DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs Offseason Continued

Has anyone read Dan Gilberts letter? He's ripping on LeBron, I Dan. I have no doubt's he'll try to get us a winner.


http://bit.ly/9MjmNZ

LeGone James.

Gonna be funny when Kobe still makes them all look like fools next June.

At least football season is around the corner

LeBron will go down as Wade's sidekick if they win a championship.

I heart Dan Gilbert!!!!


Wow, was that unexpected......LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Love the letter from Gilbert. I saw Windhorst on More Sports and Les Levine just after the Boston series, and he said that if LeBron left, just wait, b/c Gilbert will not take it lying down, and there are definitely stories to tell.

Also, Gilbert gets it. He may not have grown up in Cleveland, but more than any owner I have seen in my life, I think this owner understands how passionate Cleveland fans are, and is going to give us max effort in return. He may not succeed, but it won't be for lack of trying.

I'm as PO'd as the next guy but I didn't get that at all from what Gilbert said. I think he meant that they'd talk about this process in the past weeks, but the future thing was most likely trying to pump up the fanbase about the team. About how he'll do whatever it takes types of things and explaining a plan for the next couple years. Not that he was going to drop dirt on LeQuit.

I have never rooted for Kobe or the Celtics but I can personally guarantee that when the playoffs roll around I will be rooting for for both of them. That is if the Cav's are not in it I should say.

I didn't mean to suggest that he would do that either ... I was just thinking, wouldn't it be funny if he did.

Windhorst just said: Knowing Gilbert, this was probably the PR department's compromise letter ....

I love Kobe as a player. I know I'm in the minority of non-Laker fans, but I love watching Kobe.

I hate Boston, though. But, I'd still love to see Boston beat Miami in the playoffs.

After readin Dan Gilbert's response, I am most proud to be a Cavs fan right now! I am a bigger fan now than I was before reading that. It's nice to see an owner who wants to show he is bigger than his former player. Even if he doesn't accomplish his goal, I admire him for giving his best to make it happen. I believe he will give his all to shove this straight up Lebrons butt.

My only fear is that Gilbert may try to do his best but in all honesty who are we really gona be able to get here? I mean we had a hard enough time getting free agents with LeBron here.

We need to blow this team up and start completely over.

Blow this year, pick in the lottery, and have a new guy to build around. It's the only way to do it in the NBA.

All we can do is have blind faith and appreciate an owner who will give us hope. I have faith it will happen, karma is a mysterious thing.

Screw ESPN.

ESPN no longer has to cater to Cleveland so I don't care about them either. They can have their molest fest with Alien, Jester and The Convenience in Miami.

Beasley just got traded to the wolves..... damn

Per Twitter:

STEIN_LINE_HQ

ESPN.com sources: Miami has agree to a trade with Minnesota that will send Michael Beasley to the Wolves. Link forthcoming

I wonder what Shaq's opinion of all of this is.

Post deleted by 1oldMutt

Yeah...you're probably gonna wanna edit that post...

LeBron West lol

This is pretty scathing too ....

Hope for his sake that James has thick skin ..... because he's gonna need it.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/wr...tml?eref=sircrc


Michael Rosenberg

LeBron took the easy way out in choosing star-studded Heat


GREENWICH, Conn., July 8, 1990 -- Michael Jordan announced on national television leaving Chicago to join the Detroit Pistons. Jordan said it was tough to bolt Chicago, where he was the most popular athlete in many years, because he thinks he has a better chance to win a championship if he plays with Pistons star Isiah Thomas. Jordan said by playing together, he and Thomas "won't have the pressure of going out and scoring 30 every night."

That would have sounded absurd, right? Well, it is no more absurd than what LeBron James is doing. Jordan was 27 years old in 1990, slightly older than James is now. He had never been to the NBA Finals. He had been beaten up by the Celtics and Pistons for years. He doubted his supporting cast was good enough.

But he never doubted himself.

And it became very clear Thursday night that LeBron James does doubt himself. James will be a champion in Miami -- if not next year, then sometime after that. If you put James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh together and give Pat RIley five years to find the complementary pieces, that team will win a championship.

But James does not have the heart of a champion. He does not have the competitive fire of Jordan, the bull-headed determination of Kobe Bryant, the quiet self-confidence of Tim Duncan, the willful defiance of Isiah or the winning-is-everything hunger of Magic Johnson.

He is an extremely gifted player who wants the easy way out.

And how do we know this?

James said so himself.

Oh, not in so many words. But once ESPN was done ESPN-izing its LeBron coverage -- filling it with babbling experts, needless hype and Jim Gray submitting his top six entries in the Stupidest Question Ever contest -- the self-proclaimed King said everything you need to know about him.

1. "You have to do what's best for you, and what's going to make you happy."

This is what's going to make him happy? Sharing a stage with two other stars? Really?

I guess that's all LeBron is: A complementary player with superstar talent. We should have figured this out before: He got that giant CHOSEN 1 tattoo on his back and calls himself King James because he is desperate for reassurance.

There is no greater challenge in sports getting drafted by a godawful team, planting your flag in a city and working like crazy until you have turned that team into a champion.

LeBron James didn't want the challenge. He wanted to play with his buddies.

2. "We don't have the pressure of going out and scoring 30 every night or shooting a high percentage."

Whoa. Hold on there. Scoring 30 a night is too much pressure for one of the five most talented players ever?

