are going so well that there finally was a sense of urgency and they brought it to a solution.

Q: What do you think about moving the games back an hour because everyone out East is complaining?
A: I know people in the east are complaining, but you have to try and balance with people in the West. On one side it is like, “Oh I’m staying up too late,” and the other side is like, “I can’t get home from work.” It is unfortunate, but you look at Monday Night Football, it the highest rated non-playoff sporting event and they pull great numbers and it doesn’t seem to have an impact on them.

Q: Do you expect to make any moves in this Draft?
A: No, I really like this squad. The only uncertainty there is that I haven’t seen all the specifics of the CBA. Any negotiation of this depth is going to have little nuances to it from the tax side and from the cap side and all those things that can have an impact on the league. Just like when the tax came into being, the impact of what teams did with their rosters. That could be a wild card, but excluding that we prefer to keep the exact same team.