When newly minted NBA free agent LeBron James went on national television to announce he was abandoning his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers -- who had drafted him out of high school in 2003 -- to instead play with his friends on the Miami Heat, the value of the scorned franchise instantly fell $86 million to the new estimated worth of $390 million, according to a calculation by Forbes.com (link).

Dan Gilbert, the founder of Livonia-based Quicken Loans/Rock Financial, was the lead investor on the $375 million purchase of the Cavaliers in 2005 from Gordon Gund. Forbes estimated the team was worth $356 million that year.

When James said on his staged hour-long (and tremendously criticized) ESPN special that he was "taking his talents to South Beach," the Heat increased in value overnight by $46 million, to $410 million from $364 million. The Miami franchise is owned by Micky Arison, CEO of mega-cruise line Carnival Corp. Forbes ranks him at the 56th richest American at $4.3 billion.

Gilbert is not on the list.

Dan Gilbert, founder of Livonia-based Quicken Loans/Rock Financial and majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, apparently won't ask the National Basketball Association to investigate the circumstances behind star LeBron James' decision Thursday to depart as a free agent for the Miami Heat, ESPN is reporting.

James staged an hour-long ESPN special Thursday to tell the world that he's leaving his hometown Cavs after seven years to join friends Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The method of his announcement, and Gilbert's subsequent angry public letter about it, have drawn scathing criticism across the spectrum.

"NBA commissioner David Stern said Sunday that the league would investigate the Heat's signings of James and Bosh for any illegal negotiating or planning before free agency officially started if the Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors make that request," ESPN reports here. Bosh left the Raptors for Miami several days before James announced his decision.

Bosh and others have publicly discussed meetings as far back as 2006 for the three players, who all were drafted in the first round in 2003, to orchestrate playing together. James, who became a free agent on July 1, entertained delegations from seven teams bidding on his services. He's become one of the league's most dominant players and is a two time NBA MVP, but didn't win a championship in Cleveland.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is quoted by ESPN as calling for a probe regardless if Cleveland or Toronto ask for one. It's illegal for teams to interfere with players under contract by seeking to offer them future deals. Whether meetings among individual players to discuss such plans is a violation isn't clear.

It's unclear if the Cavaliers could make a tortious interference claim. An e-mail message was left for Cleveland's media relations staff. ESPN reports that Gilbert wants to move on from the James situation.

Gilbert was the majority investor on the $375 million purchase of the Cavs in 2005. The $476 million value of the franchise estimated by Forbes is expected to drop by $100 million or more. He vowed in his open letter to do whatever possible to win a championship, and promised to do so before James and the Heat do.

It also was reported that the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Gilbert's letter represents a "slave master mentality." (link)

UPDATE: Mount St. Gilbert cools down and has a long, calm chat with Sports Illustrated, explaining a lot of interesting stuff. (link) He thought James was going to sign until the last minute. He also said James wouldn't return his texts, etc., nor those of the PR staff. He also doesn't back off his criticisms or his championship promise.

And Yahoo NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski blasts both Gilbert and James here. Wojnarowski has been the most outspoken and vitriolic of the national writers on this story.

I don't know where Dan Gilbert is tonight, and I've never met him, but I feel closer to him right now than I ever have. Or ever will. He and I both took a boot to the gut about 20 minutes ago.

Sadly, we both knew it was coming, like we're tied to the railroad tracks and can see the locomotive approaching. Knowing didn't lessen the blow much. Me, I prepared for the announcement of all-galactic superstar LeBron James leaving Cleveland (my hometown) for Miami tonight by taking a medicinal nip of Wild Turkey while on my couch. That softened the bitter shock -- another in a long line of them over the past 36 years -- slightly. And it made watching the shabby, sleazy and squalid spectacle staged by LeBron and his handlers tonight, in collusion with the waterheads at ESPN, fractionally more tolerable without hurling a bottle at the television.

What Gilbert is doing tonight is anyone's guess. Possibly a swan dive from atop Quicken Loans Arena. Or maybe he's squirreled away in some dank office somewhere, plotting in the best Richelieu-Machiavelli style his next move to salvage the value of his franchise. Or maybe he's hurling bottles (probably something nicer than rotgut Kentucky bourbon) and who can blame him? Police in Northeast Ohio have been preparing for violence since this morning. The urge to smash something is visceral, but it's passing.

