So, thankfully, the headlining acts of the 2010 NBA free-agent circus have exited the stage. 

As the media has run wild with LeBron’s “Decision” and the infamous follow-up letter from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, there’s even more news to report on that front.

Today, NBA Commissioner David Stern fined the Cavs $100,000 for the incendiary message to King James.  Stern said that while he defended Gilbert’s expression of disappointment for losing LeBron in the manner that he did – calling LeBron’s hour-long ESPN special “ill-conceived” - he felt that Gilbert’s comments were “a bit extreme.”

That was an understatement.  

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson chimed in yesterday with the following statement regarding the developments:

“He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Jackson said in a release from his Chicago-based civil-rights group. “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship — between business partners — and LeBron honored his contract.”

What does Stern think about this?

“However well-meaning Jesse may be in the premise on this one, he is, as he rarely is, mistaken,” Stern said. “And I would have told him so had he called me before he issued his statement, rather than this morning. But he is a good friend of the NBA and our players. Has worked arduously on many good causes and we work together in many matters.”

Check out the video from the Dan Patrick Show with guest Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock:

Whitlock states that everything in Gilbert’s letter was accurate.  Whitlock obviously wasn’t reading the same letter that was posted on the Cavs site.  The Cavs will not win a title before the Heat – that much is obvious.  And LeBron “King James” mantra wasn’t self-declared – it was the media that gave him that label among others (“The Chosen One”). 

Both Stern and Whitlock seem to conclude that there’s no element of a personal ownership mentality here, but one thing is for certain:  Gilbert’s intent was malicious and his frustration with the whole scenario was building.  And “The Decision” brought his anger to a crescendo.

First of all, his letter (and all of his statements issued on the Cavs’ team website) is comically written in Comic Sans font, giving the impression of it being written by a little kid.  But seriously, it all reminds me of what your parents tell you as a kid.  It’s OK to be angry, however, don’t let your emotions be harmful to other people.  And what he did to James was an attempt to publicly smear his image – which, by the way, he didn’t have to do.  James’ choice would inherently have its share of haters, but Gilbert’s letter was saturated with the highest level of unprofessionalism.

And besides that, the letter was posted to the Cavs website only minutes after “The Decision.”  This reveals that:

- Gilbert knew that James was more than likely a goner

- Gilbert was ready to type his letter the minute that LeBron confirmed his suspicions

Admitting that his feelings have been pent up for some time now basically let’s us know that he was eager to pull the trigger and trash James.

In some very real ways, Jackson’s analogy is on point.  Indeed, James slaved for the Cavaliers franchise for seven years…619 games…and his back is probably tired.  And yes, it was clearly visible during the series against the Boston Celtics in this year’s playoffs.

But if Gilbert thinks that James didn’t do his job, or fulfill what he said he would, all he needs to do is take a long, hard look in the mirror to find out what went wrong.