RealGM

Cleveland Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert has hired a high-powered law firm to conduct an extensive investigation into whether the Miami Heat violated league rules by having illicit contact with LeBron James before he became a free agent.

Gilbert has invested several hundred thousand dollars into building a case against the Heat, with the intent of submitting compelling evidence of tampering to the NBA league office.

A source said the Cavs are "determined to get everything out there. They’re not letting go of this. They’re not going to just let this die."


Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... z16vrGOuHL

Jul 9 LeBron James SF Signed as Free Agent by Cleveland (Six-year deal)
Jul 9 LeBron James SF Traded from Cleveland to Miami (for two future 1st-round picks)

Lapinski wrote:What I do think will happen, is if evidence is found, the NBA will say then why did you accept a sign and trade, for draft picks and the trade exception. "You reached an agreement which makes the tampering charge moot" is how Stern will come back.

I believe the trades were brokered about the time of an NBA governors meeting, with the trade and signs being proposed to all the parties to prevent any tampering charges in the future.

In essence since it was never a free agency transaction, but a sign and trade tampering doesn't effect it. The only hope for Gilbert would be to take this to an outside court showing he was coerced into agreeing to a sign and trade. He had expressed his freedom of speech about the "Decision" and was fined 100K for it. If could say he expected to have continued fines on him if he didn't accept the sign and trade.

tidho wrote:I think its a no brainer given the circumstantial evidence available publically.
...this isn't being done through the league though, makeing for a very interesting dynamic. He will go Al Davis on Stern's ass if he needs to.

Dekadez wrote:What circumstantial, publically available evidence? Lebron meeting with Wade or Riley will not cut it. They have to find records of them discussing the FA situation before the deadline.

I'm a Lebron fan, albeit not really a Heat fan, and if they DO find something, then justice needs to be served. I do believe, however, that finding clear evidence will be a huge task. I can't imagine Wade or Riley, or the Lebrentourage, being stupid enough to put anything incriminating on paper, or being this nonchalant to let others know what they, supposedly did.

I'm not doubting that Wade or Riley, when they met up, discussed the Free Agency, ofcourse they did. But this assumption won't be enough.

Ziggie97 wrote:The only thing this shows is that dan gilbert is a lier. He claimed he was over lebron leaving after 24 hours, but that was an obvious lie. Hes a hypocrite too, because he took a 15+ mill trade exception and draft pick from the heat so he should keep his mouth ****. Cleveland can go after carmelo this offseason because of that exception/

rjgraca wrote:^LOL--- Ziggie97 (Lebron's amateur marketing team). Prince Lebron is the original hypocrite talking about loyalty/ appreciation and showing none to CAV fans which gets him what he deserves in turn. If your business lost 100 million in value due to someones deception, you make sure they have to pay the price too. You are typically mixing apples with oranges to confuse the issue. The issue is while Lebron was under contract with the CAVs--- not when he was a free agent.

Exile23 wrote:

Ziggie97 wrote:The only thing this shows is that dan gilbert is a lier. He claimed he was over lebron leaving after 24 hours, but that was an obvious lie. Hes a hypocrite too, because he took a 15+ mill trade exception and draft pick from the heat so he should keep his mouth ****. Cleveland can go after carmelo this offseason because of that exception/

"I don't want to go ring-chasing. I want to stay with the Cavs and build a champion."

"I got a goal, and it's a huge goal, and that's to bring an NBA championship here to Cleveland, and I won't stop until I get it."