Mark Cuban Asked Dennis Smith Jr. to Delete Some Bad Tweets, Which Isn't the Worst Idea

Dallas Mavericks owner and prolific tweeter Mark Cuban is a polarizing figure. But he clearly is ahead of the pack in so many ways, including what should be an obvious front: limiting social media/public relations fallout.

In an interview during a Mavericks Summer League game on Sunday, Cuban spoke about combing through the archive of first-round pick Dennis Smith Jr. and discovering a treasure trove of questionable content.

“You know, one of the first things after we drafted Dennis, and I’m talking to him on the phone, I’m like, ‘Dude, I went through your Twitter account,” he said. “It’s time to get on there and DELETE. And so, he went through it. And to his credit, they were gone. He had a lot of stupid stuff on there.”

An old Smith tweet resurfaced to some virality on draft night. It’s about, uh, woodworking.

I’ll admit I totally misjudged the way coaches and organizations have dealt with Twitter. Back in its infancy, I was confident players would be forbidden from using it due to the potential for bad tweets. By and large, that type of crackdown never happened and, to be honest, that’s a good thing.  Athletes shouldn’t be stifled from giving their 140-character thoughts to the world.

At the same time, there is absolutely no reason a regular checkup shouldn’t be performed on a feed, especially for young prospects who were more open with their true thoughts while outside the public eye. The cost-benefit analysis would seem to result in the mashing of that trusty delete button more often than not. The ultimate decision-maker should be the player, of course, but a little gentle reminder from management now and then doesn’t hurt anyone.

Could save a lot of potential headaches.