(UPDATE: Gilbert issued this letter on the Cavs' website tonight. It's a stunning, angry missive and minces no words and promises that Cleveland will win an NBA title before LeBron's Heat does).

Gilbert was the lead and majority investor on the $375 million purchase of the Cavs in 2005. Forbes said not too long ago that the team is worth $476 million.

Tonight, it's worth a whole lot less. How much less remains to be seen. Some say as much as $250 million less. Most think it won't be that bad, but it's not going to be good. It's like Gilbert's personal Black Thursday on the stock market. I don't know how much of that $375 million was Gilbert's, but it's possible that his personal investment evaporated tonight. If this was Vegas in the '50s, LeBron would be waking up tomorrow in cement shoes underneath Hoover Dam. But it's 2010 and we're civilized men, and this is just a game, right? Bread and circuses. Very, very expensive bread and circuses.

Will the plunging value of the Cavaliers affect Gilbert's business in Michigan? Too soon to say. He's spending far bigger dollars on his Ohio casino ventures, which will make him money long after LeBron is enjoying retirement pinochle card games with Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot at the Home For Aged Quislings.

Any thought of Gilbert selling the Cavs and using the proceeds, along with his riches from Quicken Loans/Rock Financial, to buy the Detroit Pistons probably disappeared the moment LeBron said he was taking his talents to South Beach (to play caddy to Dwyane Wade and party with the Jersey Shore crowd, IMHO).

What could make matters worse for people like me (as if that matters to him, LeBron or anyone else)? Gilbert could announce that he's moving the Cavaliers to Baltimore ... but even that wouldn't top Art Modell's 1995 betrayal and relocation of the Cleveland Browns, who always will be first in Cleveland's heart.

And at least Gilbert is no Ted Stepien.

I'm not sure Detroit has experienced anything like this. Or any other city, at least not on such a global scale. James went on national television to stab his home in the back in what amounted to a weird, self-absorbed infomercial that should embarrass everyone involved, but likely won't. That's a first in pro sports. Hope it's a last.

The media backlash has been staggering. A good example comes from Michael Rosenberg, the Freep columnist who also writes for Sports Illustrated (link). It's brutal.

So LeBron is off to Florida, joining the annual migration of Ohio snowbirds and mercenary basketball players and their insufferable egomaniacal narcissism -- the one thing that James truly is the king of. Me, I will never watch another NBA game without being paid to do so. Ever. I am done with this silly and useless league. If the NBA shut down for good tomorrow, no one would miss it in a year.

I plan to stage a ceremonial burning of my LeBron sweatshirt. Expect Dan Gilbert to do much the same, but in the form of 80-percent off merch sales of No. 23 paraphernalia.

By the time LeBron James brings his tiresome, self-absorbed medicine show to ESPN tonight, the roll call of winners and losers is going to be clear:

~ Dan Gilbert: By some estimates, the Detroit online mortgage mogul and Cleveland Cavaliers owner could see the value of his franchise drop by $250 million in a matter of seconds -- if James opts to leave (link). Forbes values the team now at $476 million. Gilbert led a consortium of investors in paying $375 million for the team in 2005, and he's busy planning a new downtown Cleveland casino near the Cavaliers' arena. If fewer people are coming to Cleveland 41 nights a year because LeBron is elsewhere and the Cavs are back to their old losing ways, Gilbert will be stuck. He won't be able to get his money back in a sale, and his casino might not be as lucrative (although he's still going to be swimming in cash, a la Scrooge McDuck in piles of gold coins). The Cavs also will lose a ton of money from merchandise sales. There's not much of a market for Jamario Moon jerseys and bobbleheads.

~ World Wide Wes: Never heard of him? You're not alone, but the West Bloomfield resident's name is cropping up more and more in mainstream stories. No one is quite sure what William Wesley does, but he's considered by some to be the most powerful man in pro sports. He's clearly a kingmaker, fixer and power broker, especially in the NBA and college basketball, because of the two decades-plus he's spent forging relationships. He's connected to Michael Jordan, the Clintons and major college coaches and programs, and he was a player in the James drama. But in the last week or two LeBron's tightly-knit cadre of advisors, managers and handlers elbowed World Wide Wes aside. WWW was telling people James would end up in Chicago, and that wasn't going over well with some in The King's privy council. GQ did a story on Wesley a couple years ago that's the best piece I've seen on him (link). The New York Times profiled him, too (link). He's close to the Pistons' Rip Hamilton and was involved in that Pistons-Indiana Pacers brawl a few years ago at the Palace. This guy is everywhere, but does getting the fish-eye/freeze-out treatment from LeBron's people tarnish him?

