Good to see that Bryan Colangelo and Chris Grant, GM’s for the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers respectively, got past the idea of being shunned by their former superstars and did what was right for the future of the franchise. It must be painful to give Chris Bosh and LeBron James an extra year and extra money after the damage they’ve done by leaving, but getting a couple of first-round picks back in a sign-and-trade is better than getting nothing at all and letting them walk away for free.
I found it funny this whole time that people actually believed that the Raps and Cavs would allow them to walk away for free in order to spite them. And that’s why the normal person cannot do the job that they talk about all the time. When dealing with business and the dollars and cents aspect of sports, you have to be cerebral, sometimes soul-less and you must certainly avoid being emotional in your decision-making.
Now, people will quickly point to the letter written by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and say he’s showing a ton of emotion by writing such a scathing letter towards LeBron James. I agree that he’s showing emotion and letting his true feelings come out by lambasting James over and over again for his lack of loyalty, his egotistical ways and other things. However, there’s a method to the madness that ties in with the business of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Gilbert understands that LeBron James leaving the Cavaliers would be the worst thing to hit his franchise. The value of his franchise took a hit in the hundreds of millions with that one announcement on Thursday night. People will not be excited to see a LeBron-less Cavs team. Quicken Loans Arena, or the Q as it was dubbed, will not be filled every single game anymore. In short, with Lebron leaving, things look bleak and fans don’t have a reason to support the team anymore. Unless...
You take advantage of the emotions of Cavaliers fans. They’re riled up and they’re looking for the head of LeBron James. They also feel helpless because they realize that they can hate LeBron as much as they want, but it won’t change the fact that the team is weaker with him leaving. They need a new hero to look up to. They need a new person to help lead the cause, but they don’t have a player that can take on this role, so Gilbert has taken it upon himself to be that guy.
By showing his emotions, Gilbert has given Cavaliers fans a voice to show their displeasure, but has also kept the fanbase on his side. For every sentence in the letter which crushes LeBron James, there’s a sentence that doesn’t specifically ask, but asks the fans to keep buying tickets.
There’s no doubt that the two games against the Heat will be sell-outs, but by writing that letter, Gilbert gave his franchise a much better chance of having a couple more.
Will the Heat be a championship team? I’ll explore that...if you haven’t read it already...