LeBron Has Not Won Anything Yet...

Let me preface this piece by stating an operative fact:

I love the Orlando Magic!

I thought it was going to be tough to write on this series because I am such a big fan. I figured that my allegiance would make it impossible to be objective.

Luckily, I do not really have to objective.

The Orlando Magic have dominated this series far more then their three-to-one lead would suggest. The Magic absolutely own the Cavs, both from the standpoint of skill and production, at every position with the exception of starting small forward. But LeBron James is not beating Hedo Turkoglu by as much as you might think he is.

Do not get me wrong, LeBron is having an epic series. He is averaging more than 40 a game, seven assists, almost 10 rebounds, and at least 100,000 jaw drops per game. But everyone else is average. Mo Williams, the assumed "Robin" to James' "Batman", has averaged around 17 points but has needed about as many shots to get there as I would if I were playing for the Cavs. And I have a terrible jump shot.

D-West is finally playing the like the afterthought he was with Seattle and Boston. 2006 playoff hero Daniel Gibson is nowhere to be found. Anderson Varejao is, well, Anderson Varejao.

Their vaunted bench of Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and Sasha Pavlovic has been shown to be the basketball equivalent of Smash Mouth. "All-Stars" they are not.

Finally, Big Z has been anything but big. It's been an embarrassment watching this guy get physically manhandled by the smaller Dwight Howard (It feels weird to refer to Superman as "smaller") Seriously, when your "star" 7'3 starting center plays like Shawn Bradley with a high free throw percentage and a huge schnozz, you know that you're overrated.

Orlando is flat better than Cleveland. A big part of it is that the Magic can exploit matchups. Cleveland is a team that likes to overpower its opponents. They like to use Ilgauskas' size, Wallace's strength, and Varejao's energy to get boards and push guys around down low to get them out of position to create lanes for King James to drive. West, Williams, and Gibson benefit because they can get wide open shots when everyone is collapsing in hopes of stopping James. This is the strategy the've utilized all year and they road it to the best record in the league.

But Orlando does not use three guys to dominate the paint. It uses one. Howard is a revelation of a center. He dominates the paint by himself and allows coach Stan Van Gundy to stack the lineup with shooters. Instead of two shooters, two post players, and LeBron, Orlando boasts Superman and four guys who can drain threes. That is tough to stop when you are hitting almost 50 percent of the shots.

I respect what Cleveland has done this year. They are a great team. LeBron is the best basketball player on the planet. The Cavs were one of the best defenses in the league, and with good reason. Most teams would have fallen as quickly as Atlanta and Detroit.

Orlando is different. And we really should have seen this coming.

Why did we not? We all got caught up in the LeBron James love affair.

He is everything the NBA could have ever hoped for. Charismatic, attractive, athletic beyond compare. He's the new face of basketball, and that comparison to Jordan is probably the most apt.

For the rest of his career, like Jordan, we will expect him to win.

When I was a kid and was first learning about football, I remember dad telling me about Dan Marino. He had the strongest, most accurate arm in the league. It did not matter who he played with, he was always the best football player on the field. So I expected him to win all the time. Not every game, per say, but certainly the championship. Shouldn't the best player win the championship? Makes sense.

But, much to my surprise, Marino never did. I have a sneaking suspicion that James has more in common with Dolphin Dan then with Air Jordan. I feel this for a number of reasons.

One. LeBron will forever command a huge contract. That contract will make it very difficult for whatever team he plays for to buy another great talent and still be able to fill the roster with role players.

Two. LeBron will be the focal point of every offense he plays in. He scores as prolifically as Kobe, Iverson, Gilbert Arenas, and Tracy McGrady. Notice a similarity With the exception of Kobe, who got all of his rings with a certain loud mouth center, none of these guys have won rings.

The game of basketball is constructed to be a true team game. Everyone has to chip in. Historically, teams that win championships do not have one guy that does ALL of the scoring. Recently, the only example in the last ten years is Dwayne Wade with the Heat in 2006. Other than that you have the Lakers with Kobe AND Shaq, the Spurs, Pistons, and the Celtics. All of those teams were predicated on fundamental team basketball.

LeBron is an extraordinary player, and will be one for a long time. I am not assuming he will not win a championship. But until he is done, let's stop assuming that he will beat every team he plays and let the guys play. I am sick of ESPN and every other sports outlet kissing his butt. He needs to earn his championship just like everyone else did.

And, in case anyone forgot, a certain Superman is a heck of a lot closer to getting one.