There was no need to fine that moron. The sheer embarrassment for that idiotic, juvenile tirade should be punishment enough. I still have a hard time believing an NBA owner wrote that crap.
Its about the common courtesy to tell the owner that has had your back for 7 years. Its fine if LeBron wants to leave...but leaving the Cavs in the dark about the situation was not the right thing to do. He should have been the first person on the phone with Gilbert, thanking him for his time in Cleveland and telling him that he's going to move on. LeBron played this whole thing out in almost the worst way possible.
I didn't hear the media pumping up the Stern interview for a day, giving him an hour long special for "The Reply".
He had no choice. He had to rally his customer base. A dry an unemotional public statement would have been salt in the wound. From a business standpoint, it was critical that Gilbert show the fans that he was just as angry and disgusted as they were.