(06-25-2021, 11:40 PM)Arioch Wrote: It's not just unsurprising but inevitable, and the fact that the writer implies there is any universe in which that might not be the case implies this is a person who doesn't actually understand business of any kind (the NBA included). Even for a billionaire, the hundreds of millions of dollars spent (and brought in) by an NBA franchise are not chump change. The idea that *anyone* with that level of investment would not ALWAYS be the ultimate authority is simply ludicrous. It's a free country and an entertainment business, so we as fans are free to like or dislike Cuban, to think he's doing a good job or a bad job. We're also free to critique his hires and hope he gets and listens to good advice but at the end of the day, he's the one with actual skin in the game, and the only way he (or Balmer or Dolan or Fertita or Buss or JOrdan) is not going to be the ultimate authority about how his money gets spent is if someone else ponies up the money to buy the franchise from him.
Or to put it more bluntly, when a writer starts off whining that we don't live in fantasy land, I don't put much stock in his ability to tell the difference between delusion and reality on any other point.
I don't think Cato's most recent is great, but also don't buy that the way Cuban does business is the way everyone does it.
An owner may be the ultimate authority, but they don't all wield that authority in the same way. Cuban plays a more hands on role than most. Not sure how that's even debatable, no matter how many "duh, he's the owner" posts we get.
Also note: I believe that many of your readers here are not ignorant of how businesses operate.