~ ESPN: The backlash at the sports network for agreeing to host James' variety hour tonight was quick and spectacular. Pundits were weighing in with the invective from all over the map. Here are some of the better critiques: L.A. Times (link), NY Times (link) and USA Today (link).

~ LeBron: He's taken a tremendous pounding for basically having the biggest ego in a league filled with grossly narcissistic man-children. Even staid BusinessWeek piled on, lambasting James and his "insatiable desire for attention" (link). And the last time I checked, Cleveland hasn't won a pro sports championship of any sort since the Browns beat the Baltimore Colts 27-0 on Dec. 27, 1964. That's 45 years, six months and 11 days. LeBron is called The King, but of what?

Cleveland was a third-tier team wallowing in the NBA's low-rent district, a Siberian wasteland for free agents. James arrived directly out of nearby St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in 2003 and instantly resurrected the moribund franchise. And because he's from Akron, he's beloved by Northeast Ohio to a degree rarely seen in professional sports. Perhaps only former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, who grew up near Cleveland and manipulated the NFL draft to ensure he ended up with his boyhood team, is more loved. Only perhaps.

James could squander that hometown goodwill in the few seconds it takes him to say "Chicago" or "Miami." The love would evaporate, and a measure of respect from fans and observers elsewhere, who value loyalty, would disappear, too.

If James leaves for Chicago to join Carlos Boozer, he'll instantly become the biggest villian in Northeast Ohio since the inept and nakedly avaricious Art Modell relocated the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996. James will join a litany of loathed bogeymen haunting Cleveland that includes Modell, John Elway, Michael Jordan and the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization. Not pleasant company for a native Ohioan. And that brings us to Boozer: This cretinous jackanapes is best remembered as the Cavalier who publicly betrayed the trust of former team owner Gordon Gund, one of the genuine nice guys in the NBA, when he broke a promise to re-sign with the team in 2004. Gund wrote a letter to fans to explain the situation (link), something I'd never seen in pro sports. Is this the class of character James wants to spend his career with?

And anyone who spurns their home on national television is deserving of every epithet that comes his way: traitor, Benedict Arnold, Judas, apostate, back-stabber, betrayer, defector, deserter, double-crosser, fink, snake, treasonist, turncoat and (my favorite) quisling.

~ The Detroit Pistons: The franchise was never a contender for James' services. A few years ago, the thinking was Detroit would clear the decks and make a serious run at him. Today, the team faces uncertainty on the court and a cloudy future off of it because it's for sale. The odds of James signing here are about the same as him signing to play shortstop for the St. Louis Browns.

~ Michigan State: The brain trust in East Lansing got a rude wake-up and harsh lesson in the reality of modern media frenzy-journalism when Tom Izzo flirted with the Cavaliers and their vacant coaching position. MSU nor Izzo understood that the old rules no longer applied and looked foolish when the coach -- who is the highest-paid state employee -- and the university president and athletic director attacked reporters during the press conference announcing Izzo's decision to stay. They got swept up in something far larger, and much more global, than the parochial issues of ego, pride and loyalty in mid-Michigan. The mini-drama remains a good lesson for the school's journalism and public relations industry students -- how not to handle a situation.

~ The NBA: Who's running this league? The inmates? Maybe for now. The Washington Post (link) reports that 25 of the 30 teams claimed a financial loss for last year, to the collective tune of about $400 million. The player's union dismissed that as bad noise. The owners are expected to lock out the players in 2011 and bring the hammer down on salaries, making this summer's free-agent feeding frenzy possibly the last of its kind.

~ The fans: While some enjoy the free agent road show antics, most outside of the cities signing these players do not. And with higher ticket prices and a lockout looming, the fans end up footing the literal and proverbial bill. Thankfully, NFL training camps begin in a couple of weeks.

~ Me: Not that I matter a fraction of an iota in this nonsense, but I did grow up near the Cavs old home, Richfield Coliseum, in suburban Cleveland. I can't go more than a couple of blog entries without reminding readers that my geographic sports loyalties remain with Cleveland, so I might as well insert myself into this one (maybe that LeBron narcissism is an airborne malady?).

