LeBron:
-First, this is FREE agency. LeBron can do whatever he wants.
-Second, the media, fans, everyone has enabled the situation to get out of hand.
-Third, it did go to a good cause - even if LeBron has boatloads of money to donate without a show, he still did it for a good reason and you can't question him if you don't really know him.
-Fourth, he is taking less money than he could have made in Cleveland to go play in Miami - yes he is still making a ton, but not many people voluntarily take pay cuts.
-Fifth, he wants to win and play with his friends. If I were in his situation and had the chance to play with some of my friends and dominate, why wouldn't I?? He is going to have an absolute blast playing with Wade and Bosh. I can't fault a guy for making the most of the situation.

Gilbert:
- He has no right to assume LeBron would be coming back after the Cavs have shown to be inferior and do not have the $$$ to bring in any more top talent. No way they can compete with the Lakers, Celtics, Heat and possibly the Bulls if he had stayed.
- Talking about loyalty - Mike Brown has the best record with the Cavs for 2 years I believe, won coach of the year and then what did he get for that? A freakin pink slip. I thought that is ridiculous. He didn't close the deal, but he showed a great amount of success over a longer period of time compared to the postseason when the team just didn't perform and caught a red hot Celtics team.
- Lastly, he is an idiot for mentioning the Cavs are going to win a title before LeBron - that has EPIC FAIL written all over it.

Dan Gilbert has a right to be pissed. He just lost probably $100MM+ in franchise value and season tickets

pissed? yes

disrespectful beyond belief and looking like a complete ass? no

How many more excuses can you come up with for Lebron? Good grief.

I don't fault him for leaving, but your whole "the media enabled him" reasoning is nothing but a bunch of bull****. Lebron is not an idiot, he should've thought this through. By doing it this way he's made himself the most hated man in the NBA and put himself right up there with A-Rod on the national sports landscape. He's a dewsh, stop apologizing for him.

If I just lost $100MM+, I'd be pretty disrespectful and outrageous. Millions of people all around the US are saying F*** LEBRON, so why shouldn't he use his platform to say the same exact thing.

BTW, he said so himself -- this isnt' just about him leaving, this is about him having this narcissistic process and doing to 1 hour ESPN special and all that. It's effing ridiculous and he has every right to call Lebron out for it. EVERYBODY thinks it was wrong to treat Cleveland like that. That was brutal.

This isn't the YMCA - there are losers in the world and Cleveland is one of them. Grow up and if you need a hug join the Y.

I would want my owner to respond with some fire.

Sports is more than a business.

When was the last time a business hitting its sales target inspired a whole city or had complete strangers high fiving in bars?

A d-Slap like this, the people of Cleveland needed someone to address their pain. ESPN was going to be happy to ignore CLE in all this, and focus on D-Wades new team, so I support it.

Lebron had every right to leave but the way he did it was a dick move.

Gilbert is not without flaws, in fact he could have got a much better front office and roster for Lebron. If you have Lebron you go over the lux tax in order to keep him happy in Cleveland.

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BTW, he said so himself -- this isnt' just about him leaving, this is about him having this narcissistic process and doing to 1 hour ESPN special and all that.

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come on...you know better than that. dan gilbert would not have had a problem with the "narcissistic process" had he said "cleveland" last night instead of miami. and he would've loved that lebron announced it on a national stage.

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come on...you know better than that. dan gilbert would not have had a problem with the "narcissistic process" had he said "cleveland" last night instead of miami. and he would've loved that lebron announced it on a national stage.

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ABSOLUTELY

i'm with you cubs...get over it, Cleveland!

lebron is a coward becuase he didn;t tell cleveleand, or any of the other teams, that he was not signing with them before he went live and told the whole world he was going to miamai.

The other teams, but cleveland especially, deserved to be informed of Lebron's decision before he belted it out to the whole world.

what lebron did was like announcing that he was going to marry someone without ever telling his current wife that he was going to divorce her.

coward.

How can LeBron divorce someone/something if he wasn't with anyone. He was not with ANY team. He had zero ties to anything and was a free man.

Also, it is a known fact LeBron tried to bring Bosh to Cleveland to try and make that team ALOT better. Bosh refused, signed with Miama and James made the best decision for himself after that.

Also Giibert goes public with his statement makes him just as big a **** as LeBron. You don't scold someone publicly who multiplied your income as much as LeBron did the past 7 years and revived a franchise that was close to death.

Gilbert looks like a whiny beetch. It's hilarious.

I think both look pretty much like jackasses.

However, in the end Gilbert didn't exactly help himself going forward. And while LBJ has a better team, I believe his reputation has taken a hit.

i dont think he gives 2 ****s what the regular people think. as he shouldn't. He's going to care about the 95 percent of the country who'll buy his **** regardless of where he plays

Regular people are who buy his ****.

oh i messed up that statement

i meant to say he doesnt care what internet people think.

thanks

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Dan Gilbert has a right to be pissed. He just lost probably $100MM+ in franchise value and season tickets

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I agree that he has a right to be pissed, but not for this reason.

He has a right to be pissed because Lebron made a public spectacle out of abandoning his franchise, instead of cutting ties the classy way.

The $100mm is Lebron's worth to a franchise. He brings that to the table. It's not a mutual asset between Lebron and the Cavs, but the Cavs benefitted heavily from it. It's unfortunate for Gilbert that he's losing that money, but he got to ride the Lebron money train for 7 years. If you want to stay on that train he should have done a better job protecting that asset.

cubsin10, you are my favorite. I couldn't agree more with you on this matter. Lebron simply went where championships could be won.

