Woj on how it happened: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-lebron-james-forgave-cavs-owner-dan-gilbert-and-returned-to-cleveland-191445831.html
... Broussard and Windhorst just watching.
... Broussard and Windhorst just watching.
ifmanis5 said:Woj on how it happened: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-lebron-james-forgave-cavs-owner-dan-gilbert-and-returned-to-cleveland-191445831.html
... Broussard and Windhorst just watching.
For four years, the letter had come to define Dan Gilbert, and the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers wanted to wash away the shame and embarrassment and guilt of it all. So Sunday, Gilbert sat down with LeBron James and his inner-circle and tried to absolve himself of a most wretched moment in time.
"We had five great years together and one terrible night," Gilbert told James, and so started the process of reconciliation on Sunday night in Miami. "I told him how sorry I was, expressed regret for how that night went and how I let all the emotion and passion for situation carry me away. I told him I wish had never done it, that I wish I could take it back."
And soon, James told Gilbert that he wished he had never done "The Decision" on cable television and that they had made mistakes together, that they could move past it. From James and his agent Rich Paul and business manager Maverick Carter, the air of peace hung heavy in the South Florida air, the process of returning to Cleveland had begun in earnest. Soon, they had stopped talking about the past and talked about the possibility of a future together and for the first time – truly the first time – the possibility of reunification had become genuine.
"It was more comfortable than I actually thought it would be," Gilbert told Yahoo Sports on Friday afternoon. "They made it easy for me."
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert regretted writinghisinfamous letter criticizing LeBron James four years ago.
These had been Gilbert's first public words since agent Rich Paul called him moments before a public announcement, and said simply, "Dan, congratulations. LeBron's coming home."
Gilbert had flown down on his private jet on Sunday for the most important meeting of his billionaire business life. After obliterating James on the night of his departure for the Miami Heat four years ago, Gilbert had come back to make his pitch for the most improbable of partnerships: James and Gilbert, older and wiser, scarred in far different ways from sport's most spectacular falling-out.
James became branded by The Decision, and Gilbert became a hostage to his Letter. Only, James would win two titles in four years with the Heat, and winning washes everything away. Winning changes the story. The Cavaliers have lost a lot of games, made mistakes and then Gilbert started to understand something: For all his business genius, all his rebuilding of Detroit and charitable endeavors and everything he had done in his life, the letter had come to define him.
"Do a Google search on me, and it's the first thing that comes up," Gilbert told Yahoo Sports. "To a certain segment of society, it's like somebody killed somebody, like somebody killed their kid. I told LeBron, 'That letter didn't hurt anybody more than it hurt me.'
"For the first two months, I kept thousands of letters – not hundreds – thousands written to me. There were 90-year-old ladies and CEOs, and I realized that that letter had transcended the event, went far beyond LeBron. After a few months, I would re-read it and just be full of regret. That wasn't me, that wasn't who I am. I didn't mean most of the things I said in there. The venom it produced, from all sides … I wish … I wish I had never done it.
"I'm grateful that we all get another chance together now."
Three years ago, Gilbert says he "started to hear rumblings that this could be possible," that James had thoughts about someday making a return to the Cavaliers. "I went back and forth in my mind, thinking: Could this really happen? It was a volatile thing for years, and now that it's happened, I'm still in shock."
So Gilbert was on the plane on Sunday in Hollywood, FL.Gilbert couldn't stop talking about Paul and Carter, about how they were the conduits to make it all work again. "So professional with us through the whole process," Gilbert said. In the end, LeBron James wanted to come home, wanted to forgive, and there were these two figures, forever connected in history, sitting in Miami on Sunday and slowly, surely laying out a way it could all happen again.
LeBron James comes home a two-time champion, comes home with a chance to deliver something Dan Gilbert would've never imagined possible again: a chance for them to be champions together, a chance to wash away all the stain of a Scarlet Letter and The Decision, to get together older and wiser, and better understand how it can be made right again.
His cell phone buzzed on Friday afternoon, and Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, heard the words he could've never, ever imagined: LeBron's coming home.
And soon, James told Gilbert that he wished he had never done "The Decision" on cable television ...
And it comes like 5 minutes after he tweeted he would never say a bad word about LeBron James.rembrat said:
That's funny considering James makes more off the court than on it.
PBDWake said:Best thing I've seen all day was, surprisingly, on the espn comments
"Chris Bosh hasn't been this hurt since his mom died at the beginning of Land Before Time"
ElUno20 said:I love how lebron trolls right into the hearts cavs fans. Yeah you didnt earn any trips to the finals in miami. That wasnt hard work at all.
DrewDawg said:
Huh?
Somewhere in that essay he said Miami wasn't hard work?
Also, how the hell is he trolling Cleveland fans?
dcmissle said:Entirely consistent with going back absent an abject, debasing public apology by Gilbert.
Say what you want, but Gilbert's behavior 4 years ago would have burned bridges permanently with almost everyone. It takes wisdom, maturity and great judgment to return in these circumstances.