My prediction is that tonight will end badly for Cavs fans, but the sense of loss and betrayal is a familiar one. James' defection will simply be one more incident in a long line of staggering heartbreaks, joining Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, Jose Mesa's meltdown, The Move, The ALCS Meltdown at Fenway.

Detroiters not familiar with those incidents? Count your blessings and your championships. And ignore that mournful, dirge-like howl you hear from across Lake Erie tonight.

If NBA superstar LeBron James abandons the Cleveland Cavaliers now that he’s a free agent, the value of the franchise owned by Dan Gilbert could plunge by $250 million.

That’s according to a report today from Bloomberg.

The team, which was bought by an investor group led by Gilbert for $375 million in 2005, is valued now at $476 million by Forbes.com.

Gilbert is the founder of Livonia-based Quicken Loans/Rock Financial.

James, a two-time National Basketball Association most valuable player, became a free agent today. He’s expected to be courted this week (starting as of this morning) by the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat.

He also could re-sign with the Cavaliers. James hails from nearby Akron and has played for Cleveland since being drafted out of high school seven years ago.

The average value for an NBA franchise is $367 million, based on Forbes’ estimates. Bloomberg quoted former Portland Trail Blazers President Bob Whitsitt as saying the team could lose up to a quarter-billion dollars in value.

Whitsitt now runs consulting firm Whitsitt Enterprises LLC.

Others, such as former NBA’s deputy commissioner Russ Granik, now vice chairman of New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners, predict the Cavaliers will see a more modest value slide.

The team was valued at $258 million in 2003, the year James was drafted.

Gilbert, who is spending $600 million on downtown Cleveland casino just steps from the Cavaliers arena, has said he will make every effort to retain the five-time all-star.

Cleveland can give James a heftier contract than any other team, but is limited in what other talent it can sign. Gilbert might want to think about making sure James see this piece from Sports Illustrated, which stakes out an impressive case on why the all-galactic forward would best serve his own financial, athletic and legacy interests by staying in Cleveland.

Anthropologists tell us man domesticated horses thousands of years ago, and they were among the first animals that homo-sapiens put to work for the human race.

I wonder if man domesticated another animal before even the horse: the scapegoat. That particular sad creature was trotted out last night by Michigan State University when it was unveiled that Tom Izzo would remain coach of the Spartans men’s basketball team.

Izzo rejected Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s reported five-year, $30 million offer to coach that NBA franchise, which might or might not retain LeBron James after he becomes a free agent on July 1.

After a nine-day limbo in which the university said almost nothing, and Izzo even less, the university took the chance to blast reporters for indulging in speculation about the situation. Veteran Detroit News columnist Lynn Henning had lengthy and uncomfortable clash with Izzo during Tuesday evening’s press conference (link, begins about 13:20 in).

When all else fails, blame the media.

Izzo, MSU President Lou Anna Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis each took their turns chastising reporters for what was written, blogged, tweeted, texted etc., over the past week-plus.

It’s true there was wild speculation across the blogosphere. Obviously, the university failed to recognize that that the Izzo situation was a subtext of the LeBron James situation. In other words, it became an unwitting part of a global drama and wasn’t just the parochial concern of a college in East Lansing.

Michigan State appears to have badly miscalculated, and belatedly recognized that after a day or so of relief that Izzo would remain there could be a backlash period. And what better way to deflect blame during that time than pointing fingers at everyone’s favorite whipping boy, the media? It’s a lazy but often effective tactic.

It’s stunning that a university with a major journalism program and a vast communication apparatus would fail to understand modern journalism and the role that the blogosphere plays in it. Information market economics forces news outlets to report what they can, or perish if they abdicate to others. Such a situation calls for a deft hand to ensure coverage is responsible, and it not always is. Perhaps this is a situation that can be used in MSU classrooms.

And it smacks of hubris to think that MSU didn’t grasp that the LeBron situation is a worldwide story. No one outside of East Lansing and the diaspora of MSU graduates cares about Tom Izzo’s job preferences. But a vast global network of media outlets, marketers, major corporations, the NBA and others have a vested stake in what LeBron James does. There are potentially billions of dollars in play when it comes to LeBron. His every word, action or non-action is dissected, and Tom Izzo emerged briefly as a minor star in the immense galaxy that is the LeBron Universe.

The vacuum created by Michigan State and Izzo’s silence was instantly filled by speculation, and in the age of instant social media, that’s really no longer an option. Otherwise, you get the situation that just occurred. The rules have changed, and MSU found itself playing a different game. Silent stoicism means someone else will speak for you, and robs you of any moral authority to complain about it later. It appears the university realized that, and whether by design or out of frustration, launched into attack mode Tuesday.

