Cavaliers probing Heat’s signing of James

[barefacedmonk]

The Cleveland Cavaliers have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a high-powered Midwestern law firm to investigate their suspicions that the Miami Heat broke NBA tampering rules while pursuing LeBron James, and owner Dan Gilbert has privately vowed he won’t relent until he has a thick binder of findings to drop on the desk of the NBA commissioner, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-gilbertlebron120110

[Fafnir]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money. He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

[Celtics4ever]

They ought to be glad and quit chasing the fool's gold that is LeBron.

[dark_lord]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money.

not if there is a legit issue/concern.  if it turns out to be true, it would be well worth it.

He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

true, but if he has legitimate evidence suggesting the accusation, it is good he is following thru with this.

his team took an immense blow and he needs to not only focus on the team and rebuilding, but he has to appease the fan base.  in this instance, it is a smart move to generate support and appeasement from his fans.

[Lucky17]

Why not?

So Gilbert spends a little more money this year. It's a $500,000 wager that he can find something incriminating that will get the Cavs some additional compensation from the Heat and/or the league.

NBA owners routinely drop that kind of money to roll the dice on a free agent, or to buy a 2nd round pick.

[housecall]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money.

not if there is a legit issue/concern.  if it turns out to be true, it would be well worth it.

He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

true, but if he has legitimate evidence suggesting the accusation, it is good he is following thru with this.

his team took an immense blow and he needs to not only focus on the team and rebuilding, but he has to appease the fan base.  in this instance, it is a smart move to generate support and appeasement from his fans.

DL i agree with you 100%...TP

[the_Bird]

There could be three hundred and fifty hours of video taped conversations between Pat Riley and LeBron James, from James' rookie year to the present, in which they talked about this past summer's plans...  with full transcriptions, notarized, signed and dated by LeBron, Riles, and Maverick Carter...  and David Stern wouldn't do jack Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline..

IF Gilbert can find anything, he's going to have to disclose it to the media himself.  And then get himself fined $10M by Stern for "Conduct Detrimental To The League"

[Overrated]

[bdm860]

I don't recall too many tampering issues being proved in the NBA.

The only one I do recall is Pat Riley going to coach the Heat while still under contract to the Knicks.  (Hey so I guess the Heat and Riley do have a history of this tampering thing  ).

What did the Knicks get for the Heats tampering?  $1M and a first round draft pick (that turned out to be Walter McCarty, and you can't put a price on that  )

Could be worth the trouble.  The Heat have already traded away many of their first and second round picks.  Taking another one away from the Heat just screws them that much more as they try to fill out the rest of their roster.

Here's an article talking about the Heat tampering to get Riley:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_n30_v219/ai_17320736/

The Knicks can't discuss the case publicly, but they may try to prove that the Heat made contact with Riley or a Riley representative during the season. Here's why: A five-year, $15-million contract offer to Riley, which would have made him the league's highest-paid coach, lay unsigned on Checketts' desk the entire season. If word reached Riley through a second or third party that the Heat were ready to offer more -- one report said Miami was prepared to extend a partial-ownership package worth $20 million -- then you can understand the Knicks' anger and why Riley may have delayed signing the deal.

Such an act would receive the iron-fist treatment from Stem, because that meant Miami interfered with the Knicks' negotiations with Riley. The Heat deny all tampering accusations and say they're confident Stem will find no wrongdoing when he completes his investigation and makes his ruling August 3. Tampering can draw a $1-million penalty, but that's not what the Knicks are seeking. A million-dollar withdrawal is pennies to Heat Owner Micky Alison, whose family is worth billions, and it doesn't add anything to the Knicks' roster.

But interfering with contract negotiations is a more serious act. That's probably what the Knicks are trying to prove. They want compensation, and they prefer the denomination be in the form of a first-round pick (which may be a lottery pick, given the Heat's current condition) or, say, Billy Owens.

It would be the most effortless way to add to a roster without subtracting anything.

[Fafnir]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money.

not if there is a legit issue/concern.  if it turns out to be true, it would be well worth it.

