Lebron James and the MVP

Let me start out this post by saying... I don't like LeBron James. I know, I hear the collective gasp. Why, you ask? He is a showboater, he travels more than Marco Polo, the majority of his game is predicated on drawing contact, and (perhaps most importantly) he plays for Cleveland. In a superstar's league, the ultimate superstar gets every break from the refs and media. His annual candidacy for Defensive player of the year is a joke as LeBron essentially plays the role of free safety through the first 45 minutes of a 48 minute game. In last year's MVP race, if I had a vote, it would have gone to Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba remains the best closer in the game, is an outstanding on ball defender and has forgotten more about basketball than LeBron will ever learn. This year however, it isn't even close.


LeBron James is officially the best player in basketball in 2010 and the Most Valuable Player. This season was supposed to be a struggle for the Cavaliers. Mike Brown is still the worst successful coach in basketball, and the LeBrons only added an ancient Shaquille O'Neal to the mix, failing to fix their biggest issue, which was a lack of speed at the power forward position (Antawn Jamison didn't show up until later). The Cavs and LeBron were always going to be measured by postseason success one year after a 65 win season with an MVP win that ended in the conference finals. Not to mention the fact that the potential for LeBron's departure at the end of the year was supposed to put a damper on the whole proceedings. None of it mattered.

The other names you typically see around an MVP race all fell off. Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant were injured for long stretches. Kevin Garnett has aged drastically the last two years. Dwyane Wade was fabulous, but never got his Miami Heat into high gear like the Cavaliers. Dwight Howard was the anchor for the second best team in the country, but he failed to dominate on a nightly basis. LeBron on the other hand, upped his game. He played more minutes shot a better FG%, increased his assists by 1.4 per game, and pushed up his scoring. Now he leads the heavily favored Cavaliers into the playoffs with the overall #1 seed. King James played like a king.

In the playoffs, if he fails to win the title this year, questions will rain down upon LeBron. Everyone will doubt his ability to lead a team to the promised land, people will want to know if he is going to flee Cleveland (or as I like to think of it, the mistake by the milake). None of it really matters in the long term view of his career. Wherever LeBron is, there will be media cameras and a 60 win playoff contender, and at some point, an NBA Championship team. I just won't be rooting for him.

Lets Talk Some Basketball

Greeting fellow blog readers. I am another collaborator of 'The Goal Posters', specializing in NBA news and analysis. I am hesitant to call myself an NBA 'expert' (since there are many people who know more about basketball then me), so lets just say I'm the guy who spent way too much time as a kid watching and reading about the NBA, when I could have been doing more productive things with my life. I look forward to writing some pieces for you and getting some feedback/debates going in the comments section. I'm just going to wrap up tonight with a little info on some NBA playoff races:

• The battle for the 8th seed in the East took an unfortunate turn tonight, when two minutes into their game with the Cavs, Chris Bosh took an elbow to the face. After bleeding on the court for several minutes, Bosh was taken to a local hospital, where a CT scan revealed a fractured face. While no timetable has been set, early rumors speculate that Bosh will miss the remainder of the season. This would seem to end any hope of the Raptors making the playoffs. As it currently stands the Raptors have a one game lead on the Chicago Bulls for the final playoff seed in the East. With only five games remaining for each, the pivotal game is when these two teams will meet on Sunday in Toronto. Look for the winner of that game to grab the 8th seed and a first round loss to the LeBron's.

• Meanwhile the Bucks won their first game without Andrew Bogut; clinching a playoff spot in the process. John Salmons had 26 points to lead the Bucks to a victory over the Bulls, the team that traded him a month and a half ago. This proves that losing Bogut, while painful, does not end the season for a Milwaukee team that still has things to play for.

• If you were lucky enough to catch the Oklahoma City/Utah game last night, you saw one of the best games of the season. Utah barely survived 140-139 in this thrilling overtime game, that included a controversial no-call at the end. Deron Williams scored a career high 42 points, including the game winner with 1.1 seconds left, and added 10 assists with only 1 turnover. The Jazz survived 45 points from Kevin Durant, who appeared to be fouled while attempting a 3 at the end of overtime. KD did overtake LeBron James as the League's scoring leader with one week remaining in the regular season.