When Deron Williams turned down the Dallas Mavericks, wrecking their 2012 summer plans, and the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Dwight Howard, wrecking the Mavs' 2013 summer plans, you certainly had to wonder when the spin control would start.

PODCAST
Mavs owner Mark Cuban on why he feels the team is better without Deron Williams, why Jason Kidd's jersey will never hang in the rafters and more. Listen

Well, the wait is over.

Mark Cuban, the head man himself, took the airwaves Tuesday morning on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's "Ben & Skin Show" and basically said, "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"

"I don't want to pick on Deron Williams because he's a great, great, great player, and so it's not necessarily him, per se," Cuban said. "The conversation we had going back and forth -- and obviously the decision was to go for him -- but the conversation was, 'OK, once you add $17.1 million in salary to what we'd have with Dirk (Nowitzki) and Trix (Shawn Marion), then what do you do?' That's your squad. And it's not just your squad for this year. It's your squad for next year other than the $3.3 million mini midlevel.

"So that was a challenge that we had because we want to win, and everybody talks about Dirk's window. Well, not only would it have been difficult to add players, then it also would have been difficult to trade players, and in reality that was the same problem that Deron had. Because he looked and saw the same thing and said, 'OK, now what are you going to do?'"

To suggest the Mavs are better off without Williams than with him is to insult the intelligence of the Mavs' fan base.

Read the full column here.