Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert’s Letter to David Stern; Calls Chris Paul Trade a “Travesty”
Dan Gilbert
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was so pissed when he found out about the Lakers/Chris Paul deal, he apparently immediately fired off a strongly-worded letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern protesting the deal.
As our dude Dan Wetzel tweeted, “Dan Gilbert email to Stern is so angry you can practically hear the comic sans.”
Here it is in its entirety:
Commissioner,
It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.
This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.
Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.
I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasol who may become a max-salary player).
I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen.
I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.
When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?
Please advise….
Dan G.
Via Yahoo! Sports
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December 9th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Yooo says:
What a hoe. Gilbert is a big babyback Bitch
December 9th, 2011 at 9:54 am
SWAT says:
For once I agree with dude…
December 9th, 2011 at 9:55 am
@fallinup says:
This guy is ridiculous. Seriously.
December 9th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Willhold says:
WoW.. As a Clevelander, I just got over the Lebron stuff now this jack is messing up the league cause he is gonna lose to another team???!! Grow up!!! This guy NEEDS to be STOPPED. How can someone who has the first and fourth pick cry , when a team says” Lets make our team better and try to win a championship with all-stars.” As a fan I say let them try!!! For so many years we had the lakers, celtics and Bulls; (the latter having only two allstars) while the league had to think of how to beat them. The other teams were down, when did cry baby Multimillionaires decide that competitions wasn’t enough, now I gotta stop all trades that make other teams better. THIS HAS GOTTA STOP!! Stop Gilbert!!!
December 9th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Buckets says:
This guy is a D**k!! The NBA pretty much handed him the next CP3 in Irving and he is still complaining? He then drafted Tristan Thompson when he could have packaged the pick to traded up to get Derrick Williams. He should worry more about how bad he manages his own team instead of hating on trades.
December 9th, 2011 at 9:59 am
jjones says:
Now I see why Lebron wanted to leave Cleveland. The owner is such a cry baby. Man up and build your own dynasty, dont hate on the other owners that can.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Big Freeze says:
Dan makes some good points. He is still a bitch though.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:04 am
Buckets says:
Actually, Cavs could have easily walked away from the draft with Kemba AND Derrick Williams without any trades. Great PR, great prospects. Waive Baron and use the the $$ to get a wing and decent big and you are back in business. Cavs are retarded
December 9th, 2011 at 10:04 am
Mojo says:
He a hoe when he had Lebron he wasnt making statements like that. But since he wrote that letter to lebron and no free agents are going to come to his team he is going to hate on the next team. Just remember blowing out somebody lse’s candle doesn’t ake yours any brighter.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:13 am
jdizzle says:
What a biggity bitch…
December 9th, 2011 at 10:31 am
NTstateOFmind says:
i wont lie, this had me cracking up tho bc of its sarcasm/truth
“When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?”
December 9th, 2011 at 10:34 am
baloogawhales says:
biggity bitch forsure….all the guy does is write punkass letters instead of running a franchise.
like the previous posters said about their two lottery picks this year. they couldve gotten way better value then irving and tristan thompson. way to not think out of the box by automatically taking irving and not looking for other possible options.
gah how did this guy make his money when he seems like such a spineless whiney cunt. fuck him
December 9th, 2011 at 10:37 am
First & Foremost says:
LOL… He made some solid points in the letter but he also came off as a… girly-man.
He sounds like the person in monopoly that doesn’t get involved with trades. “You can’t trade Boardwalk with them because then they will trade the utilities, railroads, North Carolina & Illinois for Park Place giving them a monopoly. We all might as well quit now.”
Dude is just mad that Jamison, Boom Dizzle, & Verejao are his highest paid players.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Brown says:
Even though Gilbert is akin to a used tampon, he makes a valid argument.
The 29 owners opposed it because of financial reasons, not “basketball reasons”. Stern needs to fire his PR guy, who completely dropped the ball on this one, especially since the league just took a huge hit in the public’s eye because of the lockout.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:45 am
Fraz says:
I don’t like how Gilbert handled Lebron, but he’s right on this one. He should be pissed.
That said, CP3 on the Lake Show! Lets go!
December 9th, 2011 at 10:55 am
IGP says:
Does the NBA really not want any fans anymore? I mean come on.
And by the way, FUCK this guy.
And another by the way, who the fuck says “fluck?” Just say fuck.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:59 am
Chicagorilla says:
hahahaha
That’s Real $h!t by Danny boy. He is spitting the truth. Lakers fans don’t want to hear it, but everything he wrote in that letter is 100% on point.
Love the line about the Washington Generals. Classic!
December 9th, 2011 at 11:08 am
Chicagorilla says:
The greatest part about all this lockout/unfair trade stuff is the irony in it.
The top 1% (the billionaire NBA owners) are complaining about the same thing the occupy wallstreet protesters were complaining about. Yet they turned their nose up at the 99%ers lmfao.
