Mark Cuban & Delonte West

[BoulderMFFL]

While ex-teammates, ex-coaches and so on are "reaching out" to Delonte West via social media, Mark Cuban took action to help a former Mav straighten out his life.  

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2911...mark-cuban


To Mark: Your kind and selfless act is truly extraordinary.  Thank you for caring about all your players, both past and present.       

To Delonte: I hope you accept the help that you so desperately need.  I am rooting for you to get healthy. 

To the mods: I know there is a Mark Cuban thread.  However, I felt this deserved its own thread.

[cow]

Much respect to Mark and hoping Delonte can turn his life around.

[KillerLeft]

Yeah, definitely the right thing to do, and good on Cuban for going the extra mile. He seems to be an extremely loyal guy, which is not a quality that gets discussed much with him.

[Scott41theMavs]

There's something to be said for "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing," but I think that it's the right thing to do and a good look as well as being positive publicity, so kudos to Mark all around. 

I actually really liked Delonte as a player when he was here and was disappointed he didn't stay/we didn't keep him. I will never forget the "wet willie" incident, and I'll bet Hayward hasn't either. 

[cow]

There's something to be said for "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing," but I think that it's the right thing to do and a good look as well as being positive publicity, so kudos to Mark all around. 

I actually really liked Delonte as a player when he was here and was disappointed he didn't stay/we didn't keep him. I will never forget the "wet willie" incident, and I'll bet Hayward hasn't either. 

I just remember him punching a container of rice in the locker room to rehab his hand.

[Benskix2]

I appreciate Cuban's efforts to help Delonte, but I don't think it's very considerate for reporters to be publishing stories on the subject or Cuban to be commenting publicly to reporters about it.  Maybe consider the implications on an obviously fragile man above your professional ambitions.

[KillerLeft]

I appreciate Cuban's efforts to help Delonte, but I don't think it's very considerate for reporters to be publishing stories on the subject or Cuban to be commenting publicly to reporters about it.  Maybe consider the implications on an obviously fragile man above your professional ambitions.

I had a similar thought about self serving publicity, but then when I looked for comments from Cuban I couldn't find any. Did I miss them? 

To be fair, this stuff could've come from any number of sources. I don't necessarily think this smacks of "hey, look at what I'm doing!"

[Benskix2]

"Cuban told ESPN's Tim MacMahon that he picked up West at a gas station Monday and, as McMahon writes, "is attempting to help the homeless former NBA player get his life back on track."

That's really all I was going off of, from the BR article.

[omahen]

I appreciate Cuban's efforts to help Delonte, but I don't think it's very considerate for reporters to be publishing stories on the subject or Cuban to be commenting publicly to reporters about it.  Maybe consider the implications on an obviously fragile man above your professional ambitions.

Yeah, so the man steps up and you have a problem that media covers it. Because it was media trying to get info, not Cuban calling them, from what we could tell. Cuban set in his car, drove to gas station and picked West up. Waited with him in hotel room untill his mother came. A bystander took a video and send it to media. 

I think it is a really bad way of thinking to downgrade the Cuban action, even if it was a carefully thought publicity stunt. Hundreds of former teammates and teams management, most of them millionaires, could have stepped in, do it quietly, but none did.

[KillerLeft]

I see where Benskix is coming from on this, but imo when Cuban is trying to self-promote he generally doesn't do it with much subtlety. I think this is an example of him doing something for the right reasons. 

Either way, dude needed help and he's getting it. So that's good.

[cow]

I appreciate Cuban's efforts to help Delonte, but I don't think it's very considerate for reporters to be publishing stories on the subject or Cuban to be commenting publicly to reporters about it.  Maybe consider the implications on an obviously fragile man above your professional ambitions.

This doesn't feel like PR.  Delonte has had a bunch of TMZ videos pop up over the past couple of months so I'm sure Cuban was reached for comment before ever getting in touch with him (same for his family and other friends).  They probably just followed up with Cuban after the most recent video of Cubes picking Delonte up.

Further, if Delonte isn't communicating with friends and family, that group going public and letting it be know that he is cared for and that they want to help is a positive as that public message my reach Delonte and stop him from taking drastic action and/or convince him to get in touch with his support circle so that he can get the help he needs.

[Benskix2]

Y'all are misreading me, I'm not a critic of how Mark Cuban operates other than some very specific basketball decision, the professional ambition comment was aimed at McMahon.  I'm not saying it's PR by Cuban or bashing him, my concern/fear is that making this public may ultimately undermine his efforts to help Delonte.  I would have preferred that McMahon not write the story and/or that Cuban simply give a no comment when asked about it.  I guess it was already a story on social media so McMahon/Woj/BR felt obligated to report on it, but I still don't like it.  It's great that Cuban helped get him off the street, but he's going to be back there if he doesn't make real internal change.  I just don't think reading stories about how Cuban saved him is going to be helpful for Delonte to make the kind of changes in his thinking that are going to be necessary for him to save himself.

[ClutchDirk]

https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1314620092680937473

[BoulderMFFL]

Update on Delonte's recovery. Mark Cuban tweeted "It's still an uphill battle, but he is climbing !"

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mark...30722.html

[BoulderMFFL]

Awesome Delonte West news: The rehab center that treated him has now hired him.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/delonte-wes...40558.html

[cow]

Keep punching that bowl of rice Delonte, we are cheering for you.