But that's the point. He's returning for the fans and community not this asshat of an owner.
dcmissle said:Entirely consistent with going back absent an abject, debasing public apology by Gilbert.
Say what you want, but Gilbert's behavior 4 years ago would have burned bridges permanently with almost everyone. It takes wisdom, maturity and great judgment to return in these circumstances.
But that's the point. He's returning for the fans and community not this asshat of an owner.
DrewDawg said:
Mid-80's Celtics never forget!!!!!
Also:
Dan Le Batard Show @LeBatardShow Follow
Good for LeBron. Hugely grateful for last four years. Even the last 10 days have been amazing fun. You won't hear a negative syllable here
12:35 PM - 11 Jul 2014
RedOctober3829 said:Dan LeBatard and his asshat co-hosts saying that LeBron is leaving to line his pockets with money and criticizing him for going back to Dan Gilbert.
Or it was bad PR management then (combined with some serious tone deafness of the player) and superb PR management now and we have no idea where LBJ is as a person. Leaving Miami for Cleveland is still self-serving. He's going to a better situation while rehabbing his image.Average Reds said:
"The Decision" was an orgy of tone deafness and self-involvement. What LeBron did today showed an astonishing degree of maturity.
He has made me do a 180 on him. I'm really astounded by it.
Per Bloomberg as reported on Yahoo finance.Average Reds said:
"The Decision" was an orgy of tone deafness and self-involvement. What LeBron did today showed an astonishing degree of maturity.
He has made me do a 180 on him. I'm really astounded by it.
Yup. His co hosts went off the rails.wade boggs chicken dinner said:
Huh? Are we talking about the same person here?
wutang112878 said:
But what is really most intriguing to me is seeing Kyrie, Lebron and Wiggins as your 1-3. Their combined athleticism is going to be something else
DannyDarwinism said:
Hindsight is 20/20, but even if he ends up more Larry Sanders than Dikembe Mutombo, how much better would Nerlens Noel fit the Cavs than Anthony Bennett?
amarshal2 said:Or it was bad PR management then (combined with some serious tone deafness of the player) and superb PR management now and we have no idea where LBJ is as a person. Leaving Miami for Cleveland is still self-serving. He's going to a better situation while rehabbing his image.
ivanvamp said:
I think the odds are pretty high that it will be Kyrie, LeBron, and Love as their top three players.
bosockboy said:Can the Cavs sign Pau with the MLE?
You sap. If he cared that much he would have stayed, right?JBill said:I know it's ridiculous, but the end of that letter almost made me tear up. Good for Cleveland.
Grin&MartyBarret said:Question: Does anybody know if Cleveland has to renounce Loul Deng to sign James? What's his status? If they can trade Wiggins for Love and the re-sign Deng, I think they're the favorites pretty instantaneously. However, I haven't heard anybody mention Deng as anything other than sign and trade bait. Not sure if that's because they assume Gilbert wont go that far into the tax, or if they have to renounce him. Anybody know?
Bailey10 said:I'm just shocked at the lack of "Return of the King" headlines I've seen so far. I thought that was so obvious.
"For the first two months, I kept thousands of letters – not hundreds – thousands written to me. There were 90-year-old ladies and CEOs, and I realized that that letter had transcended the event, went far beyond LeBron. After a few months, I would re-read it and just be full of regret. That wasn't me, that wasn't who I am. I didn't mean most of the things I said in there. The venom it produced, from all sides … I wish … I wish I had never done it.
"I'm grateful that we all get another chance together now."
ElcaballitoMVP said:
Wait, if Gilbert felt so bad about the letter, why was it on the Cavs website up until like 3 days ago?
If I understood it correctly, I think the link was taken down when the website was updated, but it remained on the server and was still accessible.ElcaballitoMVP said:
Wait, if Gilbert felt so bad about the letter, why was it on the Cavs website up until like 3 days ago?
TheRooster said:I'm not sure how rare it is. Magic, Bird and MJ all got their coaches fired.
LBJ was a democrat and he is dead.jose melendez said:Cleveland gets the Republican convention and LBJ within a week-- best week in Cleveland history?
Oh my. I needed that laugh.PBDWake said:Best thing I've seen all day was, surprisingly, on the espn comments
"Chris Bosh hasn't been this hurt since his mom died at the beginning of Land Before Time"
From my understanding Cleveland took it down years ago, the NBA still had it archived somewhere where it could be found.ElcaballitoMVP said:
Wait, if Gilbert felt so bad about the letter, why was it on the Cavs website up until like 3 days ago?
Laser Show said:If I understood it correctly, I think the link was taken down when the website was updated, but it remained on the server and was still accessible.
http://deadspin.com/the-cavaliers-finally-took-down-dan-gilberts-insane-com-1601145301/1601343360/+barryap
I would wager that the only thing about LeBron James that has changed since The Decision back in 2010 is that he now knows precisely what kind of horseshit sports fans and sportswriters want, and how to deliver that horseshit.
Sam Amico @SamAmicoFSO 14m
Cavs in talks with free agent center Chris "Birdman" Andersen, sources tell @FOXSportsOH.