Dan Gilbert, who I like to refer to as ‘Mr Comic Sans’, is quickly becoming the most disliked owner in American sports.
Whilst Al Davis used to ruffle feathers with his unrelenting, hard nose attitude amongst other traits, Gilbert has has based his nation wide distaste on his bitterness, his hypocrisies, nonsensical whinging and unconscionable ignorance.
His infamous letter to the fans of his Cavaliers following LeBron James’ departure last summer not only made him look extremely immature, but it was so stupid it managed to take focus off the monstrosity that was The Decision.
Since then there have been numerous other instances of Gilbert’s attempted revenge over his former superstar, including the FatHead debacle where the Cavs owner changed the price of LeBron James FatHeads to $17.41, the year Benedict Arnold was born.
Gilbert has attempted to make life as hard for LeBron James as possible from the very second he announced he was leaving his home town. Gilbert was one of the least cooperative owners during the lockout, preferring to have no season at all as to save money, avoid another season of complete failure and ensure LeBron James was not paid to play basketball.
Yes I honestly believe Gilbert was seriously attempting to ensure the lockout remained to get back at LeBron James. I know for a fact I am not the only one that thinks so.
Most recently, Gilbert intervened in the Hornets-Lakers-Rockets trade, attempting to stand up for small market teams and showing outrage over the Lakers acquiring Paul and saving $40 million in the process.
Whilst I found the Washington Generals line pretty funny and at times I have shared similar opinions, this is the very definition of hypocrisy.
Gilbert for years was fine with it being a superstar league, by wanting to entice other stars to Cleveland, wanting to keep his team and the rest of the rich teams rich and keep the poor poor. He was completely on the side of the Lakers, the Knicks and the rest of the teams that he believes are ruining the league.
LeBron James leaves and Gilbert embarks on a one man mission to ensure he and the big market teams that were after him suffer a lifetime of misery.
I do not wish to reflect on his much more than I already have because it makes me very angry and I don’t want this article to become any more personal than it needs to be.
Before you tell me I am bias towards LeBron, blah blah blah, I will say I am a Cavaliers fan. I didn’t like Dan Gilbert before LeBron James left and I certainly didn’t like him post The Decision. I never felt he knew what he was doing, I was constantly frustrated and disappointed in his lack of motivation in terms of trades and free agency and I got a bad vibe from him as a person. Turned out I was bang on the money.
Gilbert has done absolutely nothing in his tenure with the Cavaliers. Whilst he may have empowered a group of Cavaliers fans with his constant LeBron hating, they are not the kinds of people you want to be associated with. Gilbert lives in Connecticut so he can’t be too attached to his franchise. He had 7 years to give LeBron an adequate teammate in which to help him win a championship and convince him to stay and he failed miserably. He did a terrible job in running that team over the LeBron years, and the one season without him the Cavaliers broke the American professional sports record of consecutive losses with 26.
I think he cares more about hurting LeBron James than healing the Cleveland Cavaliers.
How sad.