It remains to be seen if this will in any way taint the vaunted Izzo legacy. Journalists will certainly remember what went down, and they’re the keepers of institutional memory. If he wins another title or gets to some more Final Fours, all will be forgiven. Winning cures everything. But short of that, it’s hard to believe that whispers won’t linger for a long time to come.

Shifting gears slightly … Dan Gilbert now has to find another coach for his team. This is more than a simple basketball decision. Gilbert the team owner is also Gilbert the businessman, and he’s investing $600 million in a downtown Cleveland casino almost within sight of the Cavaliers’ arena.

Retaining LeBron James is goal No. 1 (and Nos. 2-infinity). Lose The King and you lose a huge portion of the franchise’s value, making it probably impossible to sell for what it was paid for ($375 million, and a subsequent $20 million for a practice facility). Losing James also means fewer people coming downtown, which affects the casino.

Gilbert, known locally for his Quicken Loans/Rock Financial empire and his promise to move his headquarters from Livonia to Detroit, is also investing another $400 million in a Cincinnati casino. He’s invested in Ohio more than he is in Michigan, it would seem.

On yet another note, I was wrong in my prediction that Izzo would bolt. Oh, well. A lot of people read the tea leaves wrong, although they may have been right for a time. And MSU/Izzo’s silence, appropriate or not, left the information gap to be filled by others. It looks to me now like Izzo truly didn’t know, but got the ego boost that it’s said that he enjoys or needs. He’s comfortable with his position as a big fish in a small pond, and there’s much to recommend such an arrangement.

Let’s indulge in some Monday morning flights of fancy: What if Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, flew star Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom to Manhattan and tried to lure him into abandoning Detroit by offering to double his salary to instead write for the Gray Lady?

Would Tom Izzo, Rich Rodriguez, Jim Leyland and other coaches raise of a howl of protest and pen jaded missives — in the style of a teenager desperately worried about losing a girlfriend, trying to convince her not to break up — about why the Times would be a terrible gig for Mitch?

The local tribe of sportswriters has been indulging in such behavior in recent days as Michigan State’s beloved Izzo mulls a job offer in Cleveland. Albom, oddly, has not yet weighed in on the matter. Instead, he saved his weekly angst for an epistle Sunday about Abby Sunderland, the teenage sailor lost briefly at sea last week. On Thursday, he chastised college sports for not being more like his high school athletic conferences back in the 1970s, and lamented the further loss of tradition to greed.

The other sportswriters, however, have been spilling ink and pixels at a furious rate in what feels to me like a defensive campaign to convince Izzo for forgo Dan Gilbert’s alleged offer of $30 million over five years to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers, either with or without galactic superstar/marketing icon LeBron James.

Instead of “Leave, Kwame, leave” it amounts to a chorus of “Stay, Izzo, stay” from the local pundits.

The general theme of the columns have been that Izzo has a pretty good gig going in East Lansing, that he could soon win another national championship, that LeBron may leave in free agency soon, that the rest of the Cleveland roster is mainly potted plants, that college coaches usually fail in the NBA, that it’s unfair to keep Sparty Nation in limbo, etc.

No mention that Gilbert’s millions could be spent on other players if James leaves next month. Last time I checked, there are other talented players in the NBA, and Boston and Los Angeles have managed to get to the finals without LeBron James’ services. Just sayin’. And if James stays, well … that’s too terrible a thought to consider for some of the Spartan faithful.

Everyone seems to know what’s best for Izzo. At least the sportswriters do. Would you trust a sportswriter to make financial decisions for you and future generations of your family? Neither, apparently, would Izzo. I have as little real insight into the Izzo situation as the Gentlemen of the Sporting Press, and my hypothesis is that he’ll listen to his wife, family, friends and professional financial advisors before he’ll consult the gibberish from sportswriters and the shrill cries of student mob-rallies.

And if the 750 “We Love Izzo” yard signs littering East Lansing convince him to stay, or factor at all into his decision-making calculus, then he has no business coaching a professional basketball franchise or even a major college team. Does anyone really wonder if Izzo grasps that he’s liked by Michigan State fans? Is there worry he hasn’t understood that after 15 years?

