We don't blame Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert for being disappointed that Ohio native LeBron James bolted his hometown team to sign with Miami. Let's be frank, Cleveland, for years a declining, rust-belt city that has been especially hard hit by the recession, doesn't have a lot going for it, and James skipping town certainly will not help.
According to some estimates, the bars, restaurants and hotels that surround Quicken Loans Arena are set to lose more than $40 million a year, not to mention the franchise itself, which had to lose 40, maybe 50 percent of its value on Thursday night. Furthermore, James' narcissistic decision to rub the city's nose in it on national television left a lot to be desired.
Still, Gilbert's rant after James announced he would sign with the Heat was perhaps the steepest decent into foolishness ever taken by an owner in any sport. Gilbert, whose letter was equal parts reactionary, calling his former star disloyal and "cowardly," and fantasy, claiming that Cleveland would win a championship before James and the Heat, inflicted irreparable harm to his reputation and forever called into question the viability of his franchise.
Even with James, big-time free agents were largely unwilling to move to Cleveland. Without him, and now that the owner has revealed himself to be deranged, no one will ever consider the Cavs. He would have, therefore, been well served mildly expressing his disappointment but ultimately wishing James the best, while at the same time promising to move forward.
Additionally, as much as the city doesn't want to hear it, James owed Gilbert and Cleveland very little -- not after seven years, two MVP awards and injecting life into an otherwise hideous franchise. Sure, it would have been a nice, heartwarming story had he stayed home and finished the job, winning a championship for the long suffering city. But James earned the right to be a free agent, and who could blame him for wanting to move on after spending his entire life in northeast Ohio?
A member of James' management team told ESPN's Chris Broussard that it's hard to live in a city that relies so much on one person for its identity, even if that person is you. That more than anything is probably the reason LeBron left Cleveland. Gilbert's reaction is the reason he'll never want to go back.
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