If Adam Silver (future commissioner of the NBA) would like to be successful and steer clear of any early troubles that may result in a negative legacy, just like the one that will soon be left by David Stern, I have one bit of advice for him.
Go to your computer, access our email account, highlight Dan Gilbert’s name, and next to his name click the option that reads: Mark as Spam. You do not want to get this man’s ideas, thoughts, notes, or feelings conveyed to you and influence the decisions you make in the same way it DID David Stern.
It is with that note that I now feel compelled to write my own letter to Mr. Dan Gilbert.
Dear Dan,
Can I call you Dan? I feel like I can use your first name since you feel that you can screw me (as a Laker fan). Why did you feel that it was your job to write to the commissioner describing how much of a “travesty” a trade was that was not involving you? How can you not see that all of the teams involved not only agreed to the trade but were getting a fair deal as well? I understand that this went against what you just spent five months fighting over but in case you were not aware, if untraded Chris Paul is leaving the Hornets at the end of this season. So for them to have received Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Lamar Odom (sixth man of the year 2010) in addition to guard Goran Dragic and a 2012 first-round pick, all for giving up a player that was going to leave anyway, was a great trade. This was not a Kwame Brown for a Pau Gasol transaction, for crying out loud, this was a fairly balanced trade.
It was because of your jealousy and pettiness that other owners spoke up feeling they could hide behind your sad email and petition Mr. Stern to veto the trade. Even though, the Hornets/Lakers (and I assume the Rockets) were in constant contact with the head offices of the NBA during every step of this process of negotiation. It was not until your email that there was a problem. How is it that you, in this age of social media, where not abreast of what was going on with this trade until everyone agreed to it? Hell, even I knew what was going on through my personal Facebook and Twitter account and I am the furthest person on the planet from an NBA team owner.
Don’t you think that if David Stern truly felt, the way he later came out and said he did, he would have told all teams involved to not waste time with the Hornets for they would rather keep Paul there because that is what is best for a small market team like the Hornets?! Of course he would have! But you had to send an email and infect his mind with this sense of disapproval from a group of owners (that funny enough later went back and tried to appeal their own appeal and allow the trade).
As soon as I read your letter to the commissioner I wondered how on earth would a situation like this cause someone to alert the authorities like a 3rd grade hall monitor of a wrong doing? It was then that it dawned on me, the reason you were so upset is because this did not happen to you when Lebron left. You hoped and prayed that the greatest thing that ever happened to the Cavs would stay around and show his devotion to you. But he did not. You did not have a trade come your way that would allow you to piece together the slightest bit of a contender if Lebron left. You thought you had a team that would still be relevant without Lebron but you were sorely mistaken. You went from a 61-21 record in 2009 to a 19-63 record in 2010.
As an avid basketball fan it is plain to see that this is the plan by which you operate your franchise, receive a #1 pick, and then hold on to them like a lifeboat at the end of the movie Titanic. The sad thing is that your franchise is the Titanic in the ocean of the NBA, and like the Cavs, no matter how many times you watch the film Titanic, they always sink at the end.
I am glad to know that your legacy, however good you may see it, will go down linked to this event. And just as I always remember David Green from my childhood years in school as the class “crybaby” I promise that as long as I am a basketball fan, I will always remember the name Dan Gilbert for the exact same reason.
Remember, women and children first Dan.
All the worst, Mike Anderson
Follow TFL#! on twitter, facebook & google+.