Basically the NBA owners want the league to be run like a socialist society. Using the same socialist principals that they claim would ruin America.
hahahahahahpashdfpasudfpasufuadfuih!!! idiots.
It’s like the guy who frequents the strip club, raining $20 bills down on strippers and even getting topped off in the back room. But when their daughter says she’s going to do porn, they flip the fluck out.
December 9th, 2011 at 11:33 am
beiber newz says:
i scrolled down in search to see how much of chicagorilla’s potential comment was synonymous to nuthugging the cock-blocking-dan-gilbert. i knew he would have something to say along the lines of GOOD, GIL’S A MILLION % RIGHT AND a few hahahah’s were anticipated to be included. golden chicagorilla, golden yet predictable.
December 9th, 2011 at 11:38 am
First & Foremost says:
How cool would it be if he changed the team to the… Cleveland Rocks.
December 9th, 2011 at 11:44 am
wishuwould247 says:
He is such a Creampuff
December 9th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Dana Walker says:
I wonder if he had Truman Capote (his son) proofread his little letter. This guy could probably fill a book up with all the letters he has written and not sent out. Hey Gilbert, get back to the whole championship thing, you did promise that before the Heat and well, they seem to be faring quite well in accomplishing that. You, you thought trading for Baron Davis was a good idea and signing Anderson Var-ahole to a 55 million dollar deal was smart. Gilbert is a hater, and thats a tough job, he literally has to hate on every single team in the league aside from the Raptors and Bobcats. I would love to see a tourney set up with those three teams. I actually feel sorry for Jamison having to be on that team, considering he is 35, I dont think his golden years will be spent well unless they actually show some grace and mercifully waive him. That poor guy has gone from awful team to awful team, time to let him be a backup scorer on a good team like back in his Dallas days.
December 9th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
jat freeman says:
cleveland still has a basketball team i thought they folded when labron left. the cavs are pitiful labron carried them for years they should have made him part owner of the franchise
December 9th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
NYK says:
i can’t wait in a few years when Irving is forcing this dbag to trade him
December 9th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
stylez G.Write says:
I had no idea that the owners collectively could veto a potential trade……what kind of shit is that?If 3 owners and GMs agree to a trade,then that should be that,especially if no rules are being broken….
December 9th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Blk Caesar says:
Gilbert is ridiculous.. He’s only complaining bc he doesn’t have the pieces to make a play at Chris Paul.
December 9th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
dagwaller says:
Dime writers: Dan Gilbert spoke out against his best player, LeBron James, signing with another team on national television. Therefore, we don’t like him!
I do NOT understand what ya’ll have against him. Seemed like a perfectly rational response to me.
Moreover, his letter makes complete sense to me. I didn’t think this was a bad trade, but does Gilbert still have a right, as a citizen of the U.S. and an owner, to speak his mind? Yes? Then why the big deal?
December 9th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Franchise says:
^^^^^^Of course he has a right to speak his mind. its a free country. do we have the right to call him weak and point out that he’s a whiny biatch??? of course we do!!!
December 9th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Franchise says:
co-sign bieber news (weird name tho), ‘rilla’s a hater
December 9th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Franchise says:
ESPN’s J.A Adande said it; this NBA parity bullshit will on only be achieved when world peace is declared, the Isrealis and Palestinians are boys and therez no more poverty or sickness in the world. it aint gonna happen!!! Gilbert is one greedy mofo. just wants to make sure Lakers keep paying luxury tax
December 9th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
JAY says:
I agree with dag.
Essentially, Gilbert is part owner of NO. He simply voiced his opinion about a trade involving the team he partially owned. It’s no different than the Bobcats/Raptors trade last offseason that almost sent Jose Calderon to Charlotte for Tyson Chandler. The GMs agreed on the deal, but MJ came along and said “no way in hell are we making that trade.” I was upset as a Raptor fan, but that’s his team… his right. It’s the exact same thing with this trade. Owners are allowed to nix trades. It happens all the time. Get over it.
December 9th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
2 cents says:
@Jay – right on. One of the few comments made here with a bit of sensibility.
I cannot stand Gilbert as an owner, but he makes perfect sense with his argument. The whole point of this lock out was to create parity in the league, and yet the first block buster moves CP to a big team and frees them of luxury tax burden. Why would the other owners agree to this? Why would the league agree to this? Why should the fans be happy with this?
December 10th, 2011 at 12:01 am
BuzzerBeater says:
The thing is, as the owner of the Hornets, the league sure isn’t acting in the best interest for making Hornets a better team. But of course, they own the team and can do whatever they wish. However, the league also has the right to refuse any owner of taking over a team without the best intention, ie., Grizzlies were going to get bought by Walmart and move from Vancouver to St. Louis before the NBA said no.
So, does this mean that the league should fire themselves as owner of the Hornets?