Cuban was not only successful at instilling a sense of pride and passion into Mavericks fans by presenting himself as the ultimate role model by cheering from the same seats he had in years past, but he also became the first owner in team sports to encourage fan interaction through e mail on his personal computer. He has personally responded to thousands of emails, and several suggestions from fans have led to innovative changes such as a new three sided shot clock, which allows line of site to the 24 second clock from anywhere in the arena.
Cuban's whatever it takes attitude and commitment to winning has everyone's attention. From his first introduction to the team to the end of his first season as owner, the players responded with a 31 19 record, including a 9 1 mark in April 2000. In addition to hiring special coaches for offense, defense and shooting, Cuban has promised to do everything in his power to improve the team. This goal was achieved as the club finished the 2000 01 season with a 53 29 record en route to their first playoff appearance in 11 years where they became just the sixth team in NBA history to be down 0 2 and come back to win a five game series vs. Utah in Round 1.
Before the start of the 2001 02 season, American Airlines Center, the Mavs new home, opened and Cuban co founded HDNet, an all high definition television network on DIRECTV channel 199 which launched in September 2001.
Prior to his purchase of the Mavericks, Cuban co founded Broadcast.com, the leading provider of multimedia and streaming on the Internet, in 1995, selling it to Yahoo! in July of 1999. Before Broadcast.com, Cuban co founded MicroSolutions, a leading National Systems Integrator, in 1983, and later sold it to CompuServe.
Today, in addition to his ownership of the Mavericks, Cuban is an active investor in leading and cutting edge technologies and continues to be a sought after speaker.
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