Jesse Jackson/Dan Gilbert fiasco

[Money Inc.]

Alright for those of you who don't have a background on the whole LeBron James FA fiasco:

LeBron James met with six teams with three days (Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, LA Clippers, New York Knicks, and The New Jersey Nets)

According to all the reports out there, LeBron was not keeping in contact with his former team (Cavs) after their original meeting. It was said he was not answering calls and etc (He's 100% aloud to do this, some owners feel players should have an ethical code to let them know so they have time to go out and fill their spot...for example, if LBJ were to let the Cavs know a resigning with Cleveland was unlikely, Dan Gilbert would of had time to go spend money on different free agents with the money he would of spent on LeBron. Like I said he is 100% aloud to do this is just an unwritten rule.

LeBron James than signs a deal with ESPN to announce his decision live on prime time (all proceeds went to the Boys and Girls academy) LBJ than announces he will be taking his skills down to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.

The following day, Cavs owner Gilbert racks up 100k in fines with comments like "LeBron gave up in 3 games in the conference finals" "This organization will win a title before the "king" ever wins one" and many many more.

LeBron refused to go into detail on the situation and replied with "you get to see some peoples true colors when it hits the fan"

Well yesterday the case got more interesting when Rev. Jesse Jackson got involved and was quoted by the media saying:

"His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship, between business partners, and LeBron honored his contract"

Gilbert responded with the following:

"I strongly disagree with Rev. Jesse Jackson's recent comments and we are not going to engage in any related discussion on it. Going forward, we're very excited about the Cavaliers and the positive future of our region"

Now I'm almost 50/50 on this situation. I felt LeBron did fail the ethical unwritten rule of letting his owner he was leaning towards Miami when guys like Carlos Boozer and David Lee were still available. Also I feel LeBron did what was best for his family and Gilbert took his comments to far and made himself look like a hypocrite.

With that being said... What was your opinions on what Reverend Jackson had to say? Are the majority of sports owners guilty of this claim.. or what the Reverend exaggerating the situation at hand?

Feel free to respond with your opinions...

If you were LeBron James, would you of done thing different?

Does Dan Gilbert regret the long term affects of his comments. (Players saying that owner is a loose cannon)

Should Jesse Jackson get more involved or stay out of the owner/player negotiations?

These are just a couple starter questions to get a thread/debate started!

 

[Tenta]

Quite frankly, I look at the runaway slave comparison, and laugh. Yes, LeBron has it so bad off being paid a maximum salary to play in South Beach, and Dan Gilbert is playing to role of the nasty owner trying to keep the black man down.

But I think something Jackson did say was true: LeBron did honor his contract. After that, he owed absolutely nothing to the fans of Cleveland. Nothing. What, he's supposed to stay because he popped out of his mom's cooch in that area? I don't see it. LeBron never had any reason to stay in Cleveland, if he didn't feel like the Cavs didn't offer him a chance to win a championship. Simply put, they didn't offer him a chance to win the title, and he didn't want to stay. Gilbert rattling on about his lost player just kind of makes him look sad, and frankly, entitled. Oh, My player is going somewhere else. I'm so pissed. You see what I mean? LeBron didn't owe anything to anyone, and he wasn't anyone's property. He's a grown, conscious man capable of making decisions to better himself. So in a way, I side with Jackson on this.

Cleveland, face facts; LeBron didn't owe anything to you. Stop acting as though he did

 

[People's Champ]

First off, while LeBron did fulfill his contract, instead of making a spectacle of himself, he could have done the right thing and called or went in person to tell them that he was leaving. It made him look like a jerk. But yes he didn't have to do anything. And Gilbert looked like a fool with those comments, even though I kinda liked it.

All that said, Jackson is going waaaay overboard with this one. Really Gibert think in some sort of way that LeBron is his slave? Give me a break. While there has been racism all throughout sports, that doesn't mean every instance that invovles a black man and a white man disputing is because of racism. When I heard this I really did get irratated. I'm neither white or black, and when I see racist remarks I call them on it. But there was nothing racist about what Gilbert said. Was it stupid and childish? Was it someone who had sour grapes because he didn't get his star player back? Of course. But nothing racist and to agree with Jackson that it was is rediculous.

 

[Davi323]

The only reason LeBron was a Cav in the first place was because they so horrible without him they got lucky in the lottery draft. If the NBA lottery had gone any other way, LeBron wouldn't have been in Cleveland anyway. Dan Gilbert completely forgot about that...he seems to think LeBron was born in a Cavs jersey, rather than being drafted into one. Dan Gilbert is an idiot.

On the other hand, a master/slave comparison is ridiculous. Did Jesse Jackson call out any other owners who lost a player in free agency? No. Has a slave ever been as coveted or well paid? No. LeBron James leaving Cleveland was about WINNING an NBA title, and Dan Gilbert's reaction was that of an owner realizing he just lost the only reason for people to watch a Cavs game leave. He was pissed because his cash cow left. Slaves don't become free agents, they escape. For Jesse Jackson to attempt to connect the two is not only laughable, but it is deeply offensive. Jackson is nothing but a race baiter. Jesse Jackson is not an idiot. He is a fucking racist idiot.

Fuck 'em both.

 

[Platypus Palsy]

The comparison was ridiculous. If James was white, Jackson wouldn't have commented on this situation at all. There's no racism from Gilbert, and I'd say that the only racism here is Jackson himself. The only reason he's saying this is because Gilbert is white and James is black. If Gilbert was black or James was white this wouldn't have been brought up.

 

[Joe's Gonna Kill You]

I think that both Dan and Jackson are both wrong in the situation, Dan shouldn't have made the comments he did and he was subsequently fined 100,000 dollars by David Stern and I think Jackson is out of line for brining race in to this equation and saying that Dan was the equivalent to a slave owner.