-Lebron James is as dominant a player as there is in professional sports, but what people have to realize about his game and the NBA as a whole is that nobody has or ever will win a championship by them self. Right now, the only criticism that can be bestowed upon King James is that he's too unselfish. He wants to be the next Magic Johnson, but Magic had Karim Abdul-Jabbar down low, Michael Cooper playing more than stellar defense (selected to the NBA All-Defense team 8 times), and James Worthy as the second option, all while running the showtime offense. The current Cleveland Cavalier roster has no point guard, no shut down perimeter defender, no consistent low post presence, and no number 2 option on offense. This isn't Lebron's fault at all, last year in the playoffs he was beyond unbelievable, but I don't see an improvement happening this go round. To make clear just how far James is from winning a championship, right now Aleksandar Pavlovic is one of the top scoring options on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pavlovic has recently taken the roll of Lebron's Pippen, when he needs to be his Toni Kukoc.
-One of the greatest things associated with the National Hockey League (besides Jarome Iginla) is the Conn Smythe Trophy. For those who aren't familiar, this award is given to the most valuable player during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and what makes it so wonderful is its uniqueness. Football has the Superbowl MVP, Basketball has the Finals MVP, and Baseball has the World Series MVP. I've always felt that these post season awards were flawed due to the fact that any random player can get hot in the finals or have a good championship game, but not be the "Most Valuable" to his team. An example of this would be David Eckstein winning the World Series MVP last October when clearly there were more valuable and better players in last year's post-season.
Bringing this point to the NBA, I feel as though there should definitely be a Conn Smythe equivalent added, possibly even naming it after the late Dennis Johnson...an appreciated player known for elevating his game in the post-season.
The obvious favorites to win an award like this would be those select few who don't need their entire names displayed for you to know who I'm talking about: Dirk, Kobe, Lebron, Nash, Timmy, maybe even Shaq. However if I were predicting right now who would win this award, I'd throw names at you like Chris Bosh, Josh Howard, Manu Ginobli, and
Shawn Marion (shown below). None of these guys are heralded as household names like the superstars in the first list, but they are extremely important to their teams chance at winning a championship.-I read an article a couple of weeks ago in the Boston Globe that offered a pretty good solution to the Celtics youth problem. That solution happens to be a 34 year old, 7 time all-star free agent who has battled tough injuries throughout his entire career. The man I speak of is Grant Hill. Not only would he be a great locker room influence, but his guidance would also extend to the court. He's the second leading scorer for the Magic this season averaging 14.4 a game.
(I just watched Grant Hill and the Orlando Magic pound the Philadelphia 76ers and have a few thoughts on the game...)
- The 76er color man and former NBA player Steve Mix really outdid himself in proving to me that he has no clue what he's talking about. His list of the top 10 players in the NBA today did NOT include Lebron James. This is inexcusable. The Aflac Trivia question for the game was "Name the 2 players selected ahead of Grant Hill in the 1994 NBA draft". I've known this answer since the second grade...Mix thought it was David Robinson. (The correct answer is Glenn Robinson and Jason Kidd)
- I really wouldn't have been so critical towards Steve Mix had it not been for his unnecessary criticism of 21 year old Dwight Howard in the first quarter. For some reason Mix doesn't see why Howard was an all-star this season. Just a hunch, but maybe it was because he's among the league's best in rebounding and field goal %. Howard has become a modern day Moses Malone the way he absolutely dominates the offensive glass. (Side Note: Howard had a career high 35 points in the game including 8 dunks).
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