Find me another all-time NBA great who would utter those words. Jordan would rather do an adidas commercial than say that. Bryant must have laughed as he heard the so-called "King" say that. Larry Bird? The next time he complains about pressure will be the first. Magic was the greatest team player of the last 40 years, but he was also so competitive that he wanted to play Jordan one-on-one in a promotional event -- and this was when Magic had won titles and Jordan had not, so Magic had more to lose.

3. "I know how loyal I am."

The man just dumped his hometown(s) on national television. Cleveland (and, by extension, Akron) happens to be the most tortured sports city in America. To do that, then say "I know how loyal I am" ... wow, wow, wow.

I wish I could sit in on one of LeBron's meetings with his advisers. Does he make them all wear mirrored sunglasses, so that when he looks at them he sees himself?

We really don't ask that much of our sports stars. Try not to get arrested for anything big. Don't curse at the fans. You know, small stuff. We even understand that 95 percent of the time, they will make career decisions based on money -- we might not love it, but we understand it.

But see, the biggest thing that we ask of our sports stars is this: Take the competition as seriously as we do.

When LeBron James loses to Boston in the playoffs, we want him to take the heat, not take the Heat's offer. We want him to spend the summer adding to his game, calling and texting his teammates, plotting to do better next season.

Instead, well ...

4. "It's about joining forces with the other two guys."

He sounds like a nine-year-old playing Star Wars games with his buddies at a sleepover. And again: I do believe this Miami team will win a title. But it won't be as easy as he wants it to be. Miami will have the weakest bench of any contender next season After that, the NBA will have a lockout, and the league could eliminate the mid-level exception, which would be Miami's best tool for adding talent.

So this is a cop-out, but it's not as easy of a cop-out as it appears. And that brings us to ...

5. "This is the greatest challenge for me."

LeBron James just jumped into an elevator and wants us to think he can fly. Sorry, but we know better. We know that he did something Michael, Magic, Bird and Bill Russell never would have done. We know he ditched Cleveland for an All-Star team.

But you know what? In Miami, anything short of a title will be a failure. Nobody outside of Miami will root for this team, and nobody in Miami roots for anybody. They're too busy enjoying the weather.

I thought he would stay in Cleveland, because I thought all he cared about was adoration. I was wrong about Cleveland, but he is wrong about adoration. He thinks he'll get it by winning a title. He has insulated himself from the world, surrounded himself with yes men. He has no idea how much backlash he is about to get.

That's one of the great ironies of this -- James is trying to flee pressure, but he will just face more of it. He is trying to maximize his "brand," but he just damaged it.

The first time I watched LeBron James live, I thought he could be the greatest player ever. The sad truth for us, for him, and for the NBA is that he never really believed it himself.

LeBron has no heart, good to see our owner does. Whether or not it was right or wrong of Gilbert to speak his mind.... I don't care, I applaud him for it.

Rosenberg is dead on!

link


CLEVELAND -- Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says LeBron James "quit" during the playoffs and should be accountable for his actions.

Cavs reaction


Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert gave his reaction to LeBron James leaving in an open letter to fans on the Cavs website. Letter

Gilbert, who posted a letter to Cavs fans on the team's website shortly after James announced he plans to sign with Miami, tells The Associated Press late Thursday night that he feels "personally betrayed" by James and that it's "accountability time."

In a phone interview with the AP, Gilbert says "people have covered up for [James] for way too long. Tonight we saw who he really is."

Gilbert says James quit on the Cavs during their second-round series against the Boston Celtics, who rallied from a 2-1 deficit to eliminate Cleveland.

I know a lot of people inside the organization believed the elbow injury was fake. That's what gilbert is probably referring to.

OK, Gilbert has had his say .... but it's probably time to back off now.

We're going to need to bring in some players ..... and he doesn't want to come off as a guy who will burn a player after he's gone.

I've made a huge mistake ...

What he maybe saying right now ... ? (doubtful)

Next year at the Deadline, I'd instruct my GM if I were Dan to send Delonte West to the Lakers for another expiring. Wouldn't LeBron love the NBA finals with Delonte hanging out int he corner nailing 3's. Blowing a kiss to his mom in the audience.

Ok, I don't care what anyone else thinks, that letter was awesome. I think some GMs are going to be trying to take advantage of our situation now (this obviously puts Grant in desperation mode to make something big happen), and it's a horrible long-term strategy since the NBA is a star-league and it's doubtful we obtain stars through trades.

But dang, that took some gonads to write and post. Really hope it wasn't a hacker (still there, so I'm guessing not).

Honestly, I'm always going to appreciate the 7 years we had with LeBron. Still going to completely cheer against him at every turn, but appreciate what was there. That letter though got me all fired up, which I think is the point.

Still, the best way to make sure LeBron doesn't win a title next year though is to gift-wrap our best players to Chicago, Boston, Orlando and LA.

What are the odds LeBron pulls a Boozer and feigns and injury Miami's first trip to town?

also, LeBron just forfeited any chance he had at chasing Jordan. longshot anyway for best ever, but no way he gets there as Wade's waterboy.

I was about the only person on this board who believed in the guy. Boy do I have egg on my face right now.

Hip hip hooray for Dan Gilbert! I am a Cavs fan, the Heat can rot.

Gilbert was dead on. it's not like we will get any star free agents anyhow, so what's the harm. you have to lift the spirits of the fans. that's what the letter intent was. Gilbert gave Lebron the keys to the organization, and the guy didn't have the decency to call him up beforehand. Lebron gets what he deserves. Screw Lebron.