Dan Gilbert.

[Illustrator76]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

Umm...Teams were not just going to trade players to the Cavs for the sake of giving Lebron a supporting cast. Other GMs knew what Clevelands intentions were and could see their hand. We can say maybe they should've traded Hickson in a deal for Amar'e, but Hickson still has promise and comes cheaper than an Amar'e.

...and c'mon Lebron didn't have a say in the decision making process? You think the CLE front office acted solely on their own without ever considering Lebron's thoughts in the decision making?

See, that's my problem with LeBron. The Cavs kept an aging and under-producing Big Z, why? Because LeBron wanted them to, they kept Daniel Gibson around, why? Because that's LeBrons "little brother", they overpaid for Sideshow Bob, why? Because LeBron wanted them to keep him. Cleveland traded for Jamison last year and most people thought that move put the Cavs in the drivers seat for a championship. Cleveland did everything they could to make LeBron stay (including hiring his hangers-ons for jobs they normally would have no shot at) so in no way, shape or form can LeBron blame his backstabbing a whole organization on the Cavs. The Cavs made tons of decisions based on LeBrons input and demands, and in return he turned around and Paul Orndorff'ed them like a coward.

[wwharton]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

I think this was a planned "flip out" if you will. I think this is how they are handling the Lebron thing. I think they are capitalizing on the fans being anti lebron, and in turn trying to rally people around the rest of the current Cavs. Its not a bad thing, there was just 2 ways of handling this: they could wish him well and say we are going to do us, or they could flip out and turn it into us vs the world, and they chose the latter.

You actually got me to soften my feelings about Gilbert's rant with this post. That makes a lot of sense. I don't think it was planned. Gilbert just lost hundreds of millions of dollars and got dissed in a way I'm sure a man like him never has. He wants to air Lebron's dirty laundry and help turn a state against him. That's just unprofessional, and it's as self serving as Lebron's circus with just as much disregard for the huge negative effect it will have on Cavs fans.

But, I do think his intentions were/are to get the fans to stay behind the Cavs... maybe even become more loyal. We're all assuming they should just accept their fate and crawl to the bottom of the league. The right thing to do would be to go kicking and screaming with hope that they can bounce back from this. In that sense, good move by Gilbert. Also like Lebron though, there were surely MUCH better ways of going about it.

Dunno if this has been discussed, but scathing article of the whole situation by Adrian Wojnowarski

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...decision070910

That's a great article. This quote is on point:

Now, Clevelanders truly see it for themselves: He was a fan of the Cowboys, the Yankees – never the Browns and Indians. He was a frontrunner, and he just made the most frontrunner move in the history of the NBA. Off to Miami with Riles, D-Wade and Chris Bosh(notes).

You can take out the part about the Browns and Indians. It's not a big deal that he wasn't a fan of the hometown teams. The point here is that he coincidentally was a fan of the teams with the biggest fanbase of front runners in the MLB and NFL... and he was a Bulls fan during the Jordan era. They held that crown in basketball back then too.

This quote summed up Gilbert pretty well:

Now, Gilbert is the tough guy with James leaving the Cavs behind? Listen, Ferry and Brown always warned Gilbert that giving James everything he wanted – giving it when and where and how – wouldn’t be the way they would keep him. LeBron didn’t respect them because they never demanded it.

Gilbert always believed he should do everything James wanted – hire his buddies into jobs, throw them on summer-league rosters, allow him to do those stupid pregame choreographed dances – that James would love him, that he would never leave. Only, James is a taker, and he took and took until he had bled Gilbert and that franchise to the bone.

So now, Gilbert unleashes the most revisionist and self-serving screed that a scorned owner’s ever done. Gilbert is a bully and a baby. As much as James, Gilbert revealed himself, too. He asked for this humiliation and deserves it. Only those fans in Cleveland don’t deserve this. They were loyal, true, and ultimately they must know Gilbert lashed out to make James the villain for a most self-serving reason: to avoid the blame himself. Damn right James quit on the Cavaliers in that playoff series, but that was because Gilbert was always there to make it easy for him. All those times Ferry and Brown warned the owner they had to make stands with James, that they had to force him to have some level of respect within that organization or there would be an ultimate price to pay.

Together these two destroyed what could've been a beautiful situation, and now they're both running away from any kind of blame that they didn't win anything and now it's all in shambles. I heard Gilbert lowered the ticket prices along with the fatheads. Pretty funny.

See, that's my problem with LeBron. The Cavs kept an aging and under-producing Big Z, why? Because LeBron wanted them to, they kept Daniel Gibson around, why? Because that's LeBrons "little brother", they overpaid for Sideshow Bob, why? Because LeBron wanted them to keep him. Cleveland traded for Jamison last year and most people thought that move put the Cavs in the drivers seat for a championship. Cleveland did everything they could to make LeBron stay (including hiring his hangers-ons for jobs they normally would have no shot at) so in no way, shape or form can LeBron blame his backstabbing a whole organization on the Cavs. The Cavs made tons of decisions based on LeBrons input and demands, and in return he turned around and Paul Orndorff'ed them like a coward.

