Mark Cuban has made a series of comments about Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets over the past few months, which has finally elicited a response.

Cuban has derided Dwight Howard's decision to sign with the Rockets, while also signing away Gersson Rosas as GM only to have him step down and return to Houston months later. The Mavericks also signed Chandler Parsons to a max contract.

"I think [Cuban's] pissed that we went after Dirk [Nowitzki] in free agency, however unsuccessful it was," Morey told Yahoo Sports.

"We've been pretty good, and I think he's doing a smart thing to take on a rival," Morey told Yahoo Sports late Sunday. "He should want to beat up on San Antonio, too, but it's hard to paint the Spurs that way. So he's directed his bully pulpit onto us. Our owner stays above the fray, so I'm outgunned honestly.

"But let's be clear: If the money's equal between the Rockets and Mavericks, I think players are picking Houston. Every time. For Dwight [Howard], I just don't think it was a hard choice between us and Dallas. If you want to win, you're going to want to join our organization. We have a first-team All-NBA player in his prime [James Harden]. They have an enormously talented superstar [Dirk Nowitzki] but he obviously isn't 24 years old.

"The choice was pretty obvious between the two teams. Dwight is the smart guy in this."

Cuban recently criticized the Rockets for not caring about chemistry.

"I completely reject it," said Morey.

"Our teams have had great chemistry, and it's something we believe in. Hey, if Mark believed so much in chemistry, he wouldn't have busted up a title team for cap room. He's trying to reunite a lot of those people now, bringing back the center [Tyson Chandler] from that title team. Maybe he's got some chemistry religion recently.

"He's tripled his analytics staff. If he's equating analytics with not caring about chemistry, well, he's tripling down on it. I think he's smart to paint a competitor in a negative light, but none of those statements are lining up. He says that we're the team that you sign with and then we will trade you, when that's what he said he would've done with Dwight.

"We don't care about chemistry, but he busted up a championship team for what he hoped cap room could do."

Like the Mavericks, Morey and the Rockets know the value of perception in free agency.

"We're fighting for the hearts and minds of free agents," Morey said.