Not of the Celtics. No no, he wants his pound of flesh from LeBron James.
Dan Gilbert's Open Letter To Cavs Fans:
Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;
As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.
This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.
Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.
The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.
There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.
You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.
You have given so much and deserve so much more.
In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:
"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"
Now a few people have had some not very nice things to say about LeBron James.
Adrian Wojnarowski has had...many things to say about LeBron. Bill Simmons got in on the fun. But this...this takes the cake. I can't imagine everyone will agree with Dan Gilbert here. David Stern won't; LeBron's antics probably brought thousands of more people back to the NBA. People love drama like this, and hopefully for David Stern those people buy league pass, and t-shirts, and coffee mugs, and whatever other garbage the nba.com store can hock to the masses.
Other owners will probably find public displays of emotion like this unbecoming, like they have often done with Mark Cuban.
But this NBA fan for one finds the above letter refreshingly honest, and I respect the intention behind it. Sure, maybe Dan Gilbert is worried about losing seats in his arena, but for a city that doesn't win anything and has rivers that catch on fire, he wants to bring in a winner. I respect that.
Hat Tip to Celticsblog Forum member Mike-Dub.