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Dan Gilbert talks about how the Cavs made a "four-year payment" to be able to cash in this summer to bring LeBron James and Kevin Love to Cleveland.

(Marvin Fong / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The man who owns Quicken Loans hates to wait.

That makes sense.

Dan Gilbert's company is not called "Take Your Time Loans."

Nor is one of his other businesses -- the Horseshoe Casino -- a place where patience is preached.

"But without patience, we never would have been in position for LeBron (James) to come back," said Gilbert.

I talked to the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers for more than an hour recently at Quicken Loans Arena. Gilbert came across as grateful that so many things fell into place to allow James to return and revive his NBA franchise. He knows that his team had the NBA's worst record in the last four seasons, and that "it was extremely painful for the fans."

Gilbert paused, then said: "I look at the last four years as a payment for the next four to six years (when the Cavs begin to win again)."

At 52, Gilbert is a wiser man than the bold 43-year-old who bought the Cavs in March of 2005 -- and fired coach Paul Silas three weeks later.

And he has been humbled and embarrassed a bit by the 2010 letter where he ripped James after the star left for the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010. Among other things, Gilbert insisted the Cavs would win a title without James before James won a championship with the Heat.

Well, James went to the NBA Finals all four years in Miami -- winning two titles.

The Cavs had four of the worst years in franchise history.

That's why you'll hear no predictions about championships from Gilbert about this season, when the Cavs are favored to at least win the Eastern Conference.

"I don't want to come close to some of those stupid things that I wrote in that letter, the guarantees and everything," he said.

James also is making no promises about titles. He had his own regretful moments of predicting "Not one ... not two ... not three ... not four ..."

On and on it went, talking about how many titles the Heat would win when he joined them in 2010.

"I'll just say that unless we sustain some very bad injuries, it's hard to believe that we can't compete at a very high level," said Gilbert. "I feel the burden of responsibility to deliver to the fans."

GETTING A LITTLE LUCK

In the last two years, James gave clues that he was considering a return to Cleveland.

The Cavs had been dreaming about it for four years.

"The entire NBA knew in 2010 that the best player in the world could be a free agent in 2014," said Gilbert. "We weren't the only team positioning ourselves for the summer of 2014."

But few teams were able to pile up the draft picks -- thanks to some astute trades by Chris Grant, the former general manager. The Cavs also had healthy room on the salary cap.

And they got lucky.

"We won the lottery in 2013 and 2014," said Gilbert. "That gave us more assets (picks Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett)."

Meanwhile, the Cavs used their top picks from 2013 and 2014 -- Wiggins and Bennett -- as part of a trade package for Kevin Love.

So the drafts while James was gone produced All-Star Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters and Love for the current roster.

"If we had played our hand too soon and made some trades to get a little better a few years ago, we wouldn't be in this position today," said Gilbert. "But when you are going through all the losing, you don't know that."

THE WRONG COIN FLIP

Gilbert then mentioned how the Cavs and New Orleans finished with identical 21-45 records. There was a coin flip. The Cavs won it, and moved up to No. 3 in the lottery in terms of the most ping pong balls.

New Orleans was fourth.

"So we ended up with one more ping pong ball or whatever than New Orleans," said Gilbert. "But their ping pong ball came up at No. 1."

And the Hornets used that top draft pick on Anthony Davis, who has emerged as an All- Star forward.

THE HEAT'S MELTDOWN

The meltdown of the Miami Heat in last year's NBA Finals played into LeBron James' decision to leave.

The playoffs had a huge impact on the Cavs and James.

If Miami had won a third consecutive title, James said he would have signed on for a another season with the Heat.

Instead, Miami was wiped out in five games. San Antonio won the final three games by an average of 19 points. As the Cavs watched those games, they could see the frustration and disappointment on the face of James.

It was obvious to the basketball world that Miami had turned into an old team -- a team taken apart by an even older team from San Antonio.

The Cavs began to plan their pitch to James. Their roster is younger with more assets, such as lottery picks and salary cap room, than nearly any team in the league. James had never been comfortable living in Miami. It was common knowledge that he and his family preferred Northeast Ohio.

Now that the basketball situation in Miami was melting down, the Cavs became more hopeful of convincing James to come home -- if only he would meet with them.

HIRING DAVID BLATT

It was General Manager David Griffin who brought a unique coaching candidate to Gilbert.

That was David Blatt, who'd just won the Euroleague title for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

"Head coaching options are limited," said Gilbert. "You can hire an assistant (who has never been a head coach before). Or you can hire a guy who had perhaps limited success (as a head coach). Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers and guys like that are not available. They have jobs."