But that’s merely my opinion, which Izzo also will smartly not consider. And I’m plenty happy to disclose I’m a Cleveland native who grew up minutes from the Cavaliers' old home in Richfield, Ohio. That said, I can tell you Clevelanders are a lot more interested in LeBron’s every action and sound than they are in Izzo. Who coaches the Cavaliers is seen through a prism of how it affects LeBron’s free agency decision rather than his ability to win games. Izzo is simply a factor in LeBron Watch for Ohio. If you think the media tension over Izzo is intense -- from monitoring his location each hour to tracking down the tail number of Gilbert's private jet -- then check out what's going on in Cleveland, a city's who economy would take a measurable blow if James leaves.

Word today is that LeBron approves of Izzo as coach. That likely will send the online speculation and rumor-mongering into yet another gear. And that’s right in line with the celebrity-tabloid method of journalism that’s been on display the past week: Reporting isn’t about facts or news, but about what other news outlets and blogs are saying. At best, it’s been unnamed sources. The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s story about James giving his blessing to hiring Izzo is attributed to “a high-level source.” Almost nothing has been sourced to Izzo, Gilbert and James. That goes for both local and Ohio media outlets, all of who appear to be waging a mighty struggle to be first with Izzo news.

Interestingly, much of Izzo’s communication with reporters has been done via text messages. Relax: There is no Ben’s Chili Bowl in Cleveland.

Anyway, it’s easy to ridicule sportswriters and dismiss what the they are doing as shameful hack work and witless propaganda, but they’re simply doing their jobs — and people are consuming what they produce. It’s information market economics in the digital age, and they’re feeding the proverbial monkey. And the monkey is a vicious beast that demands to be fed 24/7 because news consumers have nearly endless options.

P.S. My prediction is that Izzo is gonzo. Sorry, Sparties.

I work with several Michigan State alums. They're in denial today, angrily insisting that Spartans men's basketball coach Tom Izzo will never leave East Lansing, under any circumstances whatsoever, up to and including the apocalypse, nuclear war, global zombie rampage or anything else. The mere suggestion he might depart is deemed apostasy and considered grossly lunatic.

I exaggerate, but only slightly.

What has Sparty Nation freaked out are reports that Dan Gilbert is trying to lure Izzo away from MSU to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported this afternoon that Gilbert is prepared to offer Izzo $6 million annually and provide perks such as free use of Gilbert's jet.

With incentives, Izzo currently earns $3 million from Michigan State -- which is where Gilbert went to school.

The X factor, of course, is galactic megastar LeBron James, who becomes a free agent on July 1. The angst and hysteria surrounding James' pending decision -- will he resign with Cleveland, which can pay him more than anyone else and is willing to structure the entire team around him from the front office down, or will he leave for New York or Chicago? -- is only going to grow in coming days.

Absent a concrete rejection from Izzo of Gilbert's offer, this sub-drama will simply feed into the larger LeBron hysteria.

Gilbert is desperate to convince James to stay. If he leaves, the value of the team plunges over night. Gilbert is also investing $500 million in a downtown Cleveland casino just steps from the Cavaliers' arena. If people stop coming because the Cavs have returned to their pre-LeBron mediocrity, then there will be fewer people to visit Gilbert's casino. The financial stakes are incredibly high.

Gilbert has already fired Cleveland's last coach, Mike Brown, and made it clear to the general manager, Danny Ferry, that the team was going in whatever direction James wants -- prompting Ferry to walk away from the Cavs last week rather than sign a new deal. Gilbert is running the show now, and appears determined to have his way.

The prospect of all that money and a chance to coach one of the game's greatest talents could convince Izzo to abandon East Lansing. He's 55 ... how many more chances will he have, especially under these circumstances? Then again, he's said he wants to stay until he wins another college championship. Another thing to keep in mind: Izzo apparently came very close to leaving for the Atlanta Hawks job 10 years ago, so it's not as if the temptation hasn't been there. I suspect he's curious if he can have success at the NBA level.

If James signs elsewhere, Izzo won't be going to Cleveland. Heck, I might not even want the job in that case. The NBA is a graveyard of college coaches who couldn't hack it in the NBA, but the Cleveland job with LeBron on the roster is one of those once-in-a-generation occasions that can lure an entrenched, successful college coach away because the odds of winning a championship are strong. Is that enough of a siren song to entice Izzo? We'll know soon enough. And then that siren song could become the mournful dirge of the scorned Sparty faithful.

