The funny thing about pride is that it can be an unrelenting son of a bitch if it's powers of persuasion aren't closely monitored. Dan Gilbert's pride has gotten him/is getting him into more problematic situations than even the most drunken of erect dicks. First the letter that was littered with lies that were poorly disguised as pipe dreams, and now the cutting of ties with the one person most likely to do what's necessary to keep LeBron James in Cleveland? The owner of the Cavaliers is willingly letting his dumbass dignity become his downfall by preemptively pushing the best player in basketball off into West Coast sunset before he's even decided to do so on his own will. He's like the dude in 'She's Not In Your League' in the sense that he's setting the groundwork for a breakup because he's not confident enough in his own organization's ability to avoid another one in the near future. It's almost as if he's attempting to turn the likelihood of a second disastrous departure into a complete certainty so that he can confidently spend a full year crafting the next literary takedown of the man that finally brought him his long awaited championship. I'm far from a LeBron James' apologist, and usually I would roll my eyes at one of his passive aggressive subtweets, but his boss basically begged for this one...
Planning for life after LeBron while you still have LeBron is like sitting at home mourning the death of a loved one while that loved one is laid up in a hospital bed wondering when the fuck you are going to visit. It's going to hurt just as badly when they actually are gone so you might as well do everything possible to appease them while they are still with you. I can't imagine a billionaire is used to getting bent over the barrel by someone who is a subordinate (in theory much more than in practice) on a yearly basis, but if Dan Gilbert thinks he's doing his franchise any favors by tightening his sphincter in relation to next year's roster then he's got another (much more unforgiving) thing coming. If their future doesn't include LeBron James then there is no amount of assets that will keep it from becoming a barren basketball wasteland, so those assets might as well be spent frivolously in hopes of dethroning the Warriors. Another title could be the only thing that keeps the King's reign in Cleveland alive past next summer, and that reign - as up in the air as it might be - is much more valuable on the court and in the front office than whatever Dan Gilbert refused to pay David Griffin. This move reads like an admission of defeat, and the only thing worse than losing is quitting.
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