The Cavs major interviews were with candidates Alvin Gentry, Lionel Hollins, Mark Price, Tyronn Lue and Adrian Griffin.

Gilbert said the 55-year-old Blatt had "won 17 titles in 21 years" as a coach. Some of those are conference titles in Israel, Italy and Russia.

"He took Russia to a bronze medal (in 2012) when they weren't supposed to be anywhere near a medal," said Gilbert. "We talked to so many people who follow international basketball -- and who played for him. The ex-NBA guys who knew David loved him and thought he could coach in the league."

In the back of Gilbert's mind was the thought, "How would this impact a chance to bring back LeBron?"

Blatt was hired on June 20, 2014. So that was before the free agent period.

"We went with David because we thought he was the best guy," said Gilbert.

PAYING TYRONN LUE

Gilbert stressed how the Cavs have "the best coaching staff overall since I've been here."



The Cavs were very impressed with Tyronn Lue, a former NBA point guard and later an assistant working for Doc Rivers in Boston and with the L.A. Clippers. They nearly hired the 37-year-old.

"Most people think he's the next (assistant) to get a shot to be a head coach," said Gilbert. "We wanted Tyronn on the staff."

The Cavs gave him a $1.4 million contract to be Blatt's top assistant. That made Lue the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA.

"Some people made a big deal about that," said Gilbert. "Think about it. Teams have guys making $7 million sitting on the bench. We are paying some guys (former coach Mike Brown) not to coach. Who is more important? The first assistant or the 14th guy on the bench?"

Gilbert pointed out that Lue makes what is the veteran's minimum salary in the NBA -- $1.4 million.

He also has paid well for assistant Larry Drew, a former NBA head coach to join Blatt.

Lue also has a strong relationship with James and other veterans now on the Cavs roster.

"What's $1.4 million if a guy brings value?" asked Gilbert. "Getting David (Blatt) and Tyronn is a pipe dream, a massive win for us when it comes to putting together a coaching staff."

THE KYRIE IRVING MEETING

When Kyrie Irving signed his multi-year deal with the Cavs, it was a big step toward getting LeBron James to return.

Gilbert considers the signing of Kyrie Irving as one of the most important and most underrated moves of the off-season. I recounted the midnight meeting on July 1 in an earlier story.

The Cavs met with their point guard, Irving's agent and father on July 1, the first second that NBA rules allow teams to present contract extensions. Gilbert led a group consisting of fellow Cavs owner Nate Forbes, General Manager David Griffin, Coach David Blatt and assistant Tyronn Lue.

They rented a private room in the basement of a Manhattan restaurant, and they presented Irving with a five-year, $90 million extension -- the maximum contract for a player with three years of experience. It also was about $20 million more than anyone else could offer Irving, who was already under contract through 2014-15.

"We talked about our draft -- we had just picked Wiggins," said Gilbert. "We showed him our salary cap room and flexibility. We really didn't talk about LeBron, because we didn't know where that stood. We stressed the team was getting better."

Gilbert said Lue played a significant role, that the assistant coach "is a special dude, he really connects with people."

The Cavs weren't certain if Irving would sign. But they were very encouraged by his willingness to immediately meet with the team.

Within two hours, the star point guard and Gilbert shook hands on the deal that ties him to the Cavs until the summer of 2020.

"We went outside, and I told Kyrie that I wanted to tweet it out," said Gilbert.

Irving did the same, delivering the news of the extension on his own twitter account.

Gilbert added that it was the first big step to bring back James.

"From LeBron's standpoint, if a guy like Kyrie walks away -- that creates doubt," said Gilbert. "But Kyrie committed right away, and that's a major statement about his faith in us."

THE KITCHEN TABLE MEETING

Right after the July 1 meeting with Irving, Griffin and Gilbert reached out to Rich Paul, agent for James.

They spoke for several days, and realized that James did have an interest in coming back. But the 2010 ugly departure was something that had to be discussed. On July 6, Paul set up a meeting between James and Gilbert.

Only Gilbert represented the Cavs. James, Paul and Maverick Carter were there. Also present was Mark Termini, the chief negotiator for Paul. They talked at the kitchen table.

"It was surreal," said Gilbert. "It was like when you watch a movie, but you are watching yourself in it. But I was more comfortable than I thought I'd be. We all looked around and knew each other for a long time (going back to 2005). We just had to talk things through."

Gilbert apologized for writing the letter, admitting he was too emotional. James expressed some regrets about the ESPN Decision Show. The James camp was impressed that Gilbert came by himself and seemed very sincere in his apology.

"We spent about 20 minutes on the past, and more than two hours talking about the future," said Gilbert.

James wanted a maximum contract. No problem, the Cavs could create the salary cap space for that. They talked about the roster and how it could be improved.