He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

true, but if he has legitimate evidence suggesting the accusation, it is good he is following thru with this.

his team took an immense blow and he needs to not only focus on the team and rebuilding, but he has to appease the fan base.  in this instance, it is a smart move to generate support and appeasement from his fans.

Unless they can prove Riley contacted LeBron or his agent before FA they aren't going to get anywhere.

By all reports all of the contact was through Wade, and players can talk to each other all they want to.

I also question the timing of this story, it seems like Gilbert is just letting this out now as a PR move. Gilbert doesn't need to try and make LeBron look bad, that's been done for him already.

[guava_wrench]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money.

not if there is a legit issue/concern.  if it turns out to be true, it would be well worth it.

He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

true, but if he has legitimate evidence suggesting the accusation, it is good he is following thru with this.

his team took an immense blow and he needs to not only focus on the team and rebuilding, but he has to appease the fan base.  in this instance, it is a smart move to generate support and appeasement from his fans.

Unless they can prove Riley contacted LeBron or his agent before FA they aren't going to get anywhere.

That's why they are trying to prove it.

Riley using Wade as an intermediary would also be tampering. Of course, they have to find evidence that Wade wasn't just chatting randomly with his buddy.

[Fafnir]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money.

not if there is a legit issue/concern.  if it turns out to be true, it would be well worth it.

He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

true, but if he has legitimate evidence suggesting the accusation, it is good he is following thru with this.

his team took an immense blow and he needs to not only focus on the team and rebuilding, but he has to appease the fan base.  in this instance, it is a smart move to generate support and appeasement from his fans.

Unless they can prove Riley contacted LeBron or his agent before FA they aren't going to get anywhere.

That's why they are trying to prove it.

Riley using Wade as an intermediary would also be tampering. Of course, they have to find evidence that Wade wasn't just chatting randomly with his buddy.

So why not hire a firm during the summer? Why not come out about it then?

Instead it becomes a story when LeBron is about to come back to Cleveland to play for the first time? This screams of PR move.

Unless Wade and Riley were some how recorded plotting to convince LBJ to come to Miami there isn't much they can do. I mean Wade wanted LeBron to come to Miami to play with him, of course he did! Its proving that there was a "plot" that seems impossible to me.

[Celtics4ever]

Money isn't an issue for Gilbert, I think he is a casino owner.

[Eja117]

A waste of Dan Gilbert's time and money.

not if there is a legit issue/concern.  if it turns out to be true, it would be well worth it.

He needs to focus on rebuilding the current Cleveland Cavs.

true, but if he has legitimate evidence suggesting the accusation, it is good he is following thru with this.

his team took an immense blow and he needs to not only focus on the team and rebuilding, but he has to appease the fan base.  in this instance, it is a smart move to generate support and appeasement from his fans.

Unless they can prove Riley contacted LeBron or his agent before FA they aren't going to get anywhere.

That's why they are trying to prove it.

Riley using Wade as an intermediary would also be tampering. Of course, they have to find evidence that Wade wasn't just chatting randomly with his buddy.

So why not hire a firm during the summer? Why not come out about it then?

Instead it becomes a story when LeBron is about to come back to Cleveland to play for the first time? This screams of PR move.

Unless Wade and Riley were some how recorded plotting to convince LBJ to come to Miami there isn't much they can do. I mean Wade wanted LeBron to come to Miami to play with him, of course he did! Its proving that there was a "plot" that seems impossible to me.

The reason is because back then there was a decent chance Lebron could come back and if they started trying to make rules about who he could and couldn't talk to and under what circumstances before he had even made up his mind about what he might do it would be seen as overcontrolling and would have ticked off the Lebron camp and probably Lebron himself.  Lebron is involved in this. He probably broke the rules too. So Lebron's response at the time would have probably been "I can talk to my friends whenever I want to. I'm not your slave. The bond is broken. "
Plus the rules were already in place. Trying to enforce them as they are being broken is pretty tough.

I think some money is well worth the revenge here. 

[Eja117]

The Timberwolves got in trouble for this and lost like 4 draft picks I think and it was pretty devestating