"King" LeBron James Gives Cleveland Cavaliers the Royal Screw Job

It's the morning after LeBron James' decision and many believe basketball has changed forever.

But, respect should never go out of style.

People in South Florida are still dancing in the streets.  Getting LeBron James just to come to Miami has to already feel like they've won a championship—as close as you can feel to winning a championship in the offseason.

Not everyone is rejoicing.

Count Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert as one who is not breaking out the party favors.

Gilbert will easily be portrayed as a sore loser.

Was he right to feel betrayed? 

Was he right to call LeBron out? 

According to Gilbert, LeBron never returned one phone call or text message after the season.  He never even gave the only franchise he's ever known the courtesy of advanced warning.  (Excuse me, he gave them a one-minute warning.)

Why?

Well, because he's LeBron James.  He couldn't tell his former team and his former fans because he wanted to break the news on national television. 

Don't believe the man is the center of his own universe yet?

Consider how he acted in his last game in a Cavalier uniform, telling reporters he had "spoiled" people with his play over seven seasons.

It's another nightmare on top of a heaping pile of nightmares for Cleveland sports.  But one thing's for sure: LeBron will be more hated in Cleveland than Art Modell.

And that is one record no one believed LeBron could ever break.

Look, no one can blame LeBron for wanting to go to the team that gives him the best chance at winning championships.  No one can blame him for wanting to play with his good friends.  No one can blame him for deciding whatever he wanted to do with his ability to play basketball.

Yet, as LeBron has showed us in the days leading up to The Decision, he is a businessman.  He's showed the world that he's creating his own brand.  One of the major pitches the New York Knicks made to him was how they could make him a global enterprise.

Businessmen, good businessmen anyway, do not treat other businesses with such disrespect.  It's just not good business.

There was nothing respectful in how LeBron treated Cleveland.  If anything, he gave the impression they should just be grateful that he even graced them with his presence in the first place.

LeBron had the right to choose Miami, but he did it with utter classlessness.

Could you imagine Michael Jordan leaving Chicago on a national TV conference?  Larry Bird leaving the Celtics? 

Add in Dwayne Wade acting like he was seriously considering Chicago, and that only adds to the utter selfishness of the situation.

It seemed like the new sultans of South Florida were more concerned with making reality TV than they were with playing basketball.

Maybe the game is changing.  Maybe this business-of-one model is the new standard.

Yet, respect is something that should never be outdated.

Cleveland deserved at least that much.