The great debate: Pistons v. Gilbert

By Dan Nied [send email]

So Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wants Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown to run his team?

Great, knock yourself out Gilbert. Grab Larry and let him run loose signing players that play the right way and positioning your team for a championship.

But do not. Hear me? DO NOT FUCK WITH ANOTHER TEAM�S TITLE RUN.

That is the problem with the Gilbert/Brown secret meetings or non-meeting or text message conversations or homing pigeon correspondence or however it is that they communicated. It is not that Gilbert wants Brown to run the Cavs, it�s that Gilbert wants Brown to run the Cavs while Brown is still running the Pistons.

Not only is Brown still running the Pistons, but at the time of the talks, Brown was running the Pistons during the Eastern Conference Finals, when things were just starting to heat up in the their quest for a second straight NBA title.

If there isn�t an unwritten rule, then there should at least be a written one: You do not fuck with another team�s title chances. Even if the Pistons gave Gilbert permission to talk with Brown, who said he would accept the job only if he is not healthy enough to coach in Detroit next season, Gilbert never should have asked.

It does not matter where Cleveland falls on the personnel tree. It doesn�t matter if they would lose out on Brown to the Lakers, Knicks, Bucks, Hawks or Long Beach Community College. When a team has a legitimate shot at an NBA title, you do not pilfer its parts. Without permission, that is called tampering. With permission, it is called being a real dick.

Most Pistons fans will say that they never expected Brown to stay for more than two seasons. The writing was on the wall for Brown�s departure earlier this season when he had to miss time for a bladder operation. Whether he would retire or go to another team after this season was inconsequential. The Pistons have put themselves in position to hire any coach they want (Yes, smart money is on Phil Jackson sending the Pistons his resume if Brown departs). So Brown leaving isn�t the problem. The problem is that Gilbert, whose mortgage loans company Rock Financial is the prime sponsor of the Pistons, started snooping around a team trying to win a title.

Luckily the Pistons� players aren�t prone to distractions, so this has been pretty much a non-issue for them. But as they suit up tonight to take on the Heat in a do-or-die Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, they will have to deal with the idea that this could be their last game with their coach. Most likely it won�t matter much. However it isn�t something a team needs when it�s sights should be set on the NBA title.

Still, nothing about this is surprising. So far Gilbert has shown all the arrogance of George Steinbrenner with none of the savvy. Gilbert took the Cavs over at midseason when they were all but locked into decent playoff position. He then fired coach Paul Silas and made it no secret that general manager Jim Paxon was gone at the end of the year. Meanwhile the team floundered without Silas and rumors persisted that second-year superstar LeBron James could be headed to a different team in the near future. In the end, the Cavs sunk out of the playoffs and into the lottery, a fitting finish for a total douchebag of an owner.

After the season ended Gilbert cleaned house and apparently decided he wanted to emulate the success of his hometown Pistons. So he threw ethics and respect aside and tried to sabotage Detroit�s playoff run.

Luckily for Detroit, Gilbert�s meddling did not work. If they lose tonight it will be because the Heat are a better team, not because they were too busy looking over their shoulders for Gilbert.

But still, this has to be said about Cleveland�s new owner: He�s a complete dick.

By Erik Cassano
210 west Writer [send email]

When you talk about the prospects of Larry Brown becoming the new president of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the focus almost immediately shifts back to owner Dan Gilbert.

Gilbert is the central figure in what has become a controversy between Detroit, where Brown is currently the head coach of the defending champion Pistons, and Cleveland, the place trying ever-more-desperately to keep LeBron James happy and in a Cavaliers uniform.

Gilbert is a Detroit-area resident. The Pistons were his boyhood team. When he formally bought the Cavaliers earlier this year, it was natural he was going to look at the Pistons, on the league's summit, as the template for what he wanted to create in Cleveland.

When the Cavs flamed out and failed to reach the postseason for the seventh straight year, his resolve to tap into the Detroit mojo apparently strengthened.

It has strengthened to the point where Gilbert doesn't seem to mind stealing some of the Pistons' thunder even as they are still alive in the playoffs. The Pistons weren't even done with the Eastern Conference when it already appeared Gilbert and Brown had extensive direct or indirect contact behind the scenes.

Gilbert is being rather cavalier (pardon the pun) in his pursuit of Brown, and some in Detroit have taken issue with Gilbert's intrusion on Detroit's title defense. Gilbert's timing could pay off for the Cavs, or it could blow up in his face if Brown decides he wants to keep coaching.

Gilbert might look at it as a case of "you snooze, you lose."� If Gilbert really wants Brown, he can't stand by and wait for Detroit's season to end. The Knicks or Lakers could make the first move for Brown if Gilbert waited.

If you are from Cleveland, and have watched the sometimes wishy-washy tactics of the previous Cavs regime, you must appreciate Gilbert's initiative, even if he's stepping on Detroit's toes in the process.

There might be other motives in addition to timing. The fact that Gilbert is from Detroit is also at work. Many of Gilbert's friends and family probably also call the Detroit area home, and Gilbert probably wants to show them he can be a success as an NBA owner like he has been a success at Internet loans.

Is this in-season play for Brown a blatant attempt by Gilbert to swoop in, make both Detroit and Cleveland sit up and take notice, impress some Detroit-area friends and relatives, and weaken the now arch-rival Pistons in the process? You'd better believe it.

Is Gilbert playing with fire, ticking off a class organization to try and get his foot in the door of a basketball man who changes jobs on a whim? You'd better believe that too.

Fire welds magnificent structures. It also burns bridges.

With less than four months on the job, it's already apparent Gilbert is someone who will never inspire indifference. We already know people who are developing a strong dislike for him (Detroit fans, Stephen A. Smith of ESPN). It's up to Gilbert to get an army of Clevelanders to back him up when the pundits and Pistons fans accuse him of meddling and backstabbing. That will only be accomplished by winning and more winning.

That's the crux of the Larry Brown saga from the shores of Cleveland. A play for power. A move to impress. Something to make the league sit up and take notice. A calculated risk. Nail-biting, but also a refreshing dose of aggressiveness from an organization that has been way too passive in recent years.