I'm pretty sure LBJ had been pushing them to get Jamison for the last 2 years too. There were rumors that had a role in why they went that direction instead of getting Amare. And to all the people that keep bringing up the bad supporting cast, there's no guarantee Amare would've been a better fit than Jamison. His D is in the toilet too, and without being the focus of the offense with Brown's play calling, his numbers would've dropped. Jamison consistently averaged 19.6 ppg or more the last 5 years (and on the Wiz this year) before heading to the Cavs. His %'s were great this year besides from the FT line. Does he suck or did he do the best with the opportunity he had?

Mo Williams averaged 16 ppg and 5 apg while shooting over 40% from 3 and almost 90% from the line... and last year could be considered his worse statistical season in the last 3 years. Look at the break down of stats for the top 7 players on the best teams in the league. There isn't much of a difference. Of course, it takes more than stats to evaluate players but the point is these "bums" would look a lot different if they had a ring... and getting to the ECF and leading the league in wins shows they weren't exactly far off.

Here are the stats for the Bulls championship teams:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1991.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1992.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1993.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1996.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1996.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1998.html

Now nobody in their right mind would compare the Cavs roster to those Bulls teams, but you can see the difference doesn't really lie in the numbers. This year's Cavs didn't win the championship, but had every bit of a chance to as anyone if they played to their potential. If he had stayed and they ended up winning next year, everyone would've been adding "Lebron did it with Jamison and Mo" in their next conversation about who the superstars used with them to win their rings.

[HeadHunter619]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

Dan Gilbert Has Reason to be mad. He just lost the best player He ever had and will ever get. He was saying what everone in Cleveland was thinking.

[JRthaTruth]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

Dan Gilbert letter=classless
Lebron James way of doing free agency=classless

[wheelman990]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

Dan Gilbert letter=classless
Lebron James way of doing free agency=classless

True, but Gilbert did it for Cleveland, he could care less what others citys thought. LBJ did it for himself, and trashed his Legacy with Cleveland after 7 years

Not saying anyones justfied, but one can hold there head up in Ohio.

[WazzuRC]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

True, but Gilbert did it for Cleveland, he could care less what others citys thought.

He didn't do anything "for Cleveland." I agree with one of the posters above. He saw this as an opportunity to rally the troops on a quickly growing Anti-LeBron movement. Plus, I'm sure he wasn't too happy to see his franchise lose a ton of value in mere seconds.

[TribeWarpath]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/07/jesse_jackson_rips_cavaliers_o.html

CHICAGO -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson says Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert sees LeBron James as a "runaway slave" and that his comments after the forward decided to join the Miami Heat put the player in danger.

Shortly after James announced his decision Thursday night, Gilbert fired off an incendiary letter to Cleveland's fans, ripping the 25-year-old and promising to deliver a title before James wins one. He called James' decision "cowardly" and later told The Associated Press he believes James quit during a handful of Cavaliers playoff games.

Jackson says Gilbert's comments "personify a slave master mentality" and the owner should face a "challenge" from the league.

Messages were left Sunday night seeking comment from Gilbert, the Cavaliers, James and the NBA.

I don't understand why Jesse is making this a racism issue. This is a complete joke.

[ehh]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

Because that's what he does.

[Taur3asi3]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

It was only a matter of time before Jesse or Sharpton got involved.

[Starlin4Prez]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

Because that's what he does.

*Waits for Al Sharpton to climb from his hole to accuse Dan Gilbert of being a KKK member*

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

I'd be a slave for 16 million.

Just sayin...

[Starlin4Prez]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

I'd be a slave for 16 million.

Just sayin...

LOL.....

ditto

[wheelman990]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

He didn't do anything "for Cleveland." I agree with one of the posters above. He saw this as an opportunity to rally the troops on a quickly growing Anti-LeBron movement. Plus, I'm sure he wasn't too happy to see his franchise lose a ton of value in mere seconds.

Really? Do you live here in Northeast Ohio? If you did, you would know that letter was kinda accepted positively here. While I can see it was a bit over the top, its obvious there was truth to it...more & more is coming out.

I think it was for Cleveland, to show we werent gonna take this lying down. Its what a owner should do....although maybe over done...

[Illustrator76]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index....valiers_o.html



I don't understand why Jesse is making this a racism issue. This is a complete joke.

Yeah, this really angers me. Why is he sticking up for a man making a bagillion dollars a year and trying to make an issue out of nothing? Jesse Jackson should be helping the homeless, feeding the hungry, etc... and doing work in the community that actually BENEFITS people, not worrying about what a jilted team owner said about LeBron James leaving Cleveland. I can't stand when people try to make an issue out of something that isn't even close to being there.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Dan Gilbert.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index....valiers_o.html



I don't understand why Jesse is making this a racism issue. This is a complete joke.

Well, it wouldn't be a full-fledged media circus without him popping up and making wild racial accusations filled with hyperbole. This was sadly predictable.