Bringin' down the House

The MVP


The National Basketball Association has named the 2008-2009 regular season Most Valuable Player. The winner was…………LeBron James. What a surprise! I personally thought that Dwyane Wade should be the MVP but I’m not going to argue that LeBron shouldn’t be. He deserves that award.
James is ultimate team player; it’s always about the team and never about him. He knows that he is unstoppable but will always say that was his teammates that help him with his greatness. He had the award presented to him at his high school St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron Ohio because he wanted his former high school teammates to enjoy what they helped him achieve.
James is the face of the NBA. He knows who came before him and hardships that players had to endure to have the road paved for the players of this generation to make millions of dollars. He is a historian and will always acknowledge the great players that have came before him. When he was interviewed by Cheryl Miller after the 99-72 game one win over Atlanta in Cleveland, he made sure to mention the Robertsons, Jabbars, Chamberlains of the past that had won the award and when he said he was honored you could tell he was truly sincere. A lot of today’s players have no idea the rough road that the NBA had to become as popular as it is today, but James does and he is grateful for it and will always tip his cap to the former greats.
James averaged 28.6 points per game, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game. The question that comes up is now, “could he have averages a triple double for a season?” The only player in the history of the Association to average a triple double for the season was “The Big O” Oscar Robertson.
Oscar Robertson was the most talented player to ever play the game of basketball. Yes I said someone other than his Airness was the greatest ever and lightning hasn’t struck me for blasphemes yet. Michael Jordan was the greatest player ever but not the most talented that title belongs to Robertson.
To say Robertson plays like a player today is an insult. He created moves and fakes before they were even invented. Robertson’s career spanned 14 seasons with the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks. He compiled 26,710 points and 9,887 assists. That was the all-time record and lasted for almost 20 years. In the 1961-62 season Robertson posted this sat line for the season. 30.8 ppg, 12.5 rbs, 11.5 ast. Keep in mind this was before the advent of the three point shot. These are absurd numbers and yet Robertson says he could still average a triple-double in today’s NBA. I think he could also.
Could LeBron James do it? Absolutely. James could go out and get 10 points, boards and assists by halftime if he wanted, but I still don’t think that he could have the numbers that Robertson put up. Plus LeBron would never selfishly try to get a triple-double just to prove that he could. James cares about winning and that is it.
In my opinion Kobe Bryant is still the best player in the league, but LeBron in right behind him. LeBron however is the face of the NBA and he embodies that role. Outside of Tiger Woods no other sport has a face quite like LeBron and David Stern knows this. The NBA unlike the NFL, MLB and NHL markets stars instead of teams. The NBA is living high on the hog right now, and will be for the entire reign of King James.