PB, you do realize that this entire last post was an excerpt from the Ian Thomsen SI column? It's not my thoughts.
My take is that slave metaphors are not relevant in the situation and that both LeBron and Gilbert should have done things differently. But perceptions will always differ around race/class/etc.

There's actually a pretty heated ongoing discussion on Jackson/Lebron/Gilbert here at one of my favorite blogs:
Lebron doesn't need your help shut up

"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.