Dan Gilbert's Letter to Cavs Fans... Wow!

[wiley]

What a joke sports have become when a career loser/quitter is considered a King.  Give me Paul Pierce everyday and twice on Sundays.  He has more heart in nether region than the Queen has in whole body.

It's interesting that you bring up the "career loser" thing with Lebron, but then speak of Pierce favorably.

Lebron has led his team deep into the playoffs the last several seasons, making a Finals appearance and a trip to the conference finals, along with losing to a great Celts team a couple of times.  He was surrounded by mediocre -- at best -- teammates, and yet he brought his franchise to unprecedented heights.  He couldn't get them over the final hump, but he got them to the cusp.  I'm not sure that makes him a "loser".  

Compare that to Paul Pierce, who played on some of the worst teams in franchise history.  Fans from other teams labeled him a "career loser" and a "star who puts up great stats on a terrible team".  Was that fair?  I don't think so, but the label was out there.  Certainly, Pierce had far less success than Lebron did in terms of winning.

Continuing the Lebron / Pierce comparison, Pierce openly talked about demanding a trade if the Celtics didn't get him some better teammates.  Lebron decided that he'd take his destiny in his own hands, and seek out those better teammates on his own.  In both cases, the player admitted that he couldn't win without help.

How is Pierce some sort of winner, and Lebron is a loser?  Is it due to the one championship Pierce won in his 30s?  If that's the case, don't we have to give Lebron time?  Pierce didn't have a title at age 25, either, and unlike Lebron, he'd never been to the Finals.

People can like or dislike whoever they want, of course.  I just think it's weird that people bash Lebron for deciding he cares more about rings than stats, when we've got three players on our team who came to the exact same conclusion.  Trying to win by yourself when surrounded by flotsam and jetsam is overrated.

With all that said, I am going to have to see these three players jell like Pierce, Allen and Garnett - and see them surrounded by quality players - before I believe this can work.

Championships are NOT won by accumulating the best basketball cards. They are won by teams blending some necessary parts of what's a fairly consistent recipe. And they are lost by equally consistent elements. You can't just expect huge egos to blend successfully. You can't expect volume shooters to necessarily co-exist. When the chips are down, which of these three players has ever pulled their club up by the bootstraps? James certainly hasn't.

So I'd be careful disparaging Gilbert. He makes a lot of legitimate points in the letter, albeit tinged with bitterness. You really need look no deeper than the circus surrounding James' decision to see the trouble ahead for the Miami Heat. I'd remind most of you that the James career is a story of a one-man show - a lot of media sound and fury signifying relatively little except a bunch of numbers that have never sniffed an NBA title. Expunging James from responsibility for never sniffing a title is short-sighted.

Saying you're chasing titles is one thing. Actually blending your game - which calls for deferral to others - is something James has NEVER done and I question his ability to do it.

I agree with regards to volume shooting, and he and Wade not being great outside shooters is a real weakness.  But Lebron's on-court product has never struck me as selfish.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him overpassing for the first year before he remembers how good he is.  But that again speaks to the difficulty of getting it right in Miami.  It's one of the most interesting chemistry experiments in NBA history.....

[Fafnir]

Birdbrain, Paul didn't bail because we put great teammates around him to compete. Were the Cavs in a position to do that?

Paul said if we didn't trade the #5 pick for help he was going to ask for a trade.

[Birdbrain]

Gilbert said in an AP interview that LeBron quit during the Celtics series and also in the Orlando series last year.  Wow.

I say we extend an invite to him to join CelticsBlog.  He sounds like one of us!

Yeah for those trumpeting his cause do we know how good the Cavs really were with him quitting and all?  

[Birdbrain]

Birdbrain, Paul didn't bail because we put great teammates around him to compete. Were the Cavs in a position to do that?

Paul said if we didn't trade the #5 pick for help he was going to ask for a trade.

Ugh yeah he was drafted in '98, fyi.  Every player they brought in LJ wanted.

The comparison to Pierce is slap in face by the way.  They are about comparable as Bird and Blount.

[hwangjini_1]

The NBA has indeed become the WWE. The purity of the game has been lost. Props to Dan Gilbert though. Let's see how Sern reacts to this.

