The King

- Madman

Al parecer, el dia de hoy se va a nombrar a LeBron James como MVP de esta temporada de la NBA.
Asi que la expectativa que esta generando (sobre todo aqui en mexico que se ve tanto basquetbol) se ve en las notas de las diferentes paginas de internet.
Asi que aqui les va un fragmento pirateado de foxsports...

So, who do you think is the best young star in the NBA? LeBron? Or James?

Quick, answer now. Then you can give yourself time to change your mind.

I don't know why we do this to ourselves. I don't know why we create false rivals and fake barstool questions. But we do. And you watch: For the rest of these playoffs, and probably for the next few years, people will ask questions about LeBron James when they already know the answer.

Before the 2003 draft, the big debate was LeBron or Carmelo Anthony. Not even the love-child of Elgin Baylor and Scott Layden would have drafted Carmelo over LeBron, but hey, we needed an argument.

Until late in this NBA season, there was serious talk about Dwyane Wade winning the MVP award. Wade is a great player, of course, and unlike LeBron, he has already led his team to a title. (Of course, he had Shaq on his team back then. That helps.)

Does anybody seriously believe that if you sent Wade to Cleveland and James to Miami, that Cleveland would get the better end of the deal? Does anybody think that with Wade instead of James, the Cavaliers somehow would have won more than 66 games? Could you even argue that drunk?

Wade is out of the playoffs now. But watch out: Here comes Dwight Howard and Orlando, and there went Derrick Rose and Chicago, and you know what? Both men are freakishly athletic, a joy to watch, potential Hall of Famers. And wait until Kevin Durant makes the playoffs, and ...

Are we really going to parade all these guys in front of LeBron James and pretend they might be better? I suspect we will, because we have done this to ourselves before.

For years, we created artificial rivals to Michael Jordan's throne, and looking back well, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, anybody can understand those two. They were all-time greats and rose to stardom before Jordan.

But Dominique Wilkins? Clyde Drexler? How do I explain that one to my kids? It was the late '80s, a more innocent time, it seemed kind of adorable that he had to look down when he was dribbling.

Late in Jordan's peak years (and let's face it, they were almost all peak years) everybody understood we were watching the greatest player ever. I wondered, then, how anybody could be better? Jordan excelled at everything a basketball player could want to do.

Now I have the answer. Jordan was listed at 6-foot-6 and 216 pounds. James is 6-8, 250.

James, incredibly, combines Jordan's athleticism with Magic's body and court vision.

For most of his career, Jordan was not a great three-point shooter. James is already more accomplished in that area. Jordan was a better defender, but LeBron is vastly improved and can guard bigger players.

Can you even make this comparison with anybody else?

The only player right now who even compares to LeBron James is Kobe Bryant. And since Kobe is almost six years older than LeBron, and LeBron has already passed him (however slightly) as a player, that's a different argument. For the bulk of LeBron James' career, he will be a superior player to Kobe Bryant.

I bring this up not to denigrate other stars. It's just that sometimes in sports, we get so caught up in our arguments that we fail to appreciate the rare player who rises above them.

I'm not saying James is better than Jordan was. Not yet. But you can be damn sure he is the best player of his generation.