by Dan Gilbert went on to tell Adrian Wojnarowski, “”Do a Google search on me, and it’s the first thing that comes up. To a certain segment of society, it’s like somebody killed somebody, like somebody killed their kid. I told LeBron, ‘That letter didn’t hurt anybody more than it hurt me.’
For the first two months, I kept thousands of letters – not hundreds – thousands written to me. There were 90-year-old ladies and CEOs, and I realized that that letter had transcended the event, went far beyond LeBron. After a few months, I would re-read it and just be full of regret. That wasn’t me, that wasn’t who I am. I didn’t mean most of the things I said in there. The venom it produced, from all sides … I wish … I wish I had never done it.”
For Gilbert to come out and admit this showed true class and the fact that even a billionaire can admit a mistake. It is a lesson that all of America could learn from. The peace achieved between James and Gilbert proves that no problem between two people is too big to be overcome. Two men with all the fame and money in the world, seeking forgiveness from each other in search of peace, it is a message that can bring tears to the eyes of grown men.
So the week of madness began early Monday morning with most reporters both locally confirming that it was Dan Gilbert’s private jet that flew down to meet with LeBron. The drama would not move from South Beach to Las Vegas as James Skill Camp was about to begin. Some of the top amateur athletes in the world assembled upon Vegas for James camp. As that was going on, every media outlet in the world was their way to try and squeeze any clue possible out of LeBron to try and figure out where he was going. The national guys were slowly cracking and giving Cleveland at least a punchers chance to get the King back.
Twitter was on fire as local Cleveland basketball reporter Sam Amico picked up over 25,000 extra followers in a matter of hours as everybody was desperate for information. People started to hang on every tweet from anyone in the know. It got to the point that every sports radio show in Miami and Cleveland turned into 100% LeBron coverage. Everyone had a theory and a source, and the frenzy reached a level even greater than 2010.
Chris Bosh was offered a 4 year 88 million dollar deal with the Houston Rockets, but refused to give them an answer because he wanted to see what his teammate and friend LeBron James would do first. It was unprecedented to hear of an athlete putting that kind of money on hold because he was too hung up on what someone else was going to do.
Carmelo Anthony was being recruited heavily by both the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, but even the hype behind Anthony paled in comparison to the insane amount of press and extremely personal coverage LeBron was getting. It got to the point that every single move of James was being reported on Twitter. The hype was real and the pulse of Cleveland was raging and the fans stayed up all night in anticipation of an announcement coming at any second. It was to the point that even national media member such as Chris Broussard, Chris Sheridan and Steve A Silas started to believe and report that Cleveland was a serious contender.
The Cavaliers continued to apply the pressure and show James they were for real when they pulled off a trade with the Nets and Celtics that cleared up over 20 million in cap room. They dealt Tyler Zeller, Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev as part of the move. The cap room was made to bring in LeBron James and have the means to sign him to a max contract. Although James never gave Gilbert the promise he was coming back, this was a bold move by Gilbert to show James they were serious.
Pat Riley sensed that James and his dream team were slipping away and called for an emergency meeting in Las Vegas at LeBrons camp on Wednesday July 9 to meet with James and try to talk him into to re-signing with the Heat. Riley pitched James hard on the idea that despite only having two returning players on the roster, the Heat had the funds available to bring James back with a max contract and still be able to sign Bosh and Wade for smaller deals giving them access to bring in other talent around him.
Riley had picked up Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts in free agency already, planned on signing Bosh and Wade and had already drafted James favorite college point guard Shabazz Napier from the National Champion UCONN Huskies. This was crucial because James made it known during the NCAA tournament that he had a special liking to Napier, calling him the best player in the tournament. It was seen as a move strictly to appeal James, and if he wasn’t on the team the Heat would have picked someone else.
Riley left Vegas on that fateful Wednesday night, cocky as ever, but without a deal in place. Riley would never admit it, but he had to be nervous! He gave his best pitch to James and it wasn’t enough to get him to sign. As much as everyone thought that James would make his decision known shortly after the meeting with Riley, he did not. The newest rumor was that James would make it on his website sometime the next day after speaking with his family.
As Thursday morning July 10th began, the sports world stood still as we all still waited on word from the King with his next move. Word broke out that someone in James camp asked the Bath Township police department to surround his house between the hours of 3pm – 11pm. Another rumor quickly broke out that he would make his decision known at 3:30 pm, which only fueled the excitement because 330 is the area code for Akron.
People knew of James love of Akron, even having a tattoo of “330”. Like most of the rumors and so called sources, this one turned out to be false as well. It didn’t stop fans from swarming to his house and waiting outside of the gates seemingly ready to erupt with jubilation at a moments notice. At one point, a couple of high school girls set up a lemonade stand, also serving ice cream. Random people were parking in the middle of the street, getting out of their cars and doing selfies. It was nuts, and yet, the wait dragged on.
The host of The Sports Fix on I – Heart Radio, Jerry Mires gives his thoughts on the odds of LeBron coming home at that time, “I’d say 25% of it goes to wanting to come back home and at least 50% of it is because of his wife. He can’t fix his stupid national legacy. Nobody will give him the respect that his statistics would seem to deserve because the blemish was the proof.
LeBron screwed himself by leaving and I get why he left, but all he had to do on the first day of free agency was inform the Cavs that he was not coming back and let them know they needed to move on without him while they still had time. He could have still done everything else the same, but he could have left Cleveland off the hook which what I think most people were upset about. For everyone who wants to paint this happy LeBron goes home fairytale, I guarantee you that if Wade was healthier and the salary cap in Miami wasn’t messed up, this would have never even been discussed.”
Evening turned into night and the decision wasn’t made. LeBron had wrapped up his skills camp in Vegas and was headed back to Miami. He was spotted with Wade on his trip back and many felt this may have been the kiss of death for Cleveland. It was later revealed that Wade still didn’t know of LeBrons decision at that point. Everyone went to bed late Thursday night / Friday morning still not knowing.
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