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Cavs Owner Gilbert’s Rant Just a Hot Air Ball; NBA Commish David Stern Must Slap him Down

Open Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 07.10.2010/7:44AM

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If David Stern truly is commissioner of all the NBA – players, referees, coaches, front-office executives – then he has to give Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert the treatment he deserves.
Slap him down like a petulant infant, with harsh punishment.
Gilbert’s manic diatribe against LeBron James for leaving the Cavs to sign with the Miami Heat as a free agent epitomized conduct detrimental to the league.
Any fine that Stern has levied against Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for his behavior should be trebled – at least – against Gilbert.
I can’t think of anything worse than for an owner to claim his player “quit” in the playoffs, as Gilbert has charged James, or to call him a “traitor.”
There are no excuses for anyone’s behavior in the ESPN-anchored ego-fest that culminated in the announcement by James on Thursday night that he would sign with the Heat.
Everyone involved is culpable for its actions – ESPN for abandoning any shred of television-journalism principles, James for playing into it, the media for stoking the emotional fires for a full year, and, most of all, Gilbert.
There are perks and responsibilities that come with ownership. Chief among the responsibilities is leadership – keeping your head when others are losing theirs.
Dan Gilbert’s actions after James made his announcement were a cross between a baby who’d been stung by a wasp and one of Henry VIII’s wives.
Gilbert lost his head – and swung wildly at James. His statement posted on the Cavs’ website was raw, bitter emotion. He followed that up with more childish behavior in an interview with the Associated Press.
Quitter and traitor are harsh words, and Gilbert fired them at James.
And finally, Gilbert sank to amazingly low depths Friday when he put on sale the LeBron James posters for $17.41 The symbolism of the price is that the historical traitor Benedict Arnold was born in 1741.
Gilbert has become used to buying his way into a club with elite membership – owner of a sports franchise, with one of the world’s most famous sports celebrities, LeBron James. It’s heady stuff, no doubt.
When a man builds something, like the late Bill Davidson did with the Detroit Pistons and the Palace of Auburn Hills, he’s entitled to gloat a little. But Davidson didn’t gloat. He let the Pistons’ success – three NBA championships – speak for him.
Dan Gilbert is no Bill Davidson. Never will be.
Gilbert has built nothing in Cleveland. He bought his way into the club when on Jan. 3, 2005, he agreed to purchase the Cavs.
At the time, LeBron James was midway through his second season with the Cavs, and playing in an arena built under the watch of then-owner Gordon Gund.
Gilbert was lucky to be a guy who’d cashed in big as a mortgage lender and had enough dough to buy the franchise. (Those of you who might have been foreclosed on might wonder how much of your dough helped with the purchase price.)
Give Gilbert credit for this: the Cavs and James did not make the playoffs until the 2005-06 season, under his ownership.
And since then, they’ve won – Nothing!!!
Since Gilbert raised the issue of loyalty by calling James a traitor, I wonder what people in East Lansing thought when Gilbert tried to hire away Tom Izzo, their basketball coach.
Just business? Sure. Absolutely. And the fact that Gilbert is an MSU alum is only a small part of the equation.
And it’s also fair to wonder what casino owners in Gilbert’s home state of Michigan think about Gilbert entering the casino business in Ohio. Every coin and dollar that goes into the slots and gaming tables in Ohio realistically won’t go to the Michigan gaming empire.
And of course, in the economy that has turned much of the nation’s Midwest into a financial sink hole, I wonder how highly common folks regard the owner of mortgage empire.
Let’s do a special on ESPN on that one.
Better yet, put it on CNBC. It’s all about money.

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