Mark Cuban was so unhappy with what he was hearing on the radio Thursday afternoon that he took to his Twitter account to air a complaint.
The outspoken owner of the Mavericks took offense to what was being said about forward Lamar Odom's poor showing through the first 19 games of the season.
"Listening to The Ticket radio....total idiots. Absolutely no clue," Cuban wrote.
While joining the The Ben and Skin Show [KESN-FM] on Friday, Cuban clarified why he was upset.
"The other guys were killing Lamar," he said. "They were just blasting him, and to me, it wasn't true, it wasn't right. It was uneducated."
Odom has struggled mightily in his first season with the Mavericks. The 32-year-old, who won Sixth Man of the Year honors last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, is averaging 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds while posting a .329 field goal percentage, the lowest averages he's carried throughout his 13-year career.
"Look, Lamar's struggling as much as anybody," Cuban explained. "He doesn't want to go 2-for-14 in a game we need him, no player does. It's not like he doesn't care. The guy's devastated. He's torn apart. There's nobody more upset than he is. He's coming in, he's doing extra work, he's working hard.
He added: "People haven't got to know him yet. He's a great guy. There's just a lot of pressure on him right now, and he hasn't played his best. But there's nobody who wants to play well as much as Lamar."
According to the team owner, there have even been discussions about giving Odom a few games off, similar to what the Mavs are currently doing with Dirk Nowitzki.
"Possibly, we'll give Lamar time off - I don't know if it works out that way - to get in shape and go through the process he needs to go through as well," he said.
But the one thing Cuban seemed to constantly emphasize is that it isn't a lack of effort that has caused Odom to play so poorly.
"Look, I hate the way he's playing," Cuban said. "But then again, I hated the way Dirk was playing before we sat him down. And I don't like it when Jet goes 3-for-14 or whatever. But it takes time to adjust. And you can't freak out when a guy's not playing as well as you'd like for him to play.
"Lamar and I spend a lot of time talking and he says the same thing every time, 'Cubes, this is a humbling game. This is a humbling game. If you don't work, it gets you.' And he's working."
--
Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
