Cuban may be outspoken but the NBA needs Maverick owners like him AP Photo/Matt Slocum
SI.com has published their annual list of the best Sports owners. Today we will be taking a look at the best owners on NBA teams. It really is too bad that SI has become a less than credible source for sports information.
The proof of this seems to be their exclusion of Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson from their list of best NBA owners. Usually national sports media publications are over exploiting a death to sell their magazines. However I find the exclusion of Davidson particularly troubling.
Not only was Davidson certainly among the best NBA owners ever, but he may be one of the best sports owners ever. He won a championship with each and every team he owned. He built a State of the Art Facility (The Palace of Auburn Hills) with his own money and then turned that building not only into a sports Mecca but a premier entertainment destination.
Davidson’s Pistons won three World Titles and before the 2008-09 season made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals six seasons in a row. Even in this just completed down season the Pistons led the NBA in attendance. This is a success story that is almost unparalleled in sports history and his exclusion off the best owners list is a very big omission by the folks over at SI.
Otherwise the SI list is a pretty good one, it looks like this:
1. Jerry Buss-LA Lakers
2. Peter Holt-San Antonio Spurs
3. Mark Cuban-Dallas Mavericks
4. Les Alexander-Houston Rockets
5. Dan Gilbert-Cleveland Cavaliers
Of course I would have Davidson number one on this list and I would have Dan Gilbert number two. Not only had Gilbert landed the most popular NBA player of this new generation, he is a highly successful businessman who employees love working for (I know this to be fact, because in fact I use to work for Mr. Gilbert).
Gilbert would have led a coalition to save the city of Detroit landmark old Tiger Stadium had the city government allowed him to. Gilbert is also in the process of moving his corporate headquarters from the suburbs of Detroit to downtown Detroit. He is also pushing the city to add light rail routes that would greatly improve the city, and runs a Business school where youths can learn how to run their own companies and get start-up money for their Detroit based businesses.
Gilbert is a class act, and hopefully later this summer he will add a world title to an already impressive resume not only as a sports owner, but as a good man who loves his community.
Some may wonder why Cuban’s name is on this list. Cuban is a constant irritant to the NBA, to its referees, and on some occasions to Sports fans and mothers of opposing players. All of that may be true, but sports needs characters like this.
Cuban is the modern day Al Davis, ya know Al Davis the once proud NFL owner who bucked the system at every opportunity. Cuban is the anti NBA and there is large portion of NBA fans who love his constant stirring of the pot. His reputation did not appeal to the MLB however as Cuban failed to purchase the Chicago Cubs in 2008.
In the end it is these five men, along with Davidson, who are constructing the blueprint of how to run a successful NBA franchise. It would do the league a lot of good if Memphis owner Michael Heisley took more cues from these six men.
The other Best/Worst Sports Owners
• Worst NBA Owners
• Best NHL Owners
• Worst NHL Owners
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