Please stop comparing the NBA to the WWE!

Yes.


Because in the WWE, you have to distract the official to get a bad call.

Ha, ha, ha.  Good one. Besides, after the James farce it might be a case of the NBA giving a bad name to WWE.

Tp for you.

[Fafnir]

Birdbrain, Paul didn't bail because we put great teammates around him to compete. Were the Cavs in a position to do that?

Paul said if we didn't trade the #5 pick for help he was going to ask for a trade.

Ugh yeah he was drafted in '98, fyi.

How many teams were offering Paul Pierce a max extension when he was first eligible?

Did he ever hit the FA market?

[Birdbrain]

Birdbrain, Paul didn't bail because we put great teammates around him to compete. Were the Cavs in a position to do that?

Paul said if we didn't trade the #5 pick for help he was going to ask for a trade.

Ugh yeah he was drafted in '98, fyi.

How many teams were offering Paul Pierce a max extension when he was first eligible?

Did he ever hit the FA market?

No because he's loyal and wanted to win where he started.  I don't know if your being sarcastic or serious but, if you think Paul wouldn't gotten the max well... your mistaken to the the least.

LJ has him on talent please stop changing the argument.  He doesn't have squat on Paul the person.

[Eja117]

Gilbert's got stones, that's for sure.

Yeah, but what good is stones without a brain? Where was the guy to stop him?

[Andy Jick]

After waking up today and mulling this over, I really think Dan Gilbert is a complete idiot who just screwed himself.  What FA is going to want to play for an owner who just called the best player in the NBA a "quitter?" 

I think the underlying problem is this: LeBron and Gilbert are the same person.  They are both arrogant, and one thing I know about rich/arrogant people: they do NOT like to be stood up. 

His bravado in stating the Cavs will win a title is quite humorous, and way off base. 

And lost in all this: kudos to Brian Shaw for being smart and walking away from that job offer.  Reports were stating that Shaw was asking about scenarios withOUT LeBron on the team and Gilbert wouldn't go there.  Shaw pushed for an answer and they wouldn't even consider that scenario.  Well, they had to because it was a 50/50 reality.

I think this is all funny, and the Cavs just went back into mediocrity, joining the other Cleveland teams as a joke.

[Eric_Suede]

Of course my allegiance will always be to our boys in green. But wouldn't it be absolutely hilairous if Cleveland indeed put together a "bad news Bears" (ie, keeping shaq, signing AI,Mcgrady,alston,Harrington) type of team and it WORKED & the team DOES win it next year. Other than Boston winning it all , that would be SOO cool to see.

[nba is the worst]

I'm 100% behind Gilbert - the Cavs brought every player LeBron asked for, refused to trade Hickson per his input, and then, with the finals 2 series away, LeBron simply tanked the Celtics series.

To me, it's obvious he decided to leave the Cavs after game 3...

[Roy Hobbs]

What a joke sports have become when a career loser/quitter is considered a King.  Give me Paul Pierce everyday and twice on Sundays.  He has more heart in nether region than the Queen has in whole body.

It's interesting that you bring up the "career loser" thing with Lebron, but then speak of Pierce favorably.

Lebron has led his team deep into the playoffs the last several seasons, making a Finals appearance and a trip to the conference finals, along with losing to a great Celts team a couple of times.  He was surrounded by mediocre -- at best -- teammates, and yet he brought his franchise to unprecedented heights.  He couldn't get them over the final hump, but he got them to the cusp.  I'm not sure that makes him a "loser". 

Compare that to Paul Pierce, who played on some of the worst teams in franchise history.  Fans from other teams labeled him a "career loser" and a "star who puts up great stats on a terrible team".  Was that fair?  I don't think so, but the label was out there.  Certainly, Pierce had far less success than Lebron did in terms of winning.

Continuing the Lebron / Pierce comparison, Pierce openly talked about demanding a trade if the Celtics didn't get him some better teammates.  Lebron decided that he'd take his destiny in his own hands, and seek out those better teammates on his own.  In both cases, the player admitted that he couldn't win without help.