James made no promises about when he'd make his decision -- or where he intended to play in 2014-15. It was between the Cavs and Miami, that much was clear.

"I came away feeling good about it," said Gilbert. "But he never said he'd come home."

THE DECISION BUNKER

The Cavs kept in touch with Rich Paul. They boldly made trades to clear even more salary cap room.

Paul was friendly, "but he made no promises," said Gilbert.

As time passed, the Cavs felt very good about their chances with James on some days -- and very worried at other times.

The Gilbert/James meeting ended late on July 6. And the days crawled by. On July 9, James met with Heat President Pat Riley. No promises were made, but the Cavs were nervous. Riley can be a very convincing salesman.

Dwyane Wade is one of James' best friends, and he was involved in recruiting James to stay with the Heat.

On July 10, the Cavs were in Las Vegas for the summer league. They had a meeting with Paul.

"Rich spent about two hours in our suite," said Gilbert. "But he kept everything so close to vest. I was almost interrogating him, wanting at least a hint about what they would do.

"He wouldn't show us any of their cards. He kept saying they were 'in the decision bunker.' So I tried to at least find out when they'd make the decision -- and he would not say when, either."

Gilbert then thought it could "go on a few more days."

But at 10 a.m. on July 11 -- about 12 hours after his meeting with Paul -- Gilbert's phone rang.

"LeBron's coming home," Paul told the Cavs owner.

Gilbert started to ask about how to announce it, and Paul said, "It will be on the Internet in about 30 seconds."

That's when James revealed his decision in a Sports Illustrated letter written with Lee Jenkins.

Right then, everything changed for the Cavs.

THE KEVIN LOVE DEAL

LeBron James was intrigued with the idea of playing alongside all-star power forward Kevin Love.

"We'd talked about Kevin for a long time," said Gilbert. "We could have traded for Kevin even if we hadn't signed LeBron. But then we probably would have had Kevin for only a year -- and we weren't going to make that move."

That's because Love can become a free agent in the summer of 2015.

But once James agreed to return, General Manager David Griffin became very serious about his talks with Minnesota -- a deal that sent Wiggins, Bennett and the No. 1 pick in 2015 to the Timberwolves for Love.

"Never once did LeBron or his people say, 'assure us you will get Kevin Love,'" said Gilbert. "He didn't come up in that first meeting (before James signed). Afterwards, we talked to LeBron about Love. We wanted Kevin, and we also wanted to hear what LeBron thought."

James was intrigued by the thought of playing with an All-Star power forward who averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds last season.

Gilbert said when word of the pending deal became public, "Virtually every basketball person that I met said we had to make it."

He added that one major college coach said: "If you don't make that trade, you are out of your mind. He came up to me in a steakhouse in Las Vegas. I had never met him before."

But his Twitter account and other social media indicated "at least 90 percent of the fans were against the deal."

Gilbert admitted that he liked Wiggins, "and he may turn out to be a great player ... I also think Bennett will be much better this season."

But then Gilbert asked fans to consider this: Now that you have watched the 26-year-old Love for a while, "Would you trade him for Wiggins, Bennett and the pick?"

He paused and smiled.

"How could you not make the trade for Kevin Love?" he asked.

Gilbert also knew that when you have James and a chance to add Kevin Love in a city where there has been no championship for any major sports franchise since 1964 -- you make that trade for Love.

What about Love's pending free agency?



"Kevin has said that he wants to stay here long term and we are taking him at his word," said Gilbert. "People still don't know how good Kevin Love is because he played in Minnesota ... you didn't see him much on TV. His passing, his knowledge of the game -- the stuff that doesn't show up in the stats -- he has so much going for him."

THE FANS LOYALTY

The Cavs sold out their season tickets within 10 hours after James announced his return.

The total was 12,000. They could have sold out the building of 20,000 -- but they kept tickets back for fans to buy.

While the NBA doesn't want teams to reveal their season ticket totals, it was about 5,000 last season.

The Cavs sold out the entire 2009-10 home season -- 41 dates. That was the last year for James.

From 2006-09, they averaged 35 sellouts a season.

In 2010-11, they had 25 sellouts. Fans had to re-up for season tickets before they knew where James would play that season.

In 2011-12, it dropped to three sellouts.

Even last season, the Cavs still averaged 17,329 fans -- ranking 16th in the NBA. Yes, those totals were helped by discounted tickets, friendly group sales, etc. But it's still remarkable that so many fans remained loyal to the team in the fourth year after James left.

"The fans have supported us so well in the last four years," said Gilbert. "They did it through all the losing and pain. It's overwhelming how they have stayed with us. It fuels us. It makes us so want to deliver for them. They deserve it."