King James Gospel
Fansided

California Dreaming: Why LA should be LeBron James’ last chapter

By Da'Reon Sevanell

Jun 12, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts after a basket against the Golden State Warriors during the first quarter in game five of the 2017 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 12, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts after a basket against the Golden State Warriors during the first quarter in game five of the 2017 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 22, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert during the game against the Detroit Pistons in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 22, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert during the game against the Detroit Pistons in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /

Dan Gilbert

Dan Gilbert is the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Dan Gilbert, the man who made a blaring statement by lowering the price of the LeBron James ‘Fathead’, manufactured by his company of the same name, from its usual retail price of $50- $100 to $17.41.

As a reminder, 1741 is the year the infamous US traitor Benedict Arnold was born. Ouch. Lest we forget, this is the same Dan Gilbert who penned that fabled open letter and kept it up on the Cleveland Cavaliers website for four years. LeBron donned the villain’s black hat during his time in Miami. 

Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers /

Cleveland Cavaliers

He moved from NBA’s favorite son to the most reviled athlete in North American sports overnight. The sentiments on full display in Gilbert’s letter had no small role in this. Keeping such a hateful letter up for so long after raw emotion had subsided, and insinuating similarities between Benedict and LeBron with his $17.41 ‘Fathead’ pricing may be a large window into Dan Gilbert’s overall management style.

Let’s face it, Dan Gilbert was extremely petty in his handling of LeBron exercising his free agent rights, does he really deserve having LeBron James play for him? LeBron proved himself to be the ’bigger man’ when he said in the Lee Jenkins LeBron: I’m coming back to Cleveland piece, “I’ve met with Dan face-to-face, man-to-man. We’ve talked it out. Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mistakes as well. Who am I to hold a grudge?”

If it is indeed true that LeBron does not harbor a grudge against Gilbert, he must really be a Cyborg as we have long suspected.

One year before LeBron is yet again set to become a free agent, Gilbert once again finds his actions being questioned and chastised in the public domain. Gilbert could not come to a contract agreement with David Griffin, the general manager who orchestrated the Cavs’ championship run. LeBron himself highlighted on Twitter just how important Griffin was to the team’s championship run.

https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/877006123357929472

This public statement parroted an earlier quote from LeBron in an ESPN article where he stated “It makes no sense why he shouldn’t get an extension. He’s pulled every move-he’s tried to make every move happen-to better this team to be able to compete for a championship. So we wouldn’t be in this position without the guys that are here-from the coaching staff to the players to Griff. He’s been a big piece of it.”

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Profound sentiments, yet Gilbert still allowed Griffin to walk.

The teams’ best player, the King of the Cavaliers himself publicly came to bat for the general manager who orchestrated the team’s championship run, even so, Dan Gilbert failed to come to an early agreement with Griffin, instead he allowed negotiations to drag out and eventually let him walk. That Gilbert did this should come as no surprise to anyone. Take note of the following tidbit from Windhorst and McMenamin of ESPN, “Gilbert has owned the team for 12 1/2 years and in that time he has yet to come to an agreement with any of the general managers in his employ on a contract extension”.

Is it that none of these GMs shared Gilbert’s vision for the franchise? It begs the question, what is Gilbert’s vision for the franchise? How pleased is Gilbert with having the NBA’s highest payroll? Is Gilbert confident that the Cavaliers can ever put together a team to beat the Warriors? Does Gilbert expect LeBron to leave? If Gilbert is tired of the payroll and expects LeBron to leave, then Griffin as GM surely didn’t make sense. Griffin would have continued to tweak the team while maintaining an expensive roster built around LeBron. That simply would not make financial sense.

Here’s a genuine, objective suggestion to LeBron James, give up the farce of being happy playing for a Dan Gilbert-owned team. There is no doubt that LeBron loves his Cavaliers fans and is honored to have played for them, however, he should get out when the opportunity presents itself and go play for other owners.