For those who think less of Lebron: You think he is going to get as much money with Miami as he would if he went somewhere where he was the only big name. No, don't be dumb people, this decision was made on the ability to win championships. Any person who has any sort of competative bone in their body knows that winning and winning consistently is far better than boat loads of money.

If he made a decision based on his ability to get as much money as he possibly could then I would have a problem, but this seems to be on the up and up in terms of his goals and intentions.

Stop whinning people and sit back and enjoy watching first class basketball next year in Miami.

"Nothing great in this world has ever been accomplished without passion."

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I agree that he has a right to be pissed, but not for this reason.

He has a right to be pissed because Lebron made a public spectacle out of abandoning his franchise, instead of cutting ties the classy way.

The $100mm is Lebron's worth to a franchise. He brings that to the table. It's not a mutual asset between Lebron and the Cavs, but the Cavs benefitted heavily from it. It's unfortunate for Gilbert that he's losing that money, but he got to ride the Lebron money train for 7 years. If you want to stay on that train he should have done a better job protecting that asset.

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+1

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Stop whinning people and sit back and enjoy watching first class basketball next year in Miami.

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Yeah, I can't wait to watch 2 superstars that do much of the same things with a plays out of the paint toothpick big man + if rumor is true, another guy that plays the same position as your 2 superstars & a bunch of league minimum or washed up guys.

That's just textbook, 1st Class bball. Dwight Howard might actually look smooth down low against them.

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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

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Newsflash Danny...had you shown "previously unknown and previously never experienced levels" of motivation in getting LeBron a decent supporting crew, he'd still in Cleveland.

Cleveland had no shortage of motivation to surround Lebron with good players. I don't know where this sentiment comes from. Cleveland had one of the highest payrolls in the league.

i think lebron's decision had less to do with the moves cleveland made in the past and more to do with their lack of flexibility to add significant help going forward.

clearly lebron would not have tolerated a knicks-type strategy of being non-competitive for 3 seasons just to have flexibility in 2010. but by comparison, miami and chicago each managed to put together a playoff team last year, yet still had the flexibility to clear enough cap space to add two major pieces.

do any of you think this had anything to do miami necessarily? don't you think lebron would have been just as happy to bring wade and bosh to cleveland? (not that wade and bosh would want to go there)

If Michael Jordan had a better chance to win in another city but Chicago he would have went there. Same with Lebron. Period!

I, for one, love it! All the drama queen BS -- save it. Lebron has never raped anyone (Kobe) and by all accounts is a pretty stand up guy.

By the way, who in their right mind would rather live in Cleveland versus Miami.

It is amazing people can stick up for Lebron similar to the original poster.

A lot of problems with what you said.

First off, it is free agency. He has the right to sign where he wants, but he doesn't have to be embarrass his home town on national t.v. That was a slap in the face to Cleveland.

Secondly, you can say this was for a good cause, but come on, are you really that naive. This was a publicity stunt in which he tried to show everyone what a good guy he is. If he wants to do something for a good cause, do it without the cameras around and because you really want to help people.

Third, I think it is funny the people who say he is taking less money. That is only true if you assume at the end of this contract he will retire and not play anymore. Don't you think he will sign another contract after this one?

At any rate, I love what Dan Gilbert did, and could never see putting up for Lebron in this situation.

"Sports do not build character. They reveal it."
-John Wooden

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If Michael Jordan had a better chance to win in another city but Chicago he would have went there. Same with Lebron. Period!

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MJ would have never gone anywhere to be the second banana. He would have wanted to go through Wade and Bosh, not join them.

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Dan Gilbert has a right to be pissed. He just lost probably $100MM+ in franchise value and season tickets

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Dan Gilbert has a right to be pissed at Lebron for doing it how Lebron announced it. However, to be pissed at Lebron for losing $100MM+ in franchise value? He needs to point some fingers back at himself for that one.

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Cleveland had no shortage of motivation to surround Lebron with good players. I don't know where this sentiment comes from. Cleveland had one of the highest payrolls in the league.

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I disagree with this. Cleveland had a decently sized payroll, but I look at things like holding onto JJ Hickson and bringing in Antawn Jamison instead of Amare Stoudemire and holding Wally Sczerbiaks' expiring deal 'for the sake of chemistry' as examples of how Cleveland nickeled and dimed in their quest to build an awesome team. This isn't even touching the fact that they let Mike Brown coach the team for 4 seasons.

The fact that Cleveland lost a once in a generation talent like Lebron falls very squarely on them... and for good reason. I completely don't blame Lebron for leaving... but how he left was very toolish no doubt.

[This message has been edited by ATM9000 (edited 7/10/2010 7:42p).]

Lebron showed no class in how he handled this whole thing. To not even call the owner yourself is bush league. Hopefully Lebron will apologize, but I'm wondering if he was just showing his true colors.

Eh, everything about Lebron is overhyped, including this.

He's a player, he completed his contract, now he looked elsewhere. Its a business.

I don't know about how he handled his contacts, but my guess is his agent did most of it and so what. That's what agents are for. Frankly, I doubt the owner makes a point to talk to each bench player they cut during the offseason.

He wants a ring, I don't blame him. He was a free agent and he went to the team that he thought gave him the best shot. Is anybody going to argue this new Miami roster isn't better than the Cavs?

I agree he could have probably handled the annoucement better, but I also thing he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. If he just did a call in presser or had his agent do it, people would argue he wasn't manning up and facing the cameras. Besides, the Boys and Girls club of America got a lot of easy money of it.