."
Gilbert denied that he gave across-the-board privileges to James or his friends. He admitted the team would allow James to review the travel itinerary, and that the Cavs would alter their plans -- staying an extra night in New York, for instance -- as he wished. Gilbert said they had begun to cut back on those allowances in the last year, though it's hard to know how they could have done so while they were trying to recruit James to re-sign in Cleveland.
"Family members were getting a couple of suite passes, it was that kind of thing -- but we did those things for all of the players," Gilbert said. "He really never did ask and go above and beyond for material things. We were 'enabling' -- not on that stuff -- but probably just on how he conducted himself and the respect level.
"I wish I'd brought the hammer out on that stuff earlier. Returning people's text messages -- whether it was the p.r. people or my own. Overall, he showed up to the key things, he was never late to practice. But in certain meetings he was kind of like the kid in the classroom looking at his BlackBerry."
Gilbert acknowledged that he was unable to reach James in the weeks before he left for Miami. He looks back on it and realizes as a new NBA owner that he didn't appreciate the need to establish firm guidelines from the beginning in his relationship with James.
"I asked [Bulls owner] Jerry Reinsdorf, 'Did certain things happen with Michael [Jordan]? Did he not return your calls?' " Gilbert said. "He said, 'No, that would never happen, never.' I did hear this was very unusual,'' Gilbert said of his inability to communicate with James
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ian_thomsen/07/12/dan.gilbert/index.html#ixzz0tfFM7BRN
