My Reaction to Dan Gilbert's Infamous Letter

by Kevin L. Davis (@EsquireSports)

You may know that I'm not the biggest fan of some of Dan Gilbert's comments, but how can you read his letter and not believe that this is the most asinine statement ever.  If you haven't seen it I have included it here in its entirety.

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 (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 Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/news#ixzz1g2S1bkIx

First off let me say that I am not attacking Gilbert, he is a savvy businessman and passionate owner.  I respect that and wish that most other teams had an owner who were even half as involved with their teams as he seems to be with his.  

My criticism stems only from some of the statements he makes, including his latest comments which baffle me because of what has happened to the team he owns.  You would think that if anybody should understand how bad it hurts a franchise to lose a superstar for basically nothing in free agency it would be the Cavs. But here it seems that the man who owns that team has the nerve to claim that it would be better to keep Paul for this year just to let him walk and cripple the franchise? 

Makes no sense.