By attacking James in a personal way, Gilbert ceded the high ground. If he'd limited his statement to the promise of celebrating a championship before Miami, Gilbert would have emerged as a sympathetic figure because James had very few supporters (apart from Miami fans, obviously) who liked his decision or the way he announced it. Not only did he not personally inform the Cavaliers or their fans that he was leaving -- apparently because he didn't want to ruin the suspense of his shameful TV show -- but he also was viewed as walking away from the challenge of leading a team to the championship (his hometown team at that) in order to take the easier way out (as Charles Barkley, Orlando general manager Otis Smith and others saw it) by teaming with Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

A league insider who is African-American explained that Gilbert actually did James a favor by attacking him in a personal way.

"The players were all mad at LeBron," said this insider, a former player of enormous influence. "Nobody respects him for going after a championship like that. They want to beat him now more than ever.

"But when the owner acted the way he did, he was letting LeBron off the hook. Now the players feel like they have to come to LeBron's defense and back him up against Gilbert."

Sports Illustrated Column

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.