Dan Gilbert, the Rock Financial/Quicken Loans founder and owner of the Cleveland LeBrons, er, Cavaliers, is a potential future player if the Detroit Pistons, as reported this week, go up for sale.

A Michigan native who made his fortune here and is raising his family here, and has degrees from both Michigan State and Wayne State, it seems logical that he might have an interest in owning the Pistons. He'd have to sell the Cavaliers, of course, which could be a dicey proposition.

I put a call into his people to see if he'll say anything on the subject. As soon as I hear back (and I'm guessing he or anyone else in that position wouldn't confirm interest) I'll post the response here.

UPDATE: "The answer is no" to the question of Gilbert selling the Cleveland team and pursuing the Pistons, said Tad Carper, senior vice president of communications for the Cavaliers. Of course, things can change in the NBA, where cash is often king.

Let's look at the factors in play:

Gilbert's team is valued at $476 million by Forbes, one spot behind the Pistons ($479 million) out of the 30-team NBA. Gilbert is the majority owner and his group spent $375 million to buy the team in 2005. He subsequently spent another $30 million on arena improvements.

What could absolutely savage the worth of the franchise is the loss of all-universe forward LeBron James, who came out of Akron's St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and into the NBA in 2003 and immediately turned the moribund Cavaliers team into instant contenders -- skyrocketing their value, which was $222 million the year prior to James' arrival.

James becomes a free agent on July 1. Perhaps the most notable and marketable mega-athlete in the world, James has done a masterful job of playing coy about his intentions. What will drive his decision are various obvious factors -- being in a position to win a title, money, ability to increase his marketability -- and other elements that are more personal and could be what sways a close decision between evenly matched teams, such as friendships.

If he leaves, the salability of the Cavs dwindles. Owning an NBA team carries a certain cachet and is a vanity play for many uber-rich folks, but owning a team in Cleveland without LeBron would narrow the pool considerably.

If James re-signs with the Cavs, Gilbert is in the catbird seat. With James, the Cavaliers are in a far, far better position to win an NBA title that the Pistons, who have struggled mightily this season.

Both teams are believed to be losing money. How much is unclear. And with the economy in shambles, the true market value of both teams may be very different than what the sports economics wonks at Forbes think. When I talked to some insiders last year, they estimated that Palace Sports & Entertainment, with all its teams, venues and contracts, was worth about $750 million ... but the subsequent financial collapse and sale of some assets likely has shrunk that number.

Still, making the Pistons attractive could be the venue: The Cavaliers play at Quicken Loans Arena (colloquially known as The Q), which Gilbert manages but is owned by the Gateway Economic Development Corp., the private not-for-profit corporation established by the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County to handle construction of downtown arenas for the Cavs and the Cleveland Indians, who play next door at Progressive Field (nee Jacobs Field). The GEDC, which is overseen by a 5-member publicly-appointed board. The stadiums were built with a combination of use taxes and private funds.

Gilbert owns a minor-league hockey team that plays at the venue, as well. He also spent more than $25 million on a new practice facility for the Cavs and opened facilities for some of his other business ventures, in Cleveland and elsewhere in Ohio.

The Palace of Auburn Hills was built for $70 million in 1988 by Bill Davidson, who died in March, and his minority partners. The venue, along with its management company, is now run by a board led by his widow, Karen Davidson. Rock Financial was a presenting sponsor at the Palace for five years until 2008.

I don't have a break down on how revenue is split at The Q, but Gilbert likely would get a bigger slice if he owned a venue outright, including parking.

There is speculation that the Pistons could jointly build a new downtown Detroit stadium to share with Mike and Marian Ilitch's Detroit Red Wings, who are looking to vacate the aging money pit that is Joe Louis Arena. Gilbert is part of the private group, with the Ilitches, building a light rail line on the city's Woodward Avenue, and he also intends to move his mortgage empire headquarters downtown from Livonia.

Another factor in the equation: Casinos. Gilbert spent $15 million on a successful political bid to get casino gambling approved in Ohio, and he has the rights to build a casino in Cleveland and Cincinnati. It's unlikely he'd walk away from those cash cows any time soon, meaning he will have Ohio ties for some time to come.

If Karen Davidson really is interested in selling the Pistons, it likely will be a lengthy process because of being part of her late husband's estate and being a pro sports franchise. Many people and organizations, such as the Internal Revenue Service and many lawyers, likely will be involved before any deal is done.