OT: Dan Gilbert chimes in...
I dislike all that's been going on with Lebron as much as the next guy, but that's just straight up unprofessional. I don't care how butthurt you are, if you're the owner of an NBA team, you can't release an open letter of petty insults and trash talk about your former star player because he decided to try playing for another team. If I interprested that letter correctly, there's more crap to come from him, too.
Won't be surprised if Lebron decides to go after him if he keeps up the talk. Pretty sure that he crossed the line there, and if he keeps dancing around on the other side of it, he deserves whatever he gets.
It was, however, good for a laugh. Its stuff like this that reminds me why we have Ohio. We've got to get our entertainment from somewhere.
Just the idea of a Gilbert-James media battle is fantastic. Can you imagine?
James: "The best player he surrounded me with was Mo Williams. The only good coach I've played for has been Mike krzyzewski. They wouldn't give up JJ Hickson for Amar'e. The reason I left is obvious: Cavs management"
Gilbert: "He's a traitor. He doesn't value loyalty. Delonte slept with his mom."
Awesome. One can only hope
I just don't understand why everyone wants almost every aspect of their sports to be "professional". The letter was unprofessional. It was also emotional and passionate, the response of a fan. I don't tune in to sports for business news. I don't really care how one corporation is faring with respect to another. I care about my team and I like knowing the folks that represent and run my team also care about it, rather than having them view it as an "asset".
The empty boast about winning a championship was too much though. How the hell are they going to make that happen? All of the free agents have been signed already and they have no good trade bait. I'm quite sure the man was drunk when he wrote that.
There is a good way to show anger and then there is the MSU way. What a ridiculously written letter. MSU needs to introduce anger management classes to its curriculum.
this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!
If theres one guy I want to build a championship team around, it's Delonte West.
What with all the unnecessary quotes, did anybody else hear this in their heads whilst reading that misbegotten screed?
yes thank you this is exactly what i was thinking of when i read his message.
A thousand times yes.
I was about half way through the letter when I was like... lots of quotes here...
The Sparty owner of an Ohio team (who enjoys putting up the Michigan logo on the scoreboard to get fans to boo) just saw the value of his franchise drop by a few hundred million. Schadenfreude at its finest.
but that letter sucked. I don't think Gilbert believes all that; I think he's just pandering to his base. There's a lot of unsubstantiated bravado there, ya know? Which is decidedly unrad. And so, I hope Lebron wins infinity championships now and rips a massive fart on all of Cleveland
but I think this post is so well written. "Decidedly unrad," well said.
Called out Lebron for exactly what he is, good job....might be a little insane on the championship guarantee, but i will let that one slide because I do not think he believes that at all...
Even if you agree with the sentiment, do you really think it was wise to state it publicly? Odds are that most NBA players are going to take LeBron's side in this quarrel. If I'm an NBA player, this kind of statement wouldn't exactly make me eager to work for Gilbert.
obvious they weren't gonna go work for him anyways, right? so what the hell does he have to lose besides 60 or so games a year?
What does he have to lose? Any chance of ever fielding a contending team. You wish LeBron well, and people applaud you for your class. You trash the guy on his way out, and you've burned bridges with every half-decent player in the league. The better question is, what did he have to gain? Okay, Cleveland fans have temporarily rallied to his side, but that won't last if the team starts losing, which it will.
Prediction: Cleveland fans will rue the day this guy bought the franchise.
reading before the part where i said "60 or so games a year" about what he has to lose.
Gilbert has been jilted by the coach he worships over all coaches and the best player who was ever going to play in Cleveland in about a month's time. If I wasn't laughing so hard at his painfully ineffective attempts at insults and the fact that a majority of the "worst state ever" is in a state of schadenfreude, I would find the whole thing sad.
"Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight"
Many native Clevelanders have left the city for the exact same reason that LeBron did, which was to improve their lives. That's a fact from a decaying city.
Moreover, Gilbert, after striking out with James, Bosch (who refuses to play in Cleveland), Wade, whomever else they targeted, and Izzo comes across as a worthless owner who was lucky enough to win the NBA lottery and get LeBron.
He couldn't win with LeBron for 6 years and now blames him? Maybe Gilbert is just a terrible owner (e.g. Dan Snyder) that doesn't belong making any NBA decisions.
I applaud LeBron for choosing winning over money and ego. That's impressive.
Everybody is citing last night (and the entire offseason so far) as evidence that Bron is an egomaniacal ass. I tend to see the partially self-generated coverage of his decision as more of a ham-fisted marketing attempt than any great revelation about his character. The fact that he kept to his long-stated top criterion of going where he could best win championships, despite the fact that he'll now be sharing the spotlight to a significantly greater extent than he would anywhere else except LA, I think indicates that his ego is not as consumptive as most think.
Gilbert is a douche, and I'm happy for his loss.