How is Pierce some sort of winner, and Lebron is a loser?  Is it due to the one championship Pierce won in his 30s?  If that's the case, don't we have to give Lebron time?  Pierce didn't have a title at age 25, either, and unlike Lebron, he'd never been to the Finals.

People can like or dislike whoever they want, of course.  I just think it's weird that people bash Lebron for deciding he cares more about rings than stats, when we've got three players on our team who came to the exact same conclusion.  Trying to win by yourself when surrounded by flotsam and jetsam is overrated.

Your response is exactly where we part ways in this decision.  Paul didn't bail.  I'm done.

Paul didn't bail because the team brought in two legitimate stars to play with him.  However, he very openly talked about forcing a trade, and from his own words, he would have but for the moves made by Danny.

I just don't see the two guys as that different.  They were both sick of losing, and wanted to do what was in their own best interests.  The Celtics had the flexibility to accommodate Paul, and the Cavs couldn't.

[Greenbean]

Dan Gilbert and the force field he put around LeBron played a part in turning LeBron into the guy he is today along with every other yes man this guy has around him.

I really hate to say this but he needs a Phil Jackson to humble him. Or a Stan Van. He likes to call his star players out too. I am pretty sure SVG wouldnt go back to South Beach though!

[Greenbean]

What a joke sports have become when a career loser/quitter is considered a King.  Give me Paul Pierce everyday and twice on Sundays.  He has more heart in nether region than the Queen has in whole body.

It's interesting that you bring up the "career loser" thing with Lebron, but then speak of Pierce favorably.

Lebron has led his team deep into the playoffs the last several seasons, making a Finals appearance and a trip to the conference finals, along with losing to a great Celts team a couple of times.  He was surrounded by mediocre -- at best -- teammates, and yet he brought his franchise to unprecedented heights.  He couldn't get them over the final hump, but he got them to the cusp.  I'm not sure that makes him a "loser". 

Compare that to Paul Pierce, who played on some of the worst teams in franchise history.  Fans from other teams labeled him a "career loser" and a "star who puts up great stats on a terrible team".  Was that fair?  I don't think so, but the label was out there.  Certainly, Pierce had far less success than Lebron did in terms of winning.

Continuing the Lebron / Pierce comparison, Pierce openly talked about demanding a trade if the Celtics didn't get him some better teammates.  Lebron decided that he'd take his destiny in his own hands, and seek out those better teammates on his own.  In both cases, the player admitted that he couldn't win without help.

How is Pierce some sort of winner, and Lebron is a loser?  Is it due to the one championship Pierce won in his 30s?  If that's the case, don't we have to give Lebron time?  Pierce didn't have a title at age 25, either, and unlike Lebron, he'd never been to the Finals.

People can like or dislike whoever they want, of course.  I just think it's weird that people bash Lebron for deciding he cares more about rings than stats, when we've got three players on our team who came to the exact same conclusion.  Trying to win by yourself when surrounded by flotsam and jetsam is overrated.

Your response is exactly where we part ways in this decision.  Paul didn't bail.  I'm done.

Paul didn't bail because the team brought in two legitimate stars to play with him.  However, he very openly talked about forcing a trade, and from his own words, he would have but for the moves made by Danny.

I just don't see the two guys as that different.  They were both sick of losing, and wanted to do what was in their own best interests.  The Celtics had the flexibility to accommodate Paul, and the Cavs couldn't.

TO be fair, Paul was really losing. Lebron was competing for titles with the Cavs. They were a coaching change away from competing again.

Of course LeBron is right when he says Miami presents the best opportunity to win but IMO the Cavs just as easily could have competed again with LeBron.

[Finkelskyhook]

The NBA has indeed become the WWE. The purity of the game has been lost. Props to Dan Gilbert though. Let's see how Sern reacts to this.

Please stop comparing the NBA to the WWE!

Yes.


Because in the WWE, you have to distract the official to get a bad call.

Ha, ha, ha.  Good one. Besides, after the James farce it might be a case of the NBA giving a bad name to WWE.

Tp for you.

Joey Crawford would make a perfect guest referee for the WWE.  He'd be the